Ireland beats the USA to retain the Carter trophy.
The four day test took place at Carrickmines on July 29th – August 1st. A tightly fought contest ensued from the get go on Saturday as the USA took the upper hand in the contest with a 2-1 lead after the first day of doubles. Ireland looked to be struggling on the second day also and it looked at one stage as the Americans could have a 4-2 lead at the half way stage, but a sudden swing in the test saw the day finish 4-4 and the final doubles match was level at 1-1.
The third day was the first round of singles and turned out to be the decisive turning point for the Irish, some great battling qualities shown from Robert Barklie and Simon Williams to came back from a game down to win their respective matches and round up a six point clean sweep for the Irish. Stuart Jackson finish a tidy triple for the USA to take the decider of the last doubles match and leave a score of 10- 5 going into the final day.
With just one point required to ensure the trophy stayed on Irish soil it was taken care of early on Tuesday as Alan Mc Inerney finished up his second 2-0 victory in the test to secure the test result in favour of Ireland. In the other games on the final day, Mark Mc Inerney showed tremendous resolve and focus to come back from 1 game down and an in form Stuart Jackson to win his match against the number one seed. The final match result was Ireland 13 USA 8.
The captain and CAI wish to thank Evan Newell for his excellent management of the match, Linda Pullman for the super spread laid on the Saturday and Edwina and Niall Mc Inerney for a great night on Monday. Finally we thank the American team for the match and hope they enjoyed their trip. The Irish look forward to getting back to the USA for the next test.
Andrew Johnston
Captain.
FULL RESULTS :
Ireland Robert Barklie Patsy Fitzgerald Andrew Johnston (C) Alan McInerney Mark McInerney Simon Williams
USA Paul Bennett Jim Butts Doug Grimsley Stewart Jackson Johnny Mitchell Andy Short
M McInerney/A McInerney beat Short/Mitchell +9, +17 Williams/Barklie lost to Jackson/Grimsley -5, -26 Fitzgerald/Johnston lost to Bennett/Butts -7, +7, -2
M McInerney/A McInerney lost to Jackson/Grimsley -3, +18, -8tp Fitzgerald/Johnston beat Short/Mitchell +9, +4 Williams/Barklie lost to Bennett/Butts
Williams/Barklie beat Short/Mitchell +6, +17 M McInerney/A McInerney beat Bennett/Butts +9, +3 Fitzgerald/Johnston lost to Jackson/Grimsley -4, +2, -17tp
Mark McInerney beat Paul Bennett +22, -17tp, +26 Simon Williams beat Stewart Jackson -17, +17, +26tp Andrew Johnston beat Doug Grimsley +26tp, -6tp,+16tp Patsy Fitzgerald beat Andy Short +17, +13 Alan McInerney beat Johnny Mitchell +24tp, +14 Robert Barklie beat Jim Butts -15, +1, +14
Mark McInernery beat Stewart Jackson -14otp, +13tp, +26tp Simon Williams lost to Paul Bennett -19, -18stp Andrew Johnston beat Andy Short +15tp, +26 Patsy Fitzgerald lost to Doug Grimsley -17, +13, -3 Alan McInerney beat Jim Butts +13, +21 Robert Barklie lost to Johnny Mitchell -10, -17
Ireland 13 USA 8