County Matchplay pitch and putt titles hard earned on Castleisland course

LAST Sunday morning the Kerry County Matchplay Finals began in earnest on the beautiful Castleisland course.

The Junior Ladies had only three Tralee players participating with Aisling Quirke and Charlotte Blake playing the semi-final with Blake progressing to the final to play Lisa O’Connor. In the final Blake took the early lead but was reeled in by O’Connor who eventually went on to win the match and Kerry Junior Ladies’ title.

In the Gents Juniors a lot of tight games occurred in the early rounds but in the top half the semi final between Listowel club mates Killian O’Gorman and Rob Heffernan had to be decided on the first play-off hole with Heffernan progressing to the final. In the other semi Tralee’s Tim Scannell found form against a very young and strong Deerpark player Darragh O’Callaghan. In a high scoring game experience eventually prevailed over youth with Scannell advancing to the final on a two up score. In the thirty-six hole final both men played solidly and Heffernan held a slender lead all the way through winning out in the end to win his first county title on a 3&2 score line.

In the Inters two players stood out early on and they eventually met in the final. Tralee’s Eamon Sheehy and Listowel’s Chris Curran both dispensed with their semi-final opponents Deerpark’s Gearoid Cronin and John O’Brien respectively. In the final the Listowel man demolished the challenge of Sheehy with a display of Senior quality and won out in the end easily to win his first County title.

In the Seniors some brilliant tight games took place and with both semi-finals going down the last, Castleisland player Shane Brennan just overcame the chal- lenge of Tralee’s Jamie Blake while the other semi-final Tralee’s Jason Cregan lead Deerpark’s John McGrath for the first sixteen holes. However McGrath levelled matters on the seventeenth and won the eighteenth to progress to the final.

The final proved to be a one-sided affair with John McGrath whilst coming back from injury and ahead of next week’s National Inter-county in Ryston, Co. Kildare wanted to put down a marker and show that he is back clinically cast aside the challenge of Shane Brennan winning easily in the end.

This weekend Kildare is the destination for teams playing in the National Inter-County Finals in Ryton, Co. Kildare. The six man Kerry team travel with injury concerns but with optimism of putting in a good performance on the biggest stage. The Kerry County Board on behalf of all clubs and players wish them the best of luck next weekend.