Amateur golfAmateur newsGUI All-Ireland Inter-Club Fourball, Nuremore Hotel and Country Club, Nenagh Golf Club

Nenagh win GUI All-Ireland Inter-Club Four-Ball

Amateur golfAmateur newsGUI All-Ireland Inter-Club Fourball, Nuremore Hotel and Country Club, Nenagh Golf Club
Nenagh win GUI All-Ireland Inter-Club Four-Ball
Billy Burke (Nenagh) bunkered at the 16th green during the 2018 GUI All Ireland Fourball Final at Limerick Golf Club today (16/09/2018). Picture by Pat Cashman

Billy Burke (Nenagh) bunkered at the 16th green during the 2018 GUI All Ireland Fourball Final at Limerick Golf Club today (16/09/2018). Picture by Pat Cashman

Nenagh took the spoils in Limerick to win the GUI All-Ireland Inter-Club Four-Ball Championship for 2018.

Billy Burke (70) and David McGrath (41) kept it together down the last to secure victory for the Tipperary club, delivering the decisive point as Nenagh beat Nuremore 3.5-1.5.

Earlier, Billy Morgan and Dinny Ryan combined for a 7&6 success in the top match to put Nenagh ahead. With Noel O'Dwyer and Garry Howard adding a second point for Nenagh in match three, Burke and McGrath were centre-stage in a tense finale.

When the Nenagh pair won the 12th go three up against Pat Sheridan and Seamus Tierney, it seemed a done deal but their opponents from Nuremore were not prepared to give up without a fight and they won two of the next four holes to keep the contest alive.

After losing 16 to par, Nenagh were shaken but they managed to halve 17 and retained their slender advantage playing the last. Both players found the fairway with their drives and when McGrath landed his approach pin-high, Nenagh could sense victory. Nuremore failed to make par and when McGrath rolled his birdie putt within three feet of the hole, Nenagh knew the trophy was theirs.

"I'm absolutely drained after that," said Nenagh team captain Hugh Maher. "I keep saying to our guys: Let golf be won on good golf, not on bad golf. That's the way it's also been won with us. I know you can talk about handicaps but you have to play the golf at the end of the day. And our guys played good golf every day."

GUI All-Ireland Inter-Club Four-Ball Championship, Limerick Golf Club

All-Ireland Final

Nuremore 1.5 Nenagh 3.5 (Nuremore names first)

  1. Gerry Eakin & John Kiernan lost to Billy Morgan & Dinny Ryan 7&6;

  2. Pat Sheridan & Seamus Tierney lost to David McGrath & Billy Burke 1H;

  3. Brian Og Carson & Cathal O’Gorman lost to Garry Howard & Noel O'Dwyer 7&6;

  4. Fabian Kerley & Thomas McMahon beat Denis Sherlock & William Harty 6&5;

  5. Brian Busby & Stephen Sweeney halved with Charles Cavanagh & Paddy Martin

Semi-Finals

Portumna 1.5 Nuremore 3.5 (Portumna names first)

  1. David Hughes & Joe O'Brien lost to Gerry Eakin & John Kiernan 2&1;

  2. Alan Hayes & Philip Madden beat Pat Sheridan & Seamus Tierney 3&2;

  3. Niall Tierney & Eamon Lynch lost to Brian Og Carson & Cathal O’Gorman 2&1;

  4. Kenneth Kelly & Brian Grogan lost to Fabian Kerley & Thomas McMahon 3&2;

  5. Alan Page & Donal Hourigan halved with Brian Busby & Stephen Sweeney

Nenagh 4 Malahide 1 (Nenagh names first)

  1. Billy Morgan & Dinny Ryan beat Michael Gaffney & Paraic A Conlon 2&1;

  2. David McGrath & Billy Burke beat Eamon Donnelly & Paul A Murray 6&5;

  3. Garry Howard & Noel O'Dwyer beat Gary Mahood & Michael Murray 1H;

  4. Paddy Martin & Charles Cavanagh halved with Noel Minihan & Kieran O'Dwyer;

  5. Denis Sherlock & William Harty halved with Seamus Gallagher & Andrew Roche