Ireland hold off Welsh fightback to grab early initiative

IRELAND made a winning start to the defence of their R&A Trophy in the Boys Home Internationals over the Royal and St David’s links at Harlech yesterday — but they were made to fight hard for victory over hosts Wales.

They got there in the end 8½-6½ and on course for their third title in four years and will today face Scotland who went down 9-6 to England.

Irish captain Liam Martin was a very relieved man last night: “I am pleased we got out of this game with a win. They certainly gave us something to think about and at one stage this afternoon it really did look as though it could have gone either way.

“The success of Irish golf is largely due to the development of the inter-provincial structure and clubs now realise that they have to look to the future and encourage their youngsters if this success is to continue” added Martin, whose spell as captain ends this year.

At one stage in the morning it looked as though Ireland would demolish Wales, but there was a sudden turnaround as Kieran Lynch and John Galbraith lost the last three holes to Otto Mand and Delon Hau, only halving a game they seemed certain to win.

Ireland lunched with a 3-2 advantage and for most of the afternoon it was exceptionally tight with the tie hanging in the balance, but they delivered in vital games.

In the middle of the order Keagan Cummings and Kieran Lynch secured 17th hole triumphs over Oliver Baker and David Boote, the 2010 and current Welsh Boys Champions respectively. In particularly fine form was Alex Gleeson, who crushed Hau 6&4, being two under par in the process. He was one up at the turn and then won five holes on the bounce to settle the issue.

Gavin Moynihan was another big winner, beating Ryan Haskell by the same margin, finishing off the match with a birdie two on the 14th where he fired a three iron to within 12 feet of the stick.

Gary Hurley’s last green victory over Oliver Mottram was a crucial point.

Meanwhile, Garth McGimpsey spearheads a strong Irish assault on the British Seniors Open Amateur Championship, which begins today over the challenging Royal Portrush links. The former Walker Cup captain from Bangor is one of the early starters this morning going out just after 7am with American Robert Morris and Robert Fox.

Tipperary’s Arthur Pierse, winner at Nairn in 2007 is again bidding for glory and is also a breakfast-time starter. Barry Reddan of County Louth, Paraic O’Rourke of Kilkenny, Tony Hayes from the K Club, Mourne’s Hugh Smyth, Liam MacNamara from Woodbrook and Cork’s Tom Cleary are among the other Irish hopefuls in the 54-hole competition.

The battle for places in next month’s Walker Cup match will be very much on the minds of the Irish players bidding for glory in the European Amateur Individual Championship which gets under way at Halmstad, Sweden today.

Portstewart’s Paul Cutler appears virtually assured of a Walker Cup spot but he will be keen to finally clinch his trip to Aberdeen. Kevin Phelan, who qualified for last years’s US Open and subsequently made his Irish international debut at Ashburnham is quite capable of delivering the goods while Alan Dunbar, Paul Dunne and Richard O’Donovan have been in form this season. For teenager Dermot McElroy of Ballymena this is a major move onto the international stage.

The 144 players complete a round on each of the next three days and there is a cut for the final 18 holes.

And Ireland will attempt to shelve the wooden spoonists tag when they battle it out in the Girls Home Internationals at Gullane over the next three days. Last year they finished bottom of the pile at Bangor in Northern Ireland collecting a total of seven points in losing to England, Wales and Scotland.