Lahinch’s Walsh delighted with Ireland’s Hexagonal performance

Aideen Walsh was proud of how Ireland performed on their tournament debut at the Women’s International Hexagonal Matches as they made the championship decider with eventual winners and hosts Spain.

Golf Ireland sent a team of six to Costa Ballena comprising of women and girls with Walsh one of the more experienced heads while Roscommon’s Olivia Costello was the youngest at 14.

The Girls in Green performed admirably including a superb Friday afternoon showing that saw them pip Sweden to second place in the group to tee up a winner takes all clash with Spain which Ireland were beaten 6-3 despite six matches going the distance.

“The main goal was to be in the first and second match so it was great to get a game with Spain. Six matches went to 18 which shows how tight it was. It was a great battle and great fun as well,” Walsh told Golf Ireland.

“Overall it was a brilliant week, and thanks to everyone in Golf Ireland for sending a women’s team. It was the first time that we have been sent to this tournament and hopefully there will be many more teams that will get the opportunity.

“It was great to have a mix of girls and women in the team. Everyone got on really well and enjoyed the week. A special thanks to Helen Jones and Donal Scott for helping us and making the week as enjoyable as possible for all of us.”

Walsh had already been in competitive action in the Portuguese amateur while Kate Lanigan has been competing in the R&A Student Series recently and the Ulster Strokeplay champion was pleased to have the opportunity to be part of a team environment last week.

“It was a great tournament, great setup and really good teams here. You had teams from Germany, Sweden, Spain. There was six altogether so it was all really competitive matches,” said Walsh.

“A big thanks to Golf Ireland. It’s great to get the season started nice and early. It’s great for us to be over here, the weather was nice and the practice facilities were really good and the course was really nice. So that was great for us to get us going.”