Joy for Killarney and Portumna in foursomes tests
KILLARNEY pulled off one of the great feats of the season when they beat Roscommon 2-1 to add the AIG Ladies Senior Foursomes title to the All Ireland Ladies Senior Cup pennant they claimed in August.
It was one of two finals suspended because of darkness on Friday with the sides tied
1-1 and still deadlocked after two extra holes when play was called for the day
While Mary Sheehy and Fidelma O’Connor won their match for the Munster side on the 18th and Roscommon’s Ruth Lennon and Ciara HerewardRyan made it 1-1 with a 5 and 3 win, the final match between Roscommon’s Rosemary O’Brien and Paula Quinn and Killarney’s Eimear O’Donnell and Amy Arthur was still undecided.
In the end, it went the Kerry club’s way when it resumed at 10am on Saturday, with O’Donnell holing a five-footer for par on the 21st to give them the AIG Senior Foursomes.
It wasn’t quite as dramatic in the AIG Ladies Junior Foursomes final, but that hardly mattered to Galway’s Portumna as they claimed the coveted green pennant with a 2.5-0.5 win over Ballykisteen.
The Connacht champions beat the Heath 3-0 in the semi-finals as brave Ballykisteen overcame Shandon Park 2.5-0.5 in the quarter-finals and Woodbrook 2-1 in the semis to give themselves a chance of All Ireland glory.
In the end, Portumna’s Mary McElroy and Mary Madden added a 5 and 4 win to Mary and Brid Kelly’s 7 and 5 triumph to claim the spoils for a small club that has just 25 active lady members
“To go to the national finals and compete alongside some of the bigger clubs in the country like the Malahides and the Killarneys and walk away with a green pennant was something very special for Connacht golf,” team manager, Anne Fahy proudly explained.