Leinster do the double in Skerries

The Leinster U18 Boys’ and U18 Girls’ teams were both triumphant at the U18 Interprovincial Matches on a sunny Friday at Skerries Golf Club, where the Girls’ team completed a famous five-in-a-row.

In the Girls’ event, Leinster and Munster secured a win and a tie on the opening day to setup today’s decider, with Munster going into the contest ahead by a half match point.

Defending champions Leinster came flying out of the traps with a 4&3 win in the top foursomes match for Sadhbh Kelly (Bray) & Elsa Chen (Grange), which set the tone for the rest of the matchup. Eleven-year-old Mirah Mijumbi (Roganstown) claimed an impressive 4&2 victory over Julia Falvey Ryan (Fota Island) in Match Two, before Sophie Park (Grange) sealed the win in Match Three with a 4&3 success over Mia Digby (Ballybunion).

Niamh O’Sullivan (Mallow) would go on to secure a full point for Munster in the last singles match, whilst Jessica Sutton (Ballyneety) and Grace Dowdall (Forrest Little) couldn’t be separated in a fantastic encounter that saw Sutton earn a half point on 18.

“The girls were fabulous today, they were so good. It looked a bit tight coming around nine, but then they just put the foot down and it was fairly convincing in the end. It was brilliant” said Leinster Captain Aimee McLaughlin (Laytown & Bettystown).

Today’s win completed a famous five-in-a-row for Leinster, three of which McLaughlin and Team Manager Martine Denihan (Forrest Little) have been at the helm for.

“Myself and Martine have been doing this together for three years now, that’s three-in-a-row, we get on so well together. We share the role completely, it’s brilliant”.

McLaughlin hailed her special team of youngsters, who didn’t let surprisingly wide age gaps get in the way of glory.

“They’re a great bunch of girls, they’re a very diverse team. We’ve girls as young as eleven, coming all the way up to girls who just played their last U18 event.”

In the other Girls’ match, Connacht and Ulster played out a 2.5-2.5 draw, which resulted in Connacht pipping Ulster to third place.

In the Boys’, the home favourites had notched up a pair of 3-2 wins over Ulster and Connacht on Day One to tee up an exciting finale with Munster, who themselves won by those exact same scorelines, meaning neither could be separated going into today.

Finn Jolly (Dun Laoghaire) & William Walshe (Delgany) led from the front for Leinster and took the opening point with a 3&2 win over Ruairi Sherwood (Kinsale) & Donnacha Halpin (Shannon). Tadhg Murphy (Millicent) was first out in the singles for Leinster and despite Cian McDonnell (Monkstown) taking him deep into the back nine, Sherwood came out on top 2&1.

Leinster only required one more point to retain their crown and they earned it in the next singles match through Gavin Duffy (Edenderry), who went the distance with James O’Callaghan (Killarney), before ultimately securing a two-hole win on the last.

In the aftermath, Leinster captain Brian Cunningham (Carton House) paid tribute to a tight title decider.

“Munster played fantastic yesterday, won two matches like we did. Every match was tight – 11,12 holes we were one up, we were a little ahead which is the position we much prefer to be in. We just snuck ahead over the next couple of holes and we got it over the line in end. It’s always hard, these matches are very tight. It’s always down to a couple of putts. We played great today.”

Partnering Cunningham on the Leinster leadership ticket was clubmate Paul O’Hanlon, who just missed out on Mullingar Scratch Trophy glory on Monday, but it was clear to Cunningham that O’Hanlon’s influence could not be underestimated.

“Paul really earned everyone’s respect last week when he finished second in Mullingar. These lads all listened to him and I think that definitely was worth a hole to us in each match. Having someone of his experience, his quality and his class, he makes me look good. He gives me some credibility!”

In the battle for third, as with the Girls’, Connacht and Ulster played out a 2.5.-2.5 tie that saw the pair end the week in tied third.