Castletroy Golf Club end 31-year wait to claim thrilling AIG Men’s Senior Cup success

CASTLETROY Golf Club ended a 31-year wait when claiming the AIG Men’s Senior Cup with a thrilling victory over Castleknock Golf Club in Carlow on Thursday afternoon.

Castletroy had earlier defeated Rosslare (3-2) to book their places in the final.

Castletroy had come into the week as underdogs, team captain Ollie Hodges admitting that “no one really fancied us,” but the Limerick men put up an incredible fight to claim their first Men’s Senior Cup since 1993.

“It’s fantastic, it’s been a culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication since January and probably last year as well, so this group of guys has been together for a while and they have worked really hard and this is the culmination of all that hard work,” said Hodges.

“It is a really tight group, a lot of the lads have been playing there for a hell of a long time, and it’s fantastic. I’m delighted for them because they have been soldiering away without reward for 10, 15 years some of those guys, and you saw the joy on their faces at the end, that’s what it meant to them, so I’m delighted.”

The momentum swung back and forth between the two teams in the early going, Daragh O’Siochru taking the first point for Castletroy before Paul Coughlan answered back for Castleknock.

It was in the third match though where Castletroy took the lead and didn’t let go. Andrew McCormack securing a 5&4 victory before Gordan Sillet battled back against Quentin Carew to seal the win on the 18th green.

“We’re delighted to have won, it’s a real achievement for the club, there’s a huge focus on team golf in Castletroy now,” said Hodges.

“We have a lot of teams in All-Ireland finals in the coming weeks, we’ve got the junior men next week, the mixed foursomes and the junior women. The club is very proud of those teams and hopefully this is only the start of success for this year.”