Ireland fall just short

Ireland suffered heartache in a dramatic climax to the Men’s Amateur Home Internationals at Glasgow Gailes on the Ayrshire coast last night as their title disappeared in the dying moments of the round-robin series.

They needed to avoid defeat by England to make sure of the Raymond Trophy and as the teams entered the closing stages the Irish had their noses in front but suddenly fortunes swung and they slumped to a 9½-5½ defeat.

But even that could have been good enough if Wales had been able to push Scotland to the wire but they also went down by a 9½-5½ margin so it was decided on a countback with three countries all on two wins.