Irish victors denied Triple Crown

FAILURE to complete the Grand Slam and win the Triple Crown for only the third time was something of a disappointment for the players and the galleries but Ireland still captured the Home International Championship and the Raymond Trophy at Ballybunion yesterday.

They fought back manfully from losing the foursomes by 3½ to 1½ to Scotland to take six points from the 10 afternoon singles to force a tie, 7½ matches each, and having already beaten Wales and England, were declared champions. It was their first outright success in the championship since 1991 and an outcome that delighted their outstanding captain Mark Gannon.

“Winning the championship was the objective from the outset,” Gannon insisted. “A Triple Crown would have been a nice bonus but no more than that. I always knew it would be desperately close and in the end we beat Wales and England each by 8-7 and tied with Scotland so that says it all.