O’Dwyer steps down as guiding light of Junior Golf in Kerry

PAT O’Dwyer submitted his final Kerry Junior Golf report to me during the week as he is stepping down after many years of trojan work in Junior golf in the county and on behalf of everyone involved in golf in the Kingdom I want to thank Pat for his outstanding and dedicated service.

He has been an outstanding servant to Kerry golf and, on a personal note, he has always been a great help to me with results and information, so thank you Pat.

John Sheppard will be taking over from Pat and I wish John all the very best in this position and I look forward to having a great working relationship with him in the years ahead.

Looking back at Junior Golf for 2018, Tralee were victorious in the Kerry Junior League winning with 1755 points from Ballybunion in second place with 1645 and Killarney third with 1642.

In the Plate, Waterville were the winners and Kenmare were the runners-up.

The Player of the Tournament was Tralee’s Liam O’Donnell with 191 Gross Points and Ballybunion’s Ronan O’Neill was second with 171.

Tralee’s win sees their haul of Kerry Junior League titles stretch to 11, ahead of Ballybunion who have 7 and Killarney next with 4.

In the J B O’Shea, Joe Quinlan and John Molyneaux Shield’s the Under-14 winner was Cillian Courtney (16) of Killarney with 22 gross Stableford point while Tralee’s Mark Gazi (11) was runner-up with 21.

The Under-15 winner was Peter Walsh (11) of Killarney with 83 gross and the runner-up was Ballybunion’s Lochlann Mc Hale (10) also with 83.

In the Under-16 section, the winner was Daniel McGillycuddy (5) from Dooks with 81 gross and Ballybunion’s Ronan O’ Neill (11) was runner-up with 87 while in the Under-17 section Philip Byrne (3) of Ballybunion was the winner with a 77 and his club mate Allen Foley (7) was runner-up with 80.

Tralee’s Daniel O’Loughlin (17) recorded a Hole-in-One at the 171 yard 8th hole in Dooks with an 8 iron.

Congratulations to all the Juniors who participated and a big thank you to all of the Kerry Golf Clubs for their co-operation, support and their participation in all the above tournament.

Next week I will bring you all of the Kerry Junior fixtures for 2019.

The Tralee Golf Club 2019 Captains’ Drive-In at Barrow took place as over 300 members arrived onto the course . Pictured Jean Kelly (President) , Nula Mann (Lady Captain) and John O’Brien (Captain)