Ulster Fourball team first round match against North West G.C.
The Ulster Fourball team began the defence of their trophy at home to the Donegal club North West.
Alongside the usual old guard there were four new players in action to replace the sadly missed absentees from last season’s squad who were unavailable for selection. All four accompanied by seasoned partners were victorious in their matches, notably Sean McAnenly partnering Gerry Kelly who won 6 & 5 and Anthony Fagan, of Junior Cowdy experience and Kevin Ward who won 3 & 2. The half-way result was four wins and one defeat with County Armagh nine holes up.All of the players in the return leg on Sunday 1st May had made the trip to Buncrana to practise, a number of them taking the opportunity of the holiday week to play. This stood them in good stead as this delightful, tight, tricky links course was very different from our own parkland course.
The determined home side lead from the front and using their home advantage defeated first pair Kevin Ward and Alan Johnston, winning 4 & 3. This was countered by County Armagh's experienced pair, Dudley Marjoram and Tim Teahan who had a resounding 6 & 4 victory over a less accomplished North West rear guard. The intervening pairs, who were a mixture of old and new squad members, battled doggedly to counter their opponents and by holding their matches around all square, denied North West any sizeable wins.
The matches were called in on the 16th and 17th holes when it was impossible for North West to exceed the County Armagh tally of 11 holes.