The Alliance recommenced after the winter break with a visit to the Sandy Hills course in Rosapenna.
The additional motivation for starting out again was that the St. Patricks Plate was being played for This plate was presented to the Alliance by the famous Jack Nicholas on behalf of the Walsh family from Carrigart.
It was a very cold day with an appreciable breeze making things very difficult. This was reflected in the scoring.
Brian McElhinney celebrated by winning the nett with the announcement that he is to become the Captain of the Alliance next season a 2 under par round. There is just no touching him at the moment. The fact that he is to play again on the tour next year is no surprise to those who have watched his progress in recent months.
In the Alliance prior to to-day he was 14 under par for all competitions He had only dropped one stroke in 4 competitions .Today he dropped 2 strokes making it 3 in all for 5 competitions but he more than compensated for those lapses with 4 birdies .So for 5 rounds he is now 16 under par and he has now had his handicap reduced to +4 .
In taking the nett to-day he also collected the St. Patricks plate. Runner up was Maurice McGettigan whose Brother, Odran the current captain of the alliance, won it last year.
Maurice was actually leading after 9 faltered at 13 blanked 14 recovered well but the 18 th proved too much for him as he blanked again while in the lead and Brian surged into the winning position by just one point .
Noel Callan won the Gross .He had what could be called an indifferent start with 6 strokes conceded to par after 8 holes .He showed his fighting spirit and his skilful golf in playing level par from the 8th to finish with a 5 over par 77.It was a tidy recovery with10 pars and a birdie.
In the Golfer of the year Brian McElhinney is in a commanding position in both the Nett and Gross sections.
The next competition sees the alliance return to the Inishowen Peninsula in a fortnights time when they visit Ballyliffin golf club to play Glashedy links on 18th February .
Played at Rosapenna Golf Club –Sandy Hills Par72 4th February 2017.
Nett
1st Brian McElhinney ( +3) North West G.C 35 Pts.
2nd Maurice McGettigan (17) Strabane G.C. 34 Pts
3rd Delwyn Montgomery (11) North West G.C. 33 Pts b.o.t.
4th Connor McGettigan (9) Letterkenny G.C. 33 Pts b.o.t.
Gross
1st Noel Callan (scr)Faughan Valley G.C. 77
2nd James Kelly (3) Foyle G.C. 80
3rd Sean Doherty ( scr) Ballyliffin G,C. 83
4th Eugene Corry (10) Newtownstewart G.C. 87
2’s Brian and Brendan McCarroll and Jim Harley
