Successful decade in the junior ranks
LAST week we looked back at the various events on the local golfing calendar between 2010 and 2019 and this week we take a trip back to review the other golfing events in the decade.
Let’s begin with the GUI Cups & Shields where it was a highly successful ten years for the Kingdom in terms of provincial and national titles with no less than five green pennants (National titles) and seven blue pennants (Munster titles) won by Kerry clubs.
Prior to 2010 the number of national titles won in Kerry since the foundation of the GUI was seven, but in the past decade alone, another five were added by Ballybunion who won two Junior Cups (2013 & 2017) and a Jimmy Bruen Shield (2015), Killorglin who won a Jimmy Bruen Shield (2013) and Dooks (2015), who lifted the Irish Mixed Foursomes, while Tralee won Munster titles in the Junior Cup (2016) and Barton Shield (2017) but never quite managed to bring home a green pennant.
In Junior golf, Ballybunion had a pretty successful decade winning five Munster titles, three of which came in the Irish Junior Foursomes (2010, 2015 & 2017) but they never quite made it across the line for a national title, while the North Kerry club also won Munster titles in the All-Ireland Inter-club Cup in 2018 and the Fred Daly Plate in 2019, with Tralee succeeding them as Munster champions of the All-Ireland Inter-Club Cup in 2019 for the county’s sixth provincial title in the decade.
It was also decade of change with the loss of golf courses Skellig Bay and Ardfert while Killarney’s Lackabane course was reduced from 18 holes to 9 and Skellig Bay was replaced by the impressive Hogs Bay.
The county lost four long-serving members of the Munster branch with the retirement of Pat O’Dwyer of Kenmare/ Ring of Kerry, Eric Brick of Dooks, Michael Lawlor of Tralee and Dan O’Sullivan of
Ballybunion but our interests are currently being well looked after now by Tralee’s Mick Coote, Ballybunion’s Tom Keane and Damian O’Sullivan of Dooks.
Killarney professional David Keating moved on to pastures new also in 2018 after ten wonderful years at the lakeside club where he had built up a reputation as a top coach and was largely responsible for many of the successes enjoyed by individuals and club teams.
Dooks (2014), Ballybunion (2018) and Killarney (2018) all celebrated their 125th anniversaries while players from Kerry clubs also enjoyed international success during the past ten years especially the ladies, with Ballybunion’s Emma O’Driscoll and Killarney’s Máiréad Martin & Valerie Clancy playing for the Irish Ladies team, Tralee’s Mary Sheehy and Ballybunion’s Margaret McAuliffe wore the green of the Irish Ladies Seniors team while Ballybunion’s Peter Sheehan was also capped by the Irish Senior Men’s team.
Three major tournaments the Jacques Leglise Trophy (2017), the Ladies Junior & Senior Home Internationals (2018) and the Men’s Irish Close Championships (2019) were all played at Ballybunion who did the Double-Double, winning the Dr Billy O’Sullivan Shield and then going on to win the Munster Belvedere Cup in 2010 and again in 2014.
Ross won the Munster Country Clubs Cup in 2015 for Kerry’s fourth-ever success in this event and the Killarney club’s second, having previously won it in 2001.
In Ladies golf Killarney enjoyed a successful decade winning All-Ireland titles in Senior Cup (2017) and Senior Foursomes (2014 & 2017) along with Munster titles also in Senior Cup (2014 & 2018), while Ballybunion’s ladies won the 2015 All-Ireland title in the Miéle Fourball for Kerry’s first-ever success in this event.
There was success too at provincial level for Dooks in the Ladies Junior Cup (2014), Tralee in the Intermediate Cup (2013) and Minor Cup (2019) and for Ballybunion in the Challenge Cup (2016) and Revive Active Fourball (2017)
Waterville’s David Higgins will look back on a very mixed decade which saw him lose his European Tour Card, win it back at the Tour School only to lose it again and then retire from the European tour to concentrate on the Irish domestic circuit where he has enjoyed much success in the last number of years including winning the Irish Club Professionals Championship (2017), winning the European Team Championships with Ireland (2017) and playing on the winning GB & Ireland team in the 2017 PGA Cup before becoming vice-captain for the team in 2019.
There were various other individual achievements too numerous to mention but it’s fair to say that the decade 201-2019 has been a pretty successful ten years for golf in Kerry and let’s hope that the next ten are equally as good.