Tralee edge out Ballybunion

THE West Munster area qualifier at Ballybunion’s Cashen course certainly provided some thrills and spills over the weekend with Tralee eventually edging out the home side in a thrilling final to clinch a Munster semi-final spot at Barrow next month.

I’m sad to report that once again a GUI inter-club event was blighted by withdrawals by club’s who had entered and then failed to field a team but more of that anon and despite the upheaval, I correctly predicted the final four and the final two at Ballybunion but got the result wrong.

The action began on Saturday morning as Newcastle West beat Kenmare by 8 holes and Kanturk beat Glengarriff by 3 holes as Doneraile received a walk-over from Ring of Kerry and Killorglin received a walk-over from Dooks.

In round two on Saturday afternoon, Ballybunion beat. Newcastlewest by 5 holes and Tralee beat Kanturk by 6 holes as Doneraile received their second consecutive walk-over, this time from Ceann Sibeal and Killarney received a walk-over from Killorglin.

In Sunday morning’s semi-final Ballybunion had no bother in disposing of Doneraile by an 11-hole margin but it was in the Tralee versus Killarney game that the drama began. The first Tralee pairing of Eoghan O’Donnell and Fergal O’Sullivan posted a three-hole victory but behind them Graham Spring and David McMahon were four down with three to play and it looked like Killarney were heading for the final.

However, Tralee snatched back the 16th to reduce the deficit and when Killarney missed a very short putt on seventeen there was now only one hole between the sides overall and when Killarney banished their tee shot on the final hole into deep rough Tralee went through by a margin of two holes to set up an afternoon final with the hosts Ballybunion.

Tralee made one change to their side for the final with Darren O’Sullivan coming in to replace Graham Spring, while Ballybunion kept the formation that won their two previous matches, so it was Ballybunion’s Senan Carroll and Gary Scanlon against Fergal O’Sullivan and Eoghan O’Donnell and David O’Driscoll and Eddie Stack against David McMahon and Darren O’Sullivan.

Watched by a sizeable crowd from both clubs in the brilliant sunshine, the two matches were indeed very tight as the lead changed hands several times.

But as they headed for home, it looked like Tralee were going to snatch it with their first pairing one ahead after fifteen while their second pairing had a similar lead after fourteen.

However, the home team staged a comeback as their second pairing won the fifteenth and when Tralee drove out of bounds on the seventeenth in the first match, both games were level once more.

The two remaining holes were halved in the top match to finish level, leaving the overall outcome dependant on the second game where Darren O’Sullivan hit a superb pitch to the par-five seventeenth to set up a winning birdie and edge Tralee ahead once more.

Both tee shots found the first cut of rough on the right of the eighteenth fairway and Eddie Stack playing first for Ballybunion, saw his second shot finish just barely off the putting surface.

Tralee’s ball was not lying very well and from 172 yards out, Darren O’Sullivan’s nine-iron with the help of a rather fortunate bounce, found the centre of the green.

Ballybunion were faced with a very difficult third shot over a ridge and downhill to the tricky pin position and David O’Driscoll with the putter, did threaten the hole, but ran eight feet past.

David McMahon was a little tentative with Tralee’s first putt leaving it five feet short to open the door for the opponent,s but Eddie Stack narrowly missed Ballybunion’s return and Darren O’Sullivan confidently holed, to secure victory for Tralee by a two-hole margin.

Tralee’s victory robbed Ballybunion of a historic treble as their Senior Cup and Junior Cup teams had already qualified for the Munster semi-finals in Tralee on August 11th and 12th where the hosts will now represent West Munster in the Barton Shield semi-final against Cork Golf Club while Castletroy play Waterford Castle in the other semi-final.