The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Waterville oust Tralee to win Kingdom Senior Shield
WATERVILLE put home advantage go good use to defeat Tralee and lift the Kingdom Senior Challenge Shield by a two-hole margin in an exciting final on Saturday last.
En-route to the final, Waterville had beaten Killorglin and Killarney while Tralee ousted Castleisland and Ross and the first leg of the final was played in Tralee a fortnight ago where Waterville came away with a slender one-hole lead.
Saturday’s final was played in cold but dry conditions with Waterville’s Ger O’Neill and Abe Huggard and Tralee’s Anton O’Callaghan and David Leen getting proceedings underway in match one. This was a very exciting match with some excellent golf played and nothing could separate the pairings with the match ending in a half.
Match two saw Tralee’s Pat O’Donnell and Pat Stack beat Padraig Maher and Dominic McGillycuddy by one hole to level proceedings overall which left everything depending on the final match between Waterville’s Shay Flaherty and David Daly and Tralee’s Tim Leahy and David Sheehy.
This was again a very exciting match with the lead changing hands on several occasions but in the end, the Waterville pair edged home by a two-hole margin to give the title to the hosts and Federation Captain Jack Buckley was in attendance to present the Shield to Waterville manager Vernon Devane.
The second leg of the Intermediate Kingdom Challenge Shield between Tralee and Waterville due to be played on Saturday last also at Waterville, has been re-scheduled for Sunday, November 27.
Waterville hold an impressive eight-hole lead from the first leg and it will certainly take a considerable effort from Tralee to prevent the South Kerry club from doing the double and capturing both shields.