Banbridge beat Lisburn to book a place in the Sam Rutherford decider

The semi-final of the Sam Rutherford Cup between Banbridge and Lisburn was played over the last two Sundays.

The first leg was played at Lisburn and Banbridge came away a total of 10 holes down. Team captain, Shane McCrory, wasn’t too disappointed because, for long periods of the match, it looked as if it could end up a lot worse.

Tom Mulholland and Ryan Simpson were 4 down with 4 to play but finished only 2 down. Hugo Downey and Gary McCartney finished 4 down. Neville Kerr and an inspired Mark McCoy finished 2 down.

Roy Sipson and Garreth Moody were also 4 down with 4 to play and got it back to only 2 down.

It was all to play for in the second leg at Banbridge last Sunday afternoon.

The Banbridge team couldn’t afford any mistakes and had to win by a decisive margin.

Shane Bell and Neil Comiskey set the tone when they beat Mark Jamison and Stephen Stewart by 6 holes up.

Malcolm Russell and Ryan Simpson levelled the overall score when they beat Mark Bailey and Ken Haslem by 4 holes up.

It was looking good for Banbridge at this stage.

The Lisburn pairing of Mark and David Armstrong had 6 birdies in their round but still only finished all square against Garreth Moody and Roy Sipson. But there was no panic in the Banbridge camp as everyone could see that Hugo Downey and Tom Mulholland were in control of their game. Tom and Hugo beat Adam McKendry and George Stevens by 5 holes up.

Banbridge will meet Tandragee or Omagh in the final.

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