Home from home for Shields but Foyle still get the upper hand
Daily Mail
12 May 2009
FOR John Shields, Portsalon’s first round match in the Irish Mail All-Ireland Trophy promised to be a home away from home. The North Donegal club was drawn away at Foyle in Londonderry where Shields spent seven years as greenkeeper and member before moving to Portsalon. With his intimate knowledge, he probably knew more about the course than the two members of the Foyle team he was up against – Brendan Barr and Martin Loughrey. Foyle secretary John Logue said: ‘He was at the club almost every day for seven years, so it’s fair to say local knowledge doesn’t come any more local than that.’ Shields could not have done any better, going around in a two-under-par gross score, and with his partner Adrian McGranahan had opened up a two hole lead by the 14th, but Barr and Loughrey were up to the challenge and won the 15th and 17th to take the tie to sudden death which they won on the 19th hole. ‘It was a thrilling match and a dramatic finish. Brendan and Martin have known John and played with him on many occasions while he was a Foyle member,’ added Logue. Meanwhile Tipperary, the first ever Irish men’s team to win the Daily Mail Foursomes back in 1980, have started their challenge for the successor competition, the Irish Mail Trophy, with a dramatic victory over Mitchelstown on the 18th green by Michael Keaty and Liam Rafferty. The final of the Irish Mail All-Ireland Fourball Trophy is to be played at the spectacular Macreddin course, designed by Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley, in September. |
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