SPORTSWOMAN OF THE MONTH – MARCH LISA MAGUIRE (Golf):AS FRENCH player Emilie Alonso discovered at the Spanish International Amateur Championship in Cadiz last month, it's sometimes not enough to beat one Maguire to win a title, often you have to overcome two.
Alonso managed one half of the challenge by getting past Leona in the quarter-finals and when she was one-up with five to play in the final against Lisa, she appeared to be on course to complete the Maguire double. It wasn’t to be, though, Lisa drawing level at the 14th, going ahead at the next hole, and then finishing with three halves to clinch the title.
The victory rounded off what had already been a memorable week for the 16-year-old, who began by making it through to the matchplay stages of the event when the field was reduced from 97 players to 32, with Lisa the 17th qualifier.
In the first matchplay round she beat Irish team-mate Danielle McVeigh at the third tie hole, before playing Spain’s Luna Sobron Galmes, who had knocked out the leading qualifier, Ines Lescudier of France.
Another win for Lisa, this time on the 14th green.
On to the quarter-finals where Holly Clyburn was the opponent, the English International going three ahead after 11 holes. That, though, is when Lisa’s comeback began, one she completed on the third extra hole.
She maintained her form in the semi-finals, closing out her match against Germany’s Antonia Scherer on the 15th green, before meeting – and beating — Alonso in the final.
Lisa’s success secured Ireland’s second major European title in a matter of weeks, following Leona’s victory at the Portuguese Open – for which she won our Sportswoman of the Month award for January.
That triumph put Leona in the top five of the new world amateur ranking list, with Lisa in 32nd position. After her Spanish win, though, Lisa joined her twin in the top 10 – and, naturally enough, having completed the Maguire conquest of the Iberian peninsula, she joins her twin in our list of 2011 monthly award winners.
We’ve been here before. In May 2007 and 2008 we made joint awards to the Maguire twins because, no more than themselves, their achievements proved inseparable.
In 2009, though, we made a solo Maguire award for the first time after Leona won the French International Under-21 Amateur title and, most impressively, then marked her debut at the Scottish Open Amateur Championship by leading a top-class field right from start to finish to become the youngest ever winner of the tournament.
Lisa was third at the Scottish Open, but went two better at the Irish Close a month later when she succeeded Leona as champion. So, she joined her sister on our 2009 list of monthly winners. History repeats, then. Inseparable.
Awards so far...
(This year’s awards cover December 2010 to November 2011)
December:Fionnuala Britton (Athletics).
The Wicklow runner just missed out on a medal at the European Cross Country Championships, finishing fourth but given the same time as the runner in third.
January:Leona Maguire (Golf).
The 16-year-old won the Portuguese Amateur Open Championship, which featured over 80 of Europe’s leading amateurs, by a remarkable 15 strokes.
February:Fiona Coghlan (Rugby). Coghlan captained Ireland to Six Nations' wins over Italy and Scotland and just a two-point defeat to France in February. The team, without several experienced players, finished third in the championship.
