England claim title as Ireland finish bottom

FROM champions to wooden spoonists - that was the sorry story of Ireland’s lady golfers in their home international series at Dundalk yesterday.

They went into the round-robin affair bidding to complete a hat-trick of title triumphs and attempting to win on home soil for the first time since 1907.

But defeats by Scotland, Wales and finally England condemned them to finish bottom.

They lost by five matches to three with one halved to England who captured the title for the 11th time in 14 years, Scotland beat Wales 6-3 to take the runners-up spot with the Welsh finishing third.

Ireland trailed 2-1 to England after the foursomes with the only Irish point coming from Martina Gillen and Tricia Mangan.

Then in the singles it really was one-way traffic as England dominated.

* See Results section for details.