McDonnell Cup V Hollywood Lakes
McDonnell Cup 2024 1st Round 9th May
Sutton begin defence of McDonnell Cup with a thrilling win over Hollywood Lakes in a closely fought encounter. With 3 matches away and a new squad, Sutton delivered a sweet victory with some excellent scoring and new heroes.
Fred Gilbert and debutant Dave Walsh led off at home. They led off in style, were never headed and after turning 1 up threw in some killer punches from Hole 10 to 12 allowing our lads to enjoy an early tea with a 5&4 win. This early momentum was critical– thanks lads played super and what a start for Sutton.
Our 1st game away again saw Chris Long and Paul Leech. This was always going to be tough as late changes is always tough in an away match with the lads not getting chance to practice together beforehand. Despite this, Paul and Chris battled hard, were very competitive but were up against a strong lead off 1 st pair in Hollywood Lakes team, before eventually going down by 4.
2nd team out away in Hollywood Lakes saw the seasoned Simon English and debutant Mark Banahan. Simon claims he focused on the mentoring as Mark was on fire and chalking up routine birdie and pars on his way. No doubt Simon is being modest as they both played super together to record a remarkable 4 UP away win – this was the AWAY result we wanted at the outset.
The 3rd team away say David Jones and Justin Ray take on a combative pair from Hollywood Lakes. While the overall match was played in excellent spirits, this game had a bit of tetch and spice which David very neatly called the opposition on. It was another good match with Hollywood Lakes just up when the game was called in early as the Match was closed out in Sutton.
For Match 2 in Sutton, we had the experienced Brian Deane and the late entrant Robbie Lyons. Hard luck and sensible calls by the men that were sick, Robbie grabbed his chance and was in. Hollywood started in blistering fashion with their bearded Declan getting em 3 up. Brian and Robbie clawed their way back into it and levelled by 9. The bearded Declan was at it again and Hollywood won 10 and 11 with par and birdie to put us 2 down again. Brian and Robbie had levelled it again coming out of the field with a great par and birdie of their own. The Sutton supporters had gathered around this key match by now and everyone knew this was the decider. On 15 Deano got a majestic up and down to halve the hole and start the break in Declan’s incredible play to this point. 16 saw the big shift with Robbie getting a real solid 5 where Hollywood started leaking shots – we were ahead for the 1st time. The 17th needed the calmness of Brian to get out of Thompsons to halve the hole. 1 up going down 18 with the crowd watching..
We didn’t just hang on – we won it with style. A beautiful drive down the fairway and 7 iron to 18 feet from the flag by the marauding Lyons. Hollywood sensed their time was up, and it soon was, as Robbie and Deano figured out the slider putt to graze the hole for birdie attempt and the calmest of par putts from 11 inches to win the win the game and overall match! JOY!!!
Overall, a very good Sutton 3:2 win against an experienced and gracious Hollywood Lakes. We now await winners of Swords/Donabate before 26 th June with 3 matches away – a tough but exciting challenge ahead. Victory celebrations were held in the clubhouse with a nice curry and several pints
A great day all round for McDonnell in SGC.
