County Armagh Golf Club's increasingly impressive Ulster Cup crew recently extended their stay in this year's tournament with what turned out to be a routine third-round dismissal of South Armagh outfit Ashfield.
Marty Daly's charges adopted a no-nonsense approach to the first leg on Sunday 3 June, and the home team were on red-hot form in the searing Cathedral City sunshine. In the construction of a surely insurmountable 6-1 and 24-hole lead, there were home wins for Patrick Brannigan, Paul Corvan, Paul McCurry, Batty McGurgan, Nigel McMahon and Cormac O'Hare, while only a last-hole defeat for skipper Daly prevented a clean sweep.
For the return leg in Cullyhanna a week later on 10 June, the County Armagh line-up was unchanged but showed a few measured alterations to the order of play. In tricky conditions more akin to links golf, the lads once again set about their job in an efficient manner, no doubt keen to book their place in the next phase as quickly as possible.
And as Club Captain, Colm Shannon, watched on and relayed score information, Corvan, Daly and McGurgan put three decisive points on the board almost simultaneously, leaving Ashfield's helmsman with little choice but to call in the remaining matches and raise the white flag.
So, Ashfield go the way of Greenisland and Portstewart before them in succumbing to this effective County Armagh squad. Next up for Marty's men is a fourth-round meeting with Donegal outfit Ballybofey in coming weeks, when they'll hope to their keep their Ulster Cup fires burning brightly.
In the meantime, best of luck to our Fred Daly, Jimmy Bruen and All-Ireland Four-Ball sides this weekend (16-17 July) as they continue their adventures in those competitions with encounters against Cairndhu, Kilrea and North West respectively.