DUGS v LUGS 16 March 2023 Portmarnock
What a week for the Irish! A win against Scotland on Sunday; Cheltenham winners galore; St Patrick’s Day; and a likely grand slam against England on Saturday. Much too greedy of them, surely, to take a victory against the LUGS as well?
But, as Gordon Gekko declared in Wall Street, ‘greed is good’ and, after leading narrowly at lunch, the DUGS turned the screw in the afternoon to run out winners by 7.5 to 4.5.
As ever though, the result tells you very little about the day. Outstanding hosts as they are, the DUGS took us to the first rate Portmarnock – running true and fast even at this early stage of the season – where the brilliance of the design and the fiendish run-off areas confounded many a LUG.
Scott Beattie and Nick Page (pictured) are among the newer additions to the LUGS and provided some much needed golfing excellence to our ranks – long may their participation run! Not even their talents though could stem the Trinity tide as some fine DUGS shot making on and around the greens tilted the game back to the emerald isle.
The shoeshine match in the afternoon was LUGS’ golfing highlight with Mike Kershaw and Jonathon Lavelle edging out Barry Grundy and Dermot O’Grady. The ‘no gloating in victory’ rule was well and truly ignored; though not technically a verb, Porky ‘smugged’ his way through the whole of the evening.
Portmarnock has a very large clubhouse with a fine variety of bars and dining rooms. The Pickeman room is a class apart though and we were lucky enough to be hosted there for both lunch and dinner. Small and elegant, with a roaring fire and a view of the first tee, it provided the perfect setting for post match celebrations.
Match manager John Conway and DUGS captain Andrew Bryce gave generous and entertaining speeches. George Yeandle, the LUGS captain, congratulated the DUGS and handed back the trophy that we had won at Sandwich last year. And, of course, no DUGS match would be complete without the rugby review by Michael Gibson. Particularly interesting was the historical perspective he placed on the Ireland England game. It was 50 years ago, at the height of the Troubles when no other team would come, that England agreed to play at Lansdowne Road. The IRFU was desperate for revenue, the Scots and Welsh having cancelled, and England’s team was hailed for being ‘the team that turned up’.
The warmth and affection generated by that gesture still underpins the rugby fixture. And it was not unlike that with DUGS and LUGS. These are teams bound collectively and individually by strong bonds. Long may these ties bind tight.
Morning
| DUGS | LUGS | ||
| Andrew Bryce/Aidan Jameson | Halved | George Yeandle/Rory O’Hara | Halved |
| Aidan Neill/Tommy Bracken | Win | David Conway/Jonathon Lavelle | |
| Mark Murnane/Nicholas Dillon | Mike Kershaw/Nick Page | Win | |
| John Conway/Mike Gilmartin | Win | Scott Beattie/Neil Falconer | |
| John P Conway/Barry Grundy | Mark Conway/Kenny Johnston | Win | |
| Dermot O’Grady/Michael Gibson | Win | James Bull/John Sugden | |
| 3.5 | 2.5 | ||
Afternoon
| DUGS | LUGS | ||
| Aidan Neill/Aidan Jameson | David Conway/Mark Conway | Win | |
| Mark Murnane/Tommy Bracken | Win | Neil Falconer/James Bull | |
| Nicholas Dillon/John Conway | Win | George Yeandle/Nick Page | |
| Andrew Bryce/John P Conway | Win | John Sugden/Scott Beattie | |
| Mike Gilmartin/Michael Gibson | Win | Rory O’Hare/Kenny Johnston | |
| Dermot O’Grady/Barry Grundy | Jonathon Lavelle/Mike Kershaw | Win | |
| 4 | 2 | ||
DUGS beat LUGS by 7.5 to 4.5
London University Golfing Society 