Heartbreak as Irish fail by whisker to end England reign

IRELAND’S bid to break the England stranglehold on the Boys’ Home International Golf Championship failed by the narrowest of margins 8.5-6.5 in a tense and thoroughly exciting final afternoon at Royal St Davids, Harlech yesterday.

Having beaten both Wales and Scotland, the Irish knew that a share of the spoils with England champions since 1998 would be sufficient to wrest the R&A trophy from their clutches, but the effort fell just short.

However, it could not have been more dramatic. With the foursomes sharing two matches apiece and one halved, there was all to play for in the afternoon and for long periods it looked as though the Irish would just edge it, as they were up in as many games as they were down and level in the others.

However, there were a couple of amazing individual England performances notably the display by McEvoy Trophy winner Tommy Hunter in his match against Douglas golfer Aaron O'Callaghan.

O'Callaghan actually eagled Harlech's longest hole the 517 yard eighth and neither player had a chance of winning holes unless they had birdies.

In the end, Hunter squeezed home on the last green to gain a vital point for England and break Irish hearts.

And further down the order, David Rawluk, the Dubliner who plays at the Island Club, squandered a two hole advantage to Alex MacGregor and went down on the home green.

Michael Mulryan was also one up on Paul Grannell late in the game and he lost on the 17th.

Irish captain Ciaran Burke said afterwards: "It all started going pear-shaped after the turn. This is the sort of course on which matches can completely change on the closing holes. For that reason it is a great links course, a great match-play course, but not great for Ireland today."

There were splendid Irish successes for Cian McNamara, Graham Shaw, Ciaran McAleavey and Rory McIlroy but those four wins were not quite enough.

In the end, however, it all came down to the match between Nicholas Grant from Knock and Andrew Brabant. It was neck-and-neck almost the entire way with not more than a hole separating the players.

One ahead with two to go, Brabant hit the most immaculate second shot to within a few feet of the pin on the seventeenth to close the door on Grant and on Ireland's championship hopes.

"It was a great week's performance by our boys, but in the end we could not quite make it," said skipper Burke.