County Down's Beth Coulter helps Great Britain and Ireland secure the Vagliano Trophy
County Down’s Beth Coulter helped Great Britain and Ireland produced a stirring singles display to win the Vagliano Trophy, defeating Europe 12½-11½ to seal a first victory since 2005.
GB&I secured the nail-biting success at the Royal Hague Golf & Country Club in The Netherlands as Coulter was joined by Lottie Woad, Hannah Darling, Patience Rhodes and Aine Donegan.
Trailing by one point going into the eight singles ties at the sun-drenched venue, two early wins for the Continent of Europe looked set to ease Ane Urchegui García’s hosts to victory.
But Maria Dunne’s side had other ideas as they pulled off a dramatic first win in 20 years. The English trio of Rhodes, Nellie Ong and Isla McDonald-O'Brien all delivered victories before Ireland’s Donegan – thanks to a stunning eagle on the last – and another England player, Sophia Fullbrook, took GB&I over the winning line in a remarkable finish.
After eight straight wins for the Continent of Europe in the women’s amateur team match, it was a memorable afternoon for Irishwoman Dunne and her team at the historic Hague course after coming close at Royal Dornoch two years ago.
“It’s been an unbelievable day,” said Dunne.
"I said to the team early this morning that I had a really good feeling about today. They did the job in the foursomes, momentum went our way and they just fought. I told them last night ‘just keep fighting, keep fighting for every single point or half point’ and that’s exactly what they did.”