Ballybunion through in Junior Cup thriller at Barrow

BALLYBUNION’S Junior Cup team are through to the Munster semi-finals after a tie hole victory in the deciding match against Newcastlewest at a blustery Tralee on Thursday evening last.

Early in the match it looked like Ballybunion were going to be convincing winners but a late surge from the County Limerick side saw three matches going up the final hole with two of them ending in their favour.

Sixteen-year-old Phillip Byrne, a member of the Munster Under-16 team for the forthcoming Inter-provincials at Blarney, gave Ballybunion the first point with a 4/2 win over Thomas Sexton in the top match and shortly after, Adrian Walsh delivered Ballybunion’s second point in the fifth match with a 5/4 win over Eoin Dillane.

The North Kerry side had been ahead in two of the other three games but matches two, three, and four all went up the final hole, all-square, where Jamie McCormack and Shane Scanlon levelled the match for Newcastlewest with wins over Frank Geary and Ronan Cross respectively.

So, level at two-a-piece, and the outcome came down to the fourth match between Newcastlewest’s Mark Liston and James O’Callaghan, the fourteen-yearold son of Ballybunion’s Head Professional Brian O’Callaghan.

James, who earlier in the day received the news of his selection to the Munster Under-14 team, showed a maturity beyond his tender years and held his nerve hole a tricky five-footer to halve the final hole in front of a huge gallery before winning at the nineteenth with a solid par, to send his side into the Munster semi-finals against Ballykisteen on August 12th at Tralee where Ennis play Bantry Bay in the other semi-final.