Cahir Park land first title win in dramatic finale
THERE were several firsts at Malone but none were as dramatic as Cahir Park’s AIG Intermediate Cup final victory over Carton House.
The decider was one of two finals that had to be suspended on Friday night due to darkness, but in this case, Ann McQuillan and Cahir Park’s Patricia Browne were still deadlocked after four extra holes with the teams tied at 2-2.
The captains agreed that due to the gathering gloom, and the rain, it was better to return on Saturday morning at 10 am it was the Tipperary club that claimed its first All Ireland pennant on the 23rd.
Browne hit a spectacular bunker shot almost stone dead to secure a win in bogey five on the index-one fifth to give Cahir Park a heart-stopping 3-2 win.
“It’s fantastic to win our first All Ireland,” said Cahir Park’s Lady Captain, Rosemary Maher.
“We won the All Ireland Inter-Club Fourball in 2014, but this was our first ILGU pennant. We are just thrilled.”
Twenty handicapper Browne was four down at the turn after a nervous start but battled back to take the match to extra holes before winning with a sensational bunker shot at the 395-yard fifth that her Lady Captain described as “like something you’d see from Rory McIlroy,” spinning it from the back of the green to a front flag.
“It was nail-biting,” Rosemary said. “I am only getting over it now. Patricia clawed it back to level and had to go down the 19th, and that’s where the fun started.”
Cahir Park had already checked out of their hotel, but while two members of the team had to get home (and with the team’s budget dwindling), the remainder stayed on.
Browne’s interest in “Mindfulness” paid off as she gathered herself for the morning showdown and came up trumps.
A small club, Cahir Park ran a huge “Get Into Golf” campaign this year, getting 50 of the 92 ladies who signed up to join the club.
They beat Mountbellew, who came away empty-handed despite qualifying three teams for the finals, in the quarter-finals, before overcoming Wicklow in the semis to create history and give the burgeoning membership a great sense of pride.