Ireland suffered a six-point defeat to England on the opening day of the R&A Girls and Boys Home Internationals at Downfield Golf Club in Dundee.
The Girls and Boys in Green went down 13.5-7.5 after they were dominated in the afternoon singles, winning just four of the fourteen matches.
Douglas star Jack Murphy, Knock’s Katie Poots, Marina Joyce-Moreno and Malone’s Fionn Dobbin all put green on the board in the afternoon while Roganstown’s Sean Keeling halved his match with Ben Brown.
Munster Boys champion Murphy was excellent as he led Ireland to a 2&1 win in the opening singles match over Dyal Shaw-Radford.
Irish Girls champion Poots beat Amelia Wan by the same margin while Joyce-Moreno won 1Up against Imogen Williamson.
Dobbin edged Joe Sykes of Goodwood by a 2&1 margin.
It was a day that started very positively for the Irish who raced into a 0-2 lead in the morning foursomes thanks to a 2&1 win for Murphy and Keeling before Clandeboye’s Rebekah Gardner and Elm Park’s Emma Flemming produced a stunning performance en route to a thumping 8&7 win over Sophia Fullbrook and Ellen Yates.
Some revenge for Gardner perhaps after Melbourne’s Fullbrook upstaged her in the English Open.
England won the next three foursomes ties to turn the match on its head before Poots who is enjoying a superb year combined with Olivia Costello of Roscommon to win 4&2 over Rosie Bee Kim and Isla McDonald O’Brien.
The English team took a 4-3 lead into the afternoon after Aodhagan Brady of Co. Sligo and Faithlegg’s Alex King were beaten 3&2.
Ireland sit bottom of the group after Wales and Scotland shared the spoils after a 10.5-10.5 tie.
Scoring HERE
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