McDonnell Cup V Roganstown
McDonnell Cup 2024 Semi Final Round 11th July - Sutton back in McDonnell Cup for 2nd year running after narrow win over Roganstown GC .
Our Away men provided the heroics while the games at home were tight, Sutton delivered another determined victory – getting to back to finals is a super achievement. Fred Gilbert and Dave Jones were again first out at home. It was tight in the front 9. Dave and Fred playing nicely but it was Roganstown who had a narrow 1 shot lead at the 9th. Dave and Fred continued to fight bravely to get back level after 11. On 17, Fred got a super up and down to win the hole in spite giving away a shot to opponents to take us down 18 all square. It wasn’t for us on 18th however with Roganstown getting the win overall in the 1st match at home. A close and tough result to take but the guys will bounce back.
1st team out away in Roganstown was our Postmen (who always deliver!), Simon English and Mark Banahan step up. Simon and Mark got a quick start again thankfully, but the Roganstown lads were tough and didn’t give in easy. Mark and Simon can deal with these challenges though and got another win 3 up. Superb.
The 2nd team away saw Brian Cole join Justin Ray to take on another strong pair from Roganstown. The match was tight with Brian and Justin going 2 down early. Reports were slow in coming through as our roving reporter couldn’t locate the guys...and then when radio silence was broken the great news that we had turned it around brilliantly to go 3 up came through 12 – very welcome news as the tide was turning to Roganstown in the Sutton matches. Justin and Brian went dormy 3 up but Roganstown fought hard and brought it down the last – a super up and down on the last Brian broke the Roganstown resolve and we had our 2 nd away win – Amazing!
For Match 2 in Sutton, we had the Brian and Robbie show – birdies, almost a hole in 1, chip ins and a plethora of gaffes from both sides too.. Sutton grabbed the initiative towards end of Front 9 and went 2 up. We rode our luck on 13 and 14 to hang onto a tight lead. A whispered word in the ear of Brian and Robbie let them know their match was now critical – of course they responded brilliantly with Robbie winning 16 and Brian winning 17 to win 2 up – this win gave us the match overall and warmed up the freezing and nervous Sutton supporters. A hat trick of wins completed for this duo.
Match 3 in Sutton was Chris Long and Dan O’Grady. Keeping with the theme of the home matches, we went up early but then Roganstown got back into it. We went 2 down after 13 but Chris and Dan responded superbly to the challenge and won the 2 par 3’s – 14 and 15 to level the match. We looked in good position for a win when the match overall was called for Sutton as the lads had just teed off on 18.
Overall, a very good Sutton 3.5:1.5 win against a gracious Roganstown. We are back in the McDonnell final for the 2nd year in a row. This is a fantastic achievement where the squad has changed so much as handicaps of 5 of the 2023 McDonnell winners meant they were unavailable for 2024. New faces have come in and done really well for Sutton in Interclub matchplay…. A greatsignal for the Club.
We now await winners of Corballis/Margarets in a 2 leg final before 26 th August - an exciting prospect ahead.
