Provincial glory for Dundalk duo
DUNDALK golfers have been making their presence felt on the national fairways over the past week’s with provincial titles and call-ups making their way to the Blackrock links.
Two of Dundalk’s most promising young golfers have earned call-ups to the Leinster team for this month’s U16 Inter-provincials in Tullamore where Leinster will be defending the title they won last year.
Eoin Murphy and Josh Mackin will travel to the Offaly venue as provincial champions with Murphy having won the Munster U16 Championship in Nenagh while Mackin captured the Leinster title at Beaverstown last week.
Murphy produced an excellent two under par 70 to beat a field of over 140 players. He produced four birdies during his round and crucially was the only golfer to play the inward nine under par, which gave him a two shot win over Lahinch’s Jonathan Keane.
It was Murphy’s second major win of the season as earlier in the year he captured the All-Ireland Faldo Series and will head to the Grand Final in England later this year.
Mackin needed a four hole playoff against Robert Galligan of Elm Park to take the Leinster title. Both players finished on one under par 71 after 18 holes but Mackin came out on top in the play-off, winning by one shot.
Two other Dundalk golfers, Sean Laverty and Padraig Fallon, played in both championships.
The Leinster call-ups for Murphy and Mackin brings to four the number of Dundalk players capped at provincial level this season as Caolan Rafferty and Deirdre Smith have played in the men’s and women’s senior inter-pros respectively this year.
Smith was part of the Leinster team that finished second to Ulster in the women’s inter-pros at Slieve Russell. She formed a formidable foursomes partnership with Aedin Murphy and the pair recorded wins over Connacht and Munster. However, Smith was injured in her singles match against Munster’s Paula Grant, was forced to withdraw after 13 holes and played no further part in the tournament as Leinster just missed out on taking the title.
Rafferty went one better as Leinster’s men, captained by Greenore’s Seamus McParland, retained the All-Ireland Inter-Provincial title at Fota Island.
The Dundalk player formed an unbeaten partnership with Ardee’s Eugene Smith with the pair winning their foursomes matches against Connacht, Munster and Leinster.
Rafferty sank a birdie putt on the 16th to win their opening match against Connacht’s Sean Flanagan and Mark Morrissey 3&2. They then had a one hole win in the match against Munster’s Peter O’Keefe and Cathal Butler before recording a two hole victory over Ulster’s Stuart Beakley and Jordan Hood on the final day.
Raffterty was unable to carry that winning form into the singles matches where he suffered three defeats but the three points he earned from the foursomes certainly played a part in Leinster’s overall victory and ensured a memorable debut for the Dundalk player. is up for grabs. The fourball better ball arrange your own partner competition always attracts a great entry so book your slots on the timesheet now.
This week the Back 9 White markers were in play in the Wednesday Cup with in-form new member David McEvoy claiming the honours with 25 points to hold off the challenge of Shane Toale who had 24. David runner-up in the Muldoon Bar and Restaurant Ardee qualifies for the Wednesday Cup final. This Wednesday play is off the front 9 Green markers.
The seniors Maritime Trophy round on Thursday morning proved to be a winning debut for Ken Mulholland as he took the honours with 42 points. Fr Kevin Cullen was runner-up with 39 one better than the chasing trio of Frank Quinn, Brendan Brown and Pius Tierney. Frank won the countback for third place. The draws for the Seniors Singles and Pairs competitions have been made with some tasty matches in the offing.
Declan O Neill will be hosting his Captains Day on Saturday July 23. The timesheet posted in the clubhouse has already attracted a large number of entries so members are advised to get their names entered in their preferred time slots, to facilitate the draw which will be held on Sunday 17.
Our Junior Cowdy team visited Royal County Down to take on Mourne and Frank Ryan’s team take a 2-2 draw with a 7 hole deficit into the home leg next Sunday and a place in the semi-final on offer. Paddy Malone leads his Rossmore Cup team into quarter final action with home and away legs with Mannan Castle to be played.
It is quarter final time in the club matchplay competitions with some cracking matches on offer. In the singles competition Frank Ryan or Shane O Neill will play Raymond Kelly, David Pilkington v Seamus Keenan, Liam Harte v Keith Clarke, Darren Turley v Liam O Hare. In the pairs John Kelly and Liam O Hare v Sean Campbell and Neil Smyth, Miceal Traynor and Patrick Treanor v Cormac Smyth and Lorcan Rafferty, James Coburn and Paddy Malone v Liam Harte and Cathal Hughes, Colin and Noel McParland play the winner of the Seamus McParland and Paul McCoy v Cathal Fegan and Owen McGennity match. All matches in both competitions must be at semi-final stages on or before June 27.