The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Kerry teams pick up medals at Munster Inter-Counties pitch and putt finals
KERRY pitch and putt teams were among the medals at last weekend’s Munster Inter-Counties in Tramore, Co. Waterford, although first place and gold eluded the Kingdom.
On Saturday in the scotch foursomes (Intermediate) the Tralee pair of Alan Hobbert and Jason Cregan showed the way with an excellent eight under par while the pair of Castleisland’s Aidan O’Connor and Tralee’s Gavin Carroll brought home a six under par total. Deerpark’s Ger Casey and Listowel’s Richard Bunyan carded three under and the team were only three shots back from Cork and hopes were high. Unfortunately in the singles scoring proved difficult but to Kerry’s credit they held on for second place and a silver medal.
In the Junior even Castleisland’s Timmy Looney Jnr and Tralee’s Pa Byrne scored a fantastic four under par in the scotch foursomes while the Tralee duo of Rodger Guthrie and Tim Scannell came home with one over. The pair of Castleisland’s John Clifton and Deerpark’s John O’Brien scored a three under total to leave the team in third behind Cork and Tipperary. In the singles, however, three over par totals meant they slipped back behind Limerick into fourth overall.
On Sunday it was the turn of the Seniors and the Junior Ladies. The Seniors got off to a flyer in the scotch foursomes. The pairs of Deerpark’s John McGrath and Tralee’s Jamie Blake, and Tralee’s Tony Blake and Listowel’s Declan McCarron scored impressive ten under par totals, while the Deerpark duo of Damien Fleming and Conor McCarthy came home with eight under par to leave the team in second six shots behind Cork. However, apart from Fleming’s magnificent ten under in the singles scores elsewhere were only average and the team slipped back to a disappointing fourth place in the end behind locals Waterford and Tipperary.
In the Junior Ladies this was an amalgamated Kerry/Limerick side made up of Bruff’s Margaret O’Donovan with the Tralee trio of Charlotte Blake, Aisling Quirke and Lisa O’Connor. The scoring was stableford for the ladies and the course proved difficult for them but they battled on to pick up bronze medals in third with Lisa O’Connor having a fine round in the singles.
It was also the Munster U-16 Strokeplay finals and a large contingent from Deerpark travelled to play Tramore. In the 10-13 grade Cillian Courtney put in a fine performance to finish third and pick up a bronze medal. Well done to Colm, the two Cians, Jack and Padraic on their performances over the weekend.