Ireland will wonder what might have been had Hugh Foley not been floored by a vomiting bug for the majority of their Men’s Octagonal Matches campaign in Cadiz.
A stomach bug wreaked havoc on most of the teams participating as Foley missed out on Ireland’s opening two wins of the competition before returning for Friday’s defeat to hosts and holders Spain.
The Boys in Green would have been expecting Foley and Matt McClean to spearhead the charge given they won three out of three matches in the foursomes last year, but the North and South of Ireland champion was unable to take part in the early matches and when he did return against Spain and England he and McClean were beaten on 17 and 18 in their foursomes matches.
The Royal Dublin golfer was determined not to end the week empty handed though and he secured a 1UP victory over England’s Tyler Weaver in the afternoon singles of Ireland’s 5-4 defeat.
“Today was good, I was happy to get out. Had a vomiting bug all week so it was good to get out and play and get back healthier today.”
Ireland led 2-1 after the morning foursomes despite Foley and McClean going down 1UP to Harley Smith and Weaver. However, England went unbeaten in five of the six singles matches, winning three as they secured a narrow win.
In a tight contest five of the six matches went the distance with only McClean’s match with Frank Kennedy coming to an end on 17.
Foley was the only Irishman to win a singles match on Saturday – putting Ireland 3-2 up at the time – and he was looking at the bigger picture in terms of the 2023 season.
“It was disappointing, we got close, a match went down 17, most went down 18 there so we are a little disappointed to finish fourth. Probably came close to Spain as well so we would have hoped to do a little bit better than that this week but not a bad month to get sharpened up.
“Lots of golf, lots of good golf, birdies, fast greens so definitely sharpened up going to South Africa with the Men’s panel in February. We have three tournaments, one in Leopard Creek and then two in Durban. We have five or six of us going so hopefully we are sharpened up now and ready to go for the season.”
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