ALL-IRELAND CUPS AND SHIELDS FINALS:THE JOURNEY, by the highways and byways, from Tramore at one end of the island to Castlerock at the northern point is some 417 kilometres.
Yesterday, on this links course beside the mouth of the river Bann, the first step in making that road trip a truly memorable one was taken as Tramore earned a final match-up in the Barton Shield with favourites Warrenpoint after a hard-fought semi-final success over Athenry on the first day of the Chartis All-Ireland Cups and Shields finals.
On a day when a nice breeze blew in off the north Atlantic, a marked contrast to the strong gales of the previous two practice days when flagsticks struggled to stay in tin cups, Tramore eked out a two-hole winning margin over Galway with Chris Butler, a giant of a man with a silken touch, teaming up with Declan King for what proved to be the decisive win.
Early on in the encounter, the momentum was very much with Athenry. In that top match, Butler and King were three-down after five holes to Mark King and Michael Lane while Alan Thomas, a former professional reinstated as an amateur, and David Kiely were two down after four to Conor Waters and David Byrne.
“Five down overall after four holes, it wasn’t looking too rosy then I can tell you. I’m glad I didn’t know the boys’ score then,” said Thomas.
In these unique interclub competitions, there is no place to hide. And, in the Barton Shield, the most unique of them all, where teams compete in foursomes with the combined scores producing the final result, the two Tramore frontmen of Butler and King took to the challenge with relish as they turned the match – and the tie – around to earn a place in the final.
The match turned with a winning sequence of three successive holes from the sixth and, despite both of them losing balls off the 10th tee, the Tramore men kept to their task.
On the way in, Butler – an unemployed bricklayer who has utilised that unwanted time off to hone his golf game over the summer months – produced a number of superb shots. Two, in particular, stood out. On the par-three 16th, Butler produced as fine a bunker shot as you’d see when, from 30 yards, he played the ball 20 feet left of the flag and allowed the bank to take it down towards the hole. King rolled in the two-footer for a winning par.
And, then, on the 18th, after King’s drive was pushed right and landed in rough on top of a sand hill, Butler used his power to reach the elevated green with a wedge. The two putts for par were sufficient to ensure a two-hole winning margin, and the match behind – level at the time – was called in as the overall result couldn’t alter.
King, who has just completed a degree in civil engineering and has a job lined up with First Derivatives in Newry starting next week, was part of the UCC team that finished runner-up in last week’s European Universities Championships in Slovenia.
Warrenpoint had an easier passage into the final, beating Leinster champions Enniscorthy by six holes.
Paul Reavey, flown back from the United States for the national finals, and Stephen Coulter won the top match by three holes and Ryan Gribben and Colm Campbell – the old man of the Warrenpoint team at 24 years of age – also had a three hole win over Graham Donohoe and James Buckley.
TODAY’S DRAW
PIERCE PURCELL SHIELD SEMI-FINALS
8.0: Corrstown v Letterkenny (Corrstown names first) G Beagan A Holohan v P McMonagle BO’Donnell; J Beagan P O’Kane v T McMonagle C McGettigan; M Mooney B Doyle v J Russell R McCrory; G Burns T Brady v K Spence P O’Donnell; A Shields M McIvor v K Walsh N Miller.
8.50: Woodstock v Athenry (Woodstock names first): T Hehir M Dormor v D Donohue B Lynskey; S Fitzgerald M O’Brien v M Shaughnessy L Glynn; L McInerney M Kelly v M Naughton S
Donohue; J Considine B Mulcahy v M Crimmins J Flaherty; Dn Coote J Kelly v K McCarthy M Noone.
IRISH JUNIOR CUP FINAL
11.0: Mitchelstown v Lurgan (Mitchelstown names first): Cahill v McGrady; Lane v Shaw; Gamble v McSherry; Maguire v Magee; Leonard v Hanna.
BARTON SHIELD FINAL
12.0: Tramore v Warrenpoint (Tramore names first): C Butler D King v P Reavey S Coulter; A Thomas D Kielty v R Gribben C Campbell Jnr
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
BARTON SHIELD SEMI-FINALS
Tramore bt Athenry by two holes (Tramore names first):
C Butler D King bt M King M Lane 2 holes; A Thomas D Kiely halved with C Waters D Byrne
Warrenpoint bt Enniscorthy by six holes
P Reavey S Coulter bt M Murphy J Rackard 3 holes; R Gribben C Campbell Jnr bt G Donohoe J Buckley 3 holes
JUNIOR CUP SEMI-FINALS
Mitchelstown bt Ballina 3.5-1.5: J Cahill bt Jonathan Kelly 43; Sean Lane bt L Casey 31; A Gamble lost to J Doherty 32; J Maguire bt K Lawrence 43; C Leonard halved with N Dee.
Lurgan bt Co Meath 3-2
L McGrady lost to D Fox 42; P Shaw lost to S Fitzgerald 43; M McSherry bt M Gaynor 19th; D Magee bt T Lacey 43; G Hanna bt Blaney 32
