BALLYBUNION'S wonderful Rollercoaster ride in the Irish Junior Foursomes is over but they went down fighting to their older and much more powerful Cairndhu opponents at rainlashed Naas on Monday.

The boys from Ballybunion, two of whom are thirteen and two fifteen year olds, have had a wonderful journey from leading the qualifiers in the West Munster area back in April, to beating Newcastlwest, before going on to lift the Munster title at Dungarvan with wins over Adare Manor and Cork Golf Club and they have certainly represented their club and their province so well throughout.

Naturally they will be disappointed to lose at Naas but it is an under eighteen competition and they have many more years ahead to enjoy.

Team manager John Carroll opted to stick with the quartet who won the Munster final so it was Gary Fenn and Senan Carroll in the fist match and Frank Geary Jnr and Jason Lynch in the second.

However, play at the superb Naas course was halted on Monday morning after just three holes when a torrential down pour flooded the greens sending players and spectators scurrying in all directions to seek shelter. Ballybunion were at that stage, one up in the first match and one down in the second.

After almost an hour's delay during which the green-keeping staff had to use the squeegees to clear the greens of water, play resumed once again and remarkably the course dried out in a matter of minutes.

In the top match Carroll and Fenn exchanged two of the next four holes with their opponents to remain one up after seven but the Gods were about to intervene !

Before the rain delay, one of the other semi-final matches ahead involving Malahide and Strandhill had lost a ball and the Ballybunion v Cairndhu match was called through. When play resumed everything continued for a few holes as before until a GUI official arrived in a buggy and decided that Ballybunion and Cairndhu should let the other match (who had lost the ball) through again on the eight tee leaving the players and spectators standing around in the rain for twenty minutes.

The break seemed to work in Cairndhu's favour and they proceeded to birdie the par three to square the match before winning the next in par to turn one up.

In the second game Ballybunion were one down after three but levelled with a superb birdie at the sixth before going one up at the short eight where their opponents three-putted. A half at the ninth saw them one ahead at the half way stage and with the pairing ahead one down, it was really anyone's ball game.

The mood among the fifty or so Ballybunion supporters was confident enough as both pairings were receiving four shots from their opponents on the back nine.

Sadly it wasn't to turn out that way as Carroll and Fenn lost the par three tenth and then the short eleventh (where they were receiving one of their shots).

So three down and a magnificent half followed at the next where Fenn hit a superb three wood all of two hundred and twenty yards into the wind within fifteen feet of the hole to set up a wonderful par.

Behind in match two it beginning to unravel for Geary and Lynch as they missed the green to lose the par three tenth and like their mates in the match ahead, they too came a cropper at the short eleventh where they found the trees from the tee and were still in the trees four shots later before their opponents had even played their second shot. Now all of a sudden they had gone from one up to one down but there was more drama to come.

Up ahead in match one Fenn and Carroll were receiving a shot at the par five thirteenth but were dealt a body blow when their opponents holed from all of twenty five feet for a birdie and when they three putted to lose the hole, it was four down with five to play and they were really struggling. The next three holes were halved leaving them four down with two to play.

In match two Ballybunion managed to half the long twelfth before winning the thirteenth with a par to level the match.

A superb up and down from the bunker at the next saw them edge ahead and after halving the fifteenth in pars they won sixteen in par to go two up.

So the situation was now that Ballybunion were four down and two up leaving them two down overall with four holes remaining. Sadly it was to end rather quickly as Fenn's tee shot at the par three seventeenth hit the green but kicked into the lake and a penalty shot followed by a pitch and three putts saw them lose the hole (where they were receiving a shot) to a bogey four leaving them five down playing the last which they halved.

A miracle was now needed but it was not to come as Geary and Lynch's tee shot also found water and when they dropped another ball at the point of entry, that too found water ending the proceedings overall by a four hole margin. Cairndhu then went on to beat Strandhill by an eight hole margin in the afternoon's final.

The Ballybunion boys were visibly very disappointed but as the club's Junior Officer Mike Shanahan said: "They are a very young side and if they stay committed and stick together there is no reason why they can't win this next year or the year after".

Team Manager John Carroll said "Naturally we're disappointed to lose but it has been a fairy tale to get this far with such a young and inexperienced team". "If someone had told me at the beginning of the year that we could win a Munster title I would not have believed it, so to get this far has been a huge bonus. They are very young and I'm very proud of them when you consider that the opposition were much older and much more powerful strikers. They're a great bunch and there are two or three more boys who will be knocking on the door next year to make this team so I think that the future is very bright for Boys golf in Ballybunion" he added.

Some consolation for two of the team saw Jason Lynch and Senan Carroll who were fourth and fifth reserves make it into the field for the Irish Boys Championship at Naas this week.

- Ger Walsh with all the news from the fairways of Kerry's golf clubs