Ireland win Senior Women's and Men's Home Internationals

BY FAOLÁN CAHILL

Ireland have claimed all three of the 2025 Senior Women's and Men's Home Internationals titles after a thrilling finale against England at Ferndown Golf Club.

Coming into the final day, Ireland had recorded an impressive 12-6 win over Wales before going down 10-8 to Scotland in a close encounter, meaning only a win would give the Irish any chance of taking home overall honours.

Meanwhile, the hosts were looking to complete a clean sweep after their two earlier wins, opening with an 11-7 triumph over Scotland before backing it up with a convincing 14-4 victory over the Welsh.

England led the table with their two Match Points and 25 Game Points, with both Ireland and Scotland on one Match Point each, but it was the Irish who started the day in second place with 20 Game Points to the Scots' 17. 

Ireland edged out the six morning foursomes matches with three wins to England's two, leaving the overall match score at 3.5-2.5, to set up an exciting finish in the afternoon singles matches.

Wins for the foursomes pairings of Laura Webb & Alison Taylor and Deirdre Walsh & Sinead Benedetti were followed by a half point for Deirdre Smith & Maria O'Reilly, meaning Ireland's Women went unbeaten and could add their 2.5 points to Jody Fanagan & Tony Cleary's win in match two. 

Both sides traded points early on in the singles, with Fanagan continuing his fabulous form by rounding off his week with a 7&6 win in the second singles match out.

Another point would go England's way before a sea of green splashed up on the scoreboard, which is exactly what Ireland needed if they were to overcome the five Game Points deficit to their opponents and keep Scotland at arms length. The Scots had dominated Wales in the morning and looked set to be a part of the final reckoning.

That green wave featured wins for Karl Bornemann, Tony Cleary, Alan Condren, Laura Webb, Alison Taylor, Deirdre Smith and Sinead Benedetti, which in addition to Gail Linter's halved match meant Ireland earned 7.5pts out of the remaining 9pts available.

This in turn gave a final score of 12-6 in Ireland's favour, with the six-point margin just enough to topple England in the overall standings by a solitary Game Point, whilst Scotland's 13-5 defeat of Wales was only enough to secure third place, one point behind the English.

It was a clean sweep for Ireland as the Men's Team went unbeaten with wins over England and Wales and a tied match with Scotland, whilst the Women's Team completed a memorable day by winning their trophy with a total of 17.5 Game Points, two and a half points clear of both England and Scotland, as all three teams were tied up on two wins each. 

Speaking afterwards, Laura Webb expressed the team's joy at finally getting the job done.

“It’s absolutely fantastic. Been close the last couple of years and this year to have just got over the line, we’re thrilled.”

The Royal Portrush golfer was one of the stars of the event, winning five of her six matches, which she credited to just hanging in there. 

“I think just keeping at it really, the matches have been tough, so just being able to keep going and whatever it was, it worked”

On the Men's side, it was Fanagan who shone brightest, as the only player in the event to go all six matches unbeaten, which he attributed to timing his run just right.

"Well, I think hitting form at the right time is always good, late on in the season. It’s the last event we have to play, the last couple of years haven’t gone great, we’ve struggled."

The Milltown golfer, who was part of the recent European Senior Men's Team Championship success, was clearly delighted to be bringing home more silverware after a tough three days of play.

"Every match is hard to win, You don’t get points easy, every point is hard earned. Just battled in there, the form was good, and just kept at it, we all did. We had good team spirit, and we came out on the right side of it”