Tralee and Ballybunion seeking AllIreland glory
THIS week sees the culmination of the GUI Cups and Shields at Carton House where the semi-finals and finals of the Pierce Purcell, Jimmy Bruen, Junior Cup, Senior Cup and Barton Shield take place bringing down the season on the inter-club matches for another year.
It all began a short six months ago and now there are twenty clubs heading to the Co Kildare venue all dreaming of landing a national title.
Kerry is right in there too with Tralee and Ballybunion fighting for glory in the Barton Shield and Junior Cup respectively.
In the Barton Shield Tralee defeated Kanturk, Killarney, Ballybunion, Cork and Castletroy to win the Munster title and now take on Connaught champions Galway on Wednesday at 10.30am as Warrenpoint from Ulster and Castle GC from Dublin clash in the morning’s other semi-final with the final fixed for Thursday morning at 11.30 am.
Meanwhile, in the Junior Cup Ballybunion defeated Ballyheigue, Killorglin, Tralee, Newcastlewest, Ballykisteen and Ennis to win in Munster and on Wednesday at 11am take on Connacht champions Loughrea with Malone from Belfast and Grange from Dublin in the other semi-final with the final scheduled for Thursday at 10.45am.
Ballybunion, however, were dealt a blow last week when fourteen-year-old James O’Callaghan the son of Head Professional Brian O’Callaghan, broke a bone in his foot during a PE class at school, ruling him out of the trip to Carton House.
James, a five handicapper, is the only member of the Ballybunion team with a 100% in the event this year and will be a huge loss to the team, so we wish him a speedy recovery.
On behalf of us all in Kerry golf I want to wish Tralee and Ballybunion the very best of luck this week.
Kerry golf was starved for many years of national titles, but in the past four years, two Jimmy Bruen titles (Killorglin-2013 & Ballybunion-2015), a Junior Cup (Ballybunion-2013) and a Ladies Senior Cup (Killarney-2107) have come to the county, so here’s hoping that I will be reporting on not one, but two more, titles in next week’s column.