After a thrilling two days, the visiting Metropolitan Golf Association (MGA) secured a 12.5-9.5 win over Golf Ireland at Portmarnock Golf Club, retaining the Carey Cup that they’ve held since 2019.
The MGA held a 5.5-4.5 lead overnight after winning the morning foursomes session 3.5-1.5 before a Golf Ireland fightback in the afternoon fourballs closed the gap, winning 3-2.
That left 12 singles matches on Friday and the MGA took control of the tie once again in the early stages as Rayee Feng took down Shannon Burke and Hana Ku defeated Clodagh Coughlan before Kate Lanigan stemmed the bleeding for Golf Ireland with a 1UP win over Corinna Limbocker.
Jessica Ross and Aideen Walsh then fell to Catherine McEvoy and Ina Kim-Schaad, but Matthew McClean got another point on the board for GI with a 5&4 win over Brad Tilley.
Three consecutive victories then sealed the deal for the MGA as Christian Cavaliere bested Keith Egan, Mark Costanza beat David Howard, and Darin Goldstein came from behind to beat Dylan Holmes.
The final three matches in the tie all went Golf Ireland’s way, as Jonathan Keane defeated Matt Lowe, David Kitt beat Chris DeJohn, and David Reddan took down Adam Friedman in the final tie.
“It was amazing. We had a great week here again,” said Ned Zachar, MGA Team Captain. “Golf Ireland organised a fantastic schedule for the entire week. The golf course, Portmarnock, it was just in superb condition, and I did what I could to put the team a good position but they just played great golf.
“I would not have guessed that foursomes would have been our best format, but we got off to a fantastic start yesterday morning and got Ireland back on their heels a little bit. They came back yesterday afternoon, and the match was nip and tuck all the way to the end.
“The friendships and relationships that we’ve built up with golf Ireland over the years has been fantastic and we really appreciate it and look forward to returning the favour in two years’ time.”
FULL SCORING
