Munster title for Ballybunion ladies

THE young golfers of Ballybunion lifted the Fred Daly Plate on Saturday last defeating a talented Ballyneety side in the final at Newcastlewest.

The original final had been postponed on the previous Sunday because of weather conditions, and the re-arranged fixture was in some doubt during the week because of storm Lorenzo, but the Newcastlewest green-keeping staff did a great job in having the course playable on Saturday.

The Fred Daly Plate is open to club who are defeted in the preliminary and first rounds of the Fred Daly trophy and having lost to Dooks in the first round Ballybunion qualified and went on to defeat Tralee, Tipperary and Tramore to reach the final while Ballyneety lost the opening round of the Fred Daly Trophy to Limerick and then went on to beat Woodstock, Lahinch and Lee Valley.

Seán Malone laid down a marker for Ballybunion in the first match beating Ian Hinchey 5/4 and Aiden O’Carroll added Ballybunion’s second point in match number two with a 4/3 defeat if Iestyn Winn.

Ballyneety grabbed their first point in match five as Morgan O’Sullivan beat Phillip Byrne 4/3 but James O’Callgahn wrapped it up for the sea-siders beating Seán Calvert 3/1 in the third match.

Match number two was called in as a half with Ballybunion’s Edmund Healy and Ballyneety’s Darragh Hogan playing the nineteenth.

While the four provincial winners of the Fred Daly Trophy qualify for the All-Ireland semi-finals, the plate competition ends at provincial level, so that’s it and the action ends there, as far as Ballybunion are concerned, but it’s a Munster title, something rare for Kerry clubs this season.