True Grit, Determination And Skill Sees Brendan Moloney Take Gold As Ardnacrusha Secure 1st And 2nd Place In The Junior Section!
On Saturday 5th July the morning saw the Over 55's National Strokeplay championships kick off with the Junior section of the competition. Strong winds early on saw difficult conditions on a tough course in the wind in Riverdale.
Ardnacrusha had a strong representation in the Junior section with Brendan Moloney, PJ Ryan, Eugene McNamara and Brian Dillon all representing the club at the event. With Brendan Moloney emerging as an All Ireland Champion and PJ Ryan adding a silver medal to the bronze he picked up in the National Matchplay earlier in the year.
A Back 9 For The History Books
In tough, windy conditions to start both Brendan and PJ put in respectable first 18 scores with Brendan hitting a 59 (+5) and PJ keeping himself in the running with a 57 (+3). This found the lads sitting between 8th & 12th for the first 18 scoring not out of it, but with plenty of work to do. PJ has proven he's a man for the nationals and dug in to produce a level par (54) back 18 to give himself a chance of a medal depending on how the rest of the field faired in the second 18.
After 27 holes Brendan was sitting at +6, a respectable score considering the conditions. He must of sensed an opportunity there though and proceeded to play the best back 9 of his life! He started by hitting consecutive birdies on the 10th, 11th & 12th to pull himself back to +3. He then hit the pitch shot short and followed it with a chip that still left him an 8ft putt with a right to left break and holed it for par on the 13th. Took par at the14th and chipped in for birdie on the 15th. +2 with 3 holes to play and then chipped the ball dead to save par on the 16th. He finished the 9 hole run with back to back birdies on the 17th & 18th to have a -6 (21) back 9 and finish level par for the 36 holes. After an agonizing wait for all the other competitors to finish it was confirmed, Brendan was all Ireland Champion with PJ getting second, an unbelievable result for the lads and something the club is incredibly proud of!
A Silver Medal For Pacelli Darcy in The Seniors On Sunday After Another Determined Back 9
Sunday afternoon saw the Senior section of the competition taking place with Pacelli Darcy representing Ardnacrusha. Conditions proved difficult and Pacelli found himself +2 (29) after 9 holes. He battled back on the back 9 of the first 18 with a -3 (24) to leave himself -1 after 18 holes. The front 9 proved tricky again and Pacelli shot +1 (28) to find himself level par after 27 holes and out of the running for a medal as things stood. Then on the back 9 Pacelli put in an excellent -4 (23) as others around were flagging in the conditions and that meant Pacelli picking up the Silver medal overall in a superb performance with his 51 (-3) back 18 beating 3 others that also finished on -4!
Pacelli, PJ and Brendan have all shown the true Ardnacrusha fighting spirit over the weekend proving that it really isn't over until its over and fighting until the last can pay dividends!
To emerge having claimed 3 of the 9 medals on offer in this National competition is a phenomenal achievement for the club and one we are incredibly proud of.
Congratulations to all who represented Ardnacrusha impeccably at this event over the weekend where we also had Cyril Bourke and Ger Ryan representing us in the Intermediate Grade, well done lads and lets hope for more impressive performances at the Munster Championships in Collins next weekend!
