IRISH LADIES GOLF UNION PRESS RELEASE

ILGU INTER-CLUB FINALS
Ardee Golf Club
14-17 September 2011

EAST CORK WIN JUNIOR CUP AS HEAVY RAIN DELAYS OTHER FINALS

Day three of the ILGU Inter-club Championships at Ardee Golf Club, Co. Louth, saw play disrupted twice due to heavy rain which forced the suspension of play. East Cork were the only team to claim a national title as they defeated Newlands in a gripping final of the Junior Cup.
At the half way stage of the final, Newlands held the advantage by leading in four of the five matches. Danielle Colgan was first to deliver a point for the Dubliner’s with a 7 and 5 win in the bottom match.
Sarah O’Brien was always in control of the top match and drew East Cork level with a 4 and 3 win over Rebecca O’Regan. Claire Keegan again put Newlands ahead thanks to a win by the same margin in the penultimate game before Mairead Ni Mhurchu turned around a one hole deficit through the turn to give East Cork another point with a 2 and 1 win in the second match. Attention then turned to the middle game where Anne Marie Hughes had a commanding 4up lead after nine holes. However, East Cork’s Deirdre Harte produced some magnificent golf to reduce the deficit to two holes by the 13th and won the 17th to keep the match alive before a regulation par 3 at the 18th was enough to send the tie into extra holes. As darkness fell, Harte held her nerve and a solid 2 putts from the front edge of the 19th green at the was enough to take the title for the leesiders, much to the delight of their many travelling supporters.
East Cork also progressed to tomorrow’s Challenge Cup final as they were always in control of their semi final tie against Loughrea. Breda McCarthy lead the Munster champions with a 7&6 win in the first match and was followed by Rosie Becker and Regina Browner in the third and fourth matches who recorded wins by margins of 4&2 and 3&2 to complete what appeared to be a comfortable victory. Woodenbridge will be their opponents in tomorrow’s final following a narrow win against Spa in the other semi final. Clare Murray and Marie Belton had impressive 7 and 5 and 7 and 6 wins for Woodenbridge at the top and bottom of the order but Gwenyth Cordner and Lynne Robinson struck back for Spa with nail-biting 1up wins. Christine Galbraith ended the Spa comeback and delivered the all important point for Woodenbridge by defeating Ena Kirkpatrick on the 19th.
Curra West and Craddockstown booked their places in the final of the Junior Foursomes with wins over Castlecomer and Tralee respectively. The Curra West pairings of Martina McDonagh & Ann Fahy and Carmel Cunningham & Mary McDonagh recorded convincing victories in the top two matches by margins of 4 and 2 and 5 and 3.
 However Craddockstown required extra holes as Audrey Quinn & Joan Fitzgerald secured the first point for Craddockstown with a 4&3 win before Maria McGrath & Catherine McCarthy leveled the tie for Tralee just moments later. Miriam Doyle & Aine Keogh, playing in the top match advances their side to the final with a well fought victory at the first extra hole.
Earlier in the day, Roscommon defeated Douglas in the quarter final playoff of the Senior Foursomes giving them an afternoon semi final tie versus Malahide, while Enniscorthy and City of Derry contested the other semi final. Play was eventually suspended in these ties at 19:40 due to failed light, as well as in the Intermediate Final between Loughrea & Mullingar and the Minor Cup Final of Roscrea versus Templemore. Play will resume on Saturday at 08:20 when the Senior Foursomes semi finals will be concluded before the winners of the Intermediate, Minor and Challenge Cup will be determined in addition to the Junior and Senior Foursomes.

RESULTS
Friday 16th September
Senior Foursomes
Quarter Final
DOUGLAS 1 - 2 ROSCOMMON
Karen O'Neill (0) & Mairin Martin (14) bt Sinead Benedetti (1) & Mary Lalor (13) 19th
Aoife Lane (5) & Deirdre M O'Hanlon (9) lost to Mary Seymour (5) & Paula Keane (11) 1up
Kate MacCann (3) & Maeliosa Kelleher (13) lost to Rosemary O'Brien (9) & Blaithin O'Brien (11) 2&1
Junior Foursomes
Semi Finals
CURRA WEST 2½ - ½ CASTLECOMER
Martina McDonagh (17) & Ann Fahy (18) bt Betty Owens (17) & Margaret Furlong (18) 4&2
Carmel Cunningham (16) & Mary McDonagh (22) bt Joan Brennan (16) & Eileen Fogarty (20) 5&3
Mary Madden (20) & Mary Kelly (24) halved with Teresa Manning (17) & Ita Madigan (20) (Called in)
CRADDOCKSTOWN 2 - 1 TRALEE
Miriam Doyle (17) & Aine Keogh (18) bt Phil Stack (17) & Norah Quinlan (19) 19th
Audrey Quinn (17) & Joan Fitzgerald (18) bt Mary Murphy (16) & Ber Collins (20) 4&3
Eileen Jones (15) & Marie Flynn (21) lost to Maria McGrath (17) & Catherine McCarthy (20) 5&3

Challenge Cup
Semi Finals
WOODENBRIDGE 3 - 2 SPA
Clare Murray (31) bt Doreen McKee (30) 7&5
Christine Galbraith (31) bt Ena Kirkpatrick (30) 19th
Ann Murphy (31) lost to Gwyneth Cordner (30) 1up
Patricia McDonnell (31) lost to Lynne Robinson (31) 1up
Marie Belton (32) bt Teresa Hazzard (31) 7&6

LOUGHREA 1 - 4 EAST CORK
Anne Regan (30) lost to Breda McCarthy (30) 7&6
Tess Callanan (30) halved with Liz Moloney (31) (Called in)
Kathy Newell (31) lost to Rosie Becker (31) 4&2
Helen Cloonan (34) lost to Regina Browner (32) 3&2
Sinead Brady (36) halved with Barbara McKeown (33) (Called in)

Junior Cup
Final
NEWLANDS 2 - 3 EAST CORK
Rebecca O'Regan (9) lost to Sarah O'Brien (10) 4&3
Orla Heffernan (9) lost to Mairead ni Mhurchu (11) 2&1
Anne Marie Hughes (11) Deirdre Harte (13)
Claire Keegan (14) bt Ann O'Connell (14) 4&3
Danielle Colgan (15) bt Martha Maher (14) 7&5
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday 17th September
08:20 Resume Play - Senior Foursomes Semi Final: First match of City of Derry -v- Enniscorthy
08:30 Resume Play - Senior Foursomes Semi Final: All other matches of City of Derry -v- Enniscorthy and
Roscommon -v- Malahide
10:00 Junior Foursomes Final: Curra West -v- Craddockstown
10:30 Challenge Cup Final: Woodenbridge -v- East Cork
11:00 Resume Play - Intermediate Cup Final: Loughrea -v- Mullingar & Minor Cup Final: Roscrea -v- Templemore
12:00 Senior Foursomes Final