They had bananas and Jaffa cakes on the ninth tee, not to mention huge helpings of pride and buckets of commitment.

But despite assiduous preparation and wonderful team spirit Gerard O'Sullivan's Munster charges had to bow to the superiority of Connacht and eventual champions Ulster in the Golfsure sponsored Interprovincial matches at Slieve Russell last week.

And in the end we saw the arrival of new star on the Irish golf scene in 21-year-old Ballyclare golfer Gareth Maybin, a plus two handicapper who had already announced his pedigree with an impressive win in the North of Ireland championship earlier this summer.

A freshman student of communications at the University of South Alabama, Maybin won all six of his matches - three foursomes and three singles - as Ulster won by two points overall from Connacht, with Munster third and Leinster last.

Maybin's singles wins over Tim Rice (5&4), Colm Moriarty (2&1), and Noel Fox (6&5) marked him out as the outstanding individual talent of the matches alongside team mate Darren Crowe.

"I played real good," he said, with a hint of an American twang in his accent. "And I enjoyed it. In the six games I played I was only over par in the foursomes on the last day. In the singles I was two under, two under and four under par for my three singles and the foursomes I was a two under, level and one over with my partners."

Like another northern star on the rise, Portrush's Graeme McDowell, Maybin has been transformed by college golf in the United States.

"He is very much in the McDowell mould," said Irish team captain Eddie Dunne. "He is a very, very good player now and when he gets into that 'zone' he is concentrating on the shot in front of him and nothing else."

After losing in the first round of the Irish Close in Carlow, Maybin called his psychologist in the US and got some pointers as to where he might improve his mental game.

"I've just been working on a few things," he said mysteriously. "Routines and drills that I use when I am playing. He reminded me of a few things have had been working on this year and it has definitely helped me."

Ulster skipper John Moss lost North finalist Chris Moriarty to work commitments just days before the event. His replacement, Colm Montgomery of Malone, won one and lost one.

But it was the quartet of Maybin, Crowe, Andrew McCormick and Michael McGeady that did all the damage. Dunmurry man Crowe won five out of five while McCormick made up for his disappointing finish in the Mullingar Scratch Cup with four wins, a half and just one defeat from his six outings.

McGeady lost in the semi-finals of the Close but he was on the wrong side of the score-line just once at the Cavan venue - a five and four reverse at the hands of an inspired Danny Sugrue from Killarney.

Beaten 7-6 by Munster on day one, John Moss's Ulster came back to defeat Connacht 9-4 before roasting a very disappointing Leinster 8 1/2 - 4 1/2 on the last day to take advantage of Munster's slip-up against Connacht.

"It was a question of getting a blend for the foursomes because all the teams were very strong. We were lucky that over the first two days we won seven and half points out of eight in the foursomes and then halved them 2-2 on the last day," said Moss.

Munster beat Ulster and then destroyed Leinster 9 1/2 - 3 1/2 but once they went 3-1 down to Connacht after the foursomes, they were in trouble.

A Munster supremo O'Sullivan put it - "We weren't overly confident but grew in confidence as the week went on the results started to go out way. We took our eye off the ball in the foursomes and then when we didn't get anything from the three top singles we were struggling.

"We had a ball. They were an unreal bunch of lads to work with and we have great hope for the future with young players like Collwyn Martin, Mervyn Owens and Peter O'Keeffe."

As for Leinster, the absence of Justin Kehoe and Mark Campbell hardly helped. But they were badly let down by their senior players with Noel Fox, Adrian Morrow and Irish Close champion John McGinn winning just two matches from fifteen.

As Leinster captain Mick Craddock put it: "I didn't enjoy it one bit. We just didn't perform and we have no excuses. We are very disappointed. Young Mark Ryan and Robert McCarthy played well but that is our only bright light, unfortunately."

Top ten performers at Slieve Russell
Player - Played - Won - Halved - Lost
Gary Maybin (Ballyclare) 6 6 0 0
Darren Crowe (Dunmurry) 5 5 0 0
Andy McCormick (Scrabo) 6 4 1 1
Ken Kearney (Roscommon) 6 4 1 1
Michael McGeady (City of Derry) 6 4 1 1
Rory Leonard (Banbridge) 6 4 1 1
Mark Ryan (Grange) 6 4 0 2
Sean McTernan (Co Sligo) 6 4 0 2
Martin McTernan (Co Sligo) 6 4 0 2
Derek McNamara (Connemara) 6 4 0 2

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© Brian Keogh 2003

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