IRELAND WERE IN celebratory mood last night after winning the Boys Home International title in style over the Southerness links in Scotland.
Having beaten Scotland and fought out a halved match with reigning champions England, they knew it was in their hands to clinch the R and A Trophy – but they left nothing to chance.
A solid foursomes performance saw the Irish lead 3½-1½ at lunchtime with the only morning losers being Chris Selfridge and Matthew McKnight. They then started confidently in the afternoon winning the top three matches through Paul Dunne, Selfridge and Dermot McElroy.
When West Waterford’s Gary Hurley accounted for Delon Hau out in the country by 5 and 4 Ireland had sufficient points and knew they were the champions.
“The boys played their hearts out, deserved to win and did their country proud,” said captain Liam Martin.
In the Girls Internationals at Bangor, Ireland face a tough task today in their bid to avoid the wooden spoon – just a month after collecting the silver medal at the European Team Championships.
Missing this week, of course, are the Maguire twins. Following defeat by reigning champions England they were overwhelmed by Wales yesterday, losing 7-2 which means they will have to beat Scotland today by a substantial margin to prevent bottom spot.
Meanwhile, Portstewart’s Paul Cutler steered another steady course on the second day of the European Amateur Championship in Finland.
Cutler carded a level-par 72 for the second day running and is still the leading Irishman at the Vanajanlinna Golf and Country Club.
Rory Leonard was the best Irish performer on the day after a 70 improved the Banbridge golfer to one over. The Castle’s Dara Lernihan (71) also dipped under par but he and Cian Curley from Newlands (74) find themselves well down the field on six over and in need of improvement if they are to make it into the final round – only the top 60 and ties advance after the third round.
Rathmore’s Alan Dunbar (74) has an even greater task as his 10-over aggregate was seven shots off the projected qualifying mark.
