Tullamore take home third FBD Barton Cup trophy
TULLAMORE claimed the FBD Barton Cup for the third time in the club’s history when they came from behind to beat Baltinglass 6-4 on aggregate.
The Co Offaly club trailed 3-2 after the first leg of the final held at Baltinglass on August 18, where large galleries were treated to fantastic golf on a pristine course.
Managed by Peter Byrne, the Wicklow club’s narrow win on home soil ensured a tough task for Tullamore manager John Lynch and his assistants, Sean Lynch and Liam Hoctor in the return leg.
But the home side made fast starts in four of their matches, and while Baltinglass fought back, home advantage proved crucial on Tullamore’s always testing back nine.
Matthew Grehan and Pat Corcoran beat Jason Bowes and Kevin Lord 5&4 to extend their unbeaten run to 32 matches.
Eoin Flanagan and Roddy Molloy beat Eric Doran and John Kavanagh 4&3, and while Baltinglass were well up in match four, Tullamore were in command in matches three and five and looked odds-on to get the four points they needed for overall victory.
While Paul Galvin and Declan Farrell beat Nathan Geraghty and Johnny Keogh 3&2, Barry Gillespie and Ciaran Boland had to sweat to beat Fergal Doogue and Michael O’Neill to close out a hard-fought victory.
Fergal and Michael claimed both the 16th and 17th to go the last trailing by just one hole, but the Tullamore men played two wonderful shots into the heart of the 18th green to steer their club to their third win in the event following wins in 1976 and 2007.