No apologies as Father and Son turn on the style for Navan

Donal and Ciaran Geraghty of Navan

Daily Mail
28 Apr 2009

A FATHER and son teamed up for a famous family victory to put Navan into the second round of the Irish Mail All-Ireland Fourball Trophy.

Donal and Ciaran Geraghty beat Ardee’s Declan Haughey and Ciaran Murtagh on the 18th green after a thrilling match and then revealed the secret of their success – they never say sorry.

Donal Geraghty, who runs a family insurance business, said: ‘ ‘We are an excellent team together. We have a family rule, no apologies and no sorrys. Neither of us will intentionally play a bad shot and giving out to one another is a bad recipe for any pairing. The other thing is that we dovetail very well together. If he is out, I am in and vice versa.’

Ciarian, 17, who attends St Patrick’s Classical School in Navan, celebrated the victory with a livelier than usual gig at the town’s Knights Bar, where he is resident DJ in his spare time. His father said: ‘After leaving school, Ciaran hopes to study media and then become the Irish version of DJ Tiesto!’

In the match Ardee looked like they had the advantage on the 17th tee when Donal drove out of bounds to leave Ciaran on his own, but the youngster did not let Navan down, getting up and down to win the hole. With both Ardee players driving into trouble on the 18th, Navan were left with two easy putts for victory, which they took. In a high class game, there was never more than one hole in it and only three holes were bogeyed.

Donal said: ‘There was a time when Ciaran would be 30 yards behind me off the tee and now it is the opposite. Our proudest moment together was winning the club fourball championship to qualify for the Irish Mail Trophy. Ciaran when he was younger used to caddie for me when I represented the club. Now I caddie for him.’