A GOOD WALK
ARDEE
BANK holiday Monday Open Four-Person Team Event, sponsored by Ardee Golf Union: 1st Gavin Daly, Fergus Duff, Ray Duff & Damien McCoy 98pts; 2nd Sara Byrne, Paul Casey, Donnie Hurst & Pat O’Donoghue 97pts; 3rd Johnnie McGoey, John Callan, John Kieran & Brian Lynch 94pts ob9.
May 6th Open Singles stableford, sponsored by Donal Grimes & friends: Cat 1 winner Brendan Healy 39pts, 2nd Gavin Daly 37pts; Cat 2 winner Pat Fogarty 41pts, 2nd David Minogue 40pts; Cat 3 winner Eamon Young 36pts, 2nd Paul Carry 35pts; Gross prize Darren Henry 38pts.
May 5th singles stableford, sponsored by Aspect Group: 1st Brendan Healy 41pts ob6, 2nd John Loughran 41pts, Gross prize Paul Wisniewski 35pts; Cat 1 John Travers 39pts, Cat 2 Ben Caffrey 40pts ob9, Cat 3 Alan McKenny 39pts.
Eunice Molloy won the May 2nd ladies competition.
COUNTY LOUTH
BANK holiday Monday Nelson Trophy: 1st Brian Ronan (3) 41pts, 2nd Alan Clarke (8) 40pts ob9, Gross prize Alex Dignam 36pts; Class 1 Conor O’Shea (8) 39pts, Class 2 Alan McEneaney (9) 39pts, Class 3 Ann Marie Daly (16) 40pts, Class 4 Pat Murray (23) 40pts. Ladies & Gents CSS 37pts.
Ina Kierans Invitational Four-Person Team Event, held on May 6th: 1st Denis Brennan (15), Mags Brennan (36), Ann McClean (36) & John Lyons (26) 92pts; 2nd Colin Fitzpatrick (13), Barry Sullivan (4), Niall Ronan (13) & Eoin Sarsfield (16) 90pts ob9; 3rd John Kierans (21), Jim Nolan (21), Declan Branigan (5) & Aidan Rice (10) 90pts.
CO LOUTH LADIES
RESULTS from the Granard Foursomes stableford, in aid of NCBI, on May 5th, 6th & 8th, were as follows:
1st Valerie Reddan (12) & Michelle Reddan (24) 36pts ob9, 2nd Anne O’Brien (19) & Marie Maguire (26) 36pts. The winners qualify to play in Newlands GC on August 13th. Senior ladies winner May Hayes, Nine-hole qualifying Susan McGuirk (31) 19pts ob6.
Sponsors of the competition were G Meegan, M Hoey, M Smith & K Healy.
DUNDALK
IT was another good weekend for Dundalk Golf Club on the inter-club front, with three teams advancing.
The All-Ireland Fourball team, managed by Frank Byrne and Larry Soraghan, are into the last 16 of the Leinster section after a super 3.5 to 1.5 win over neighbours Greenore on Saturday.
Dundalk won two of the three matches in Greenore and won the top match in Blackrock with the bottom match all square after 15 when it was called in. Dundalk will now face the winners of Headfort and Skerries in the next round.
As was to be expected any time these two great rivals meet, this was an extremely close tie which was decided on the 19h green at Greenore after the top match finished all squad in dramatic circumstances.
The Dundalk pairing of Eamonn McEneaney and Joe Flanagan held a one hole lead playing the last and when McEneaney sank a 30ft putt for par it looked all over but Greenore holed their 12ft birdie putt to send the match into sudden death. However, the Dundalk pairing came out on top on the first play-off hole when Flanagan sank a 20ft putt for victory.
That gave Dundalk the crucial third point as earlier Colm Garvey and David Cairns had recorded a 3&2 victory after finally getting control of a match that, somewhat like the top match, hadn’t seen either pairing open up more than a one hole lead.
In Dundalk, Peter O’Brien and Dermot McKenna won the first three holes to take control of their match but the Greenore pairing fought back to reduce the deficit to one shot after seven holes. However, the home duo regained control of the match by winning the eighth, 10th and 11th and although they lost the 12th, they won the next two holes to record an impressive 5&4 victory.
Michael Keating and Michael Begley, playing in the third match in Greenore, were level after 10 holes but then got hit by birdie blitz as the Greenore pairing birdied three of the next four holes to go three up and eventually won the point by 4&3.
The final match in Dundalk saw the home pairing of Adrian Kenny and Gerry McDermott come from three down after six holes to lead by one hole after 13 and the match was level standing on the 16th tee box when the pairings were called in.
The Ladies Junior Foursomes team, which is managed by Maria Kerr & Violet McGeady, were beaten 2-1 in the second round on Saturday in Mannan Castle by Headfort despite winning the opening match but there was much better news on Sunday when both the Junior and Minor Cup teams advancing to the next stage of their competitions.
The Junior Cup team, under the stewardship of Maeve Ahern & Anne Murray, faced Co Meath in Kilcock and three great wins by Pauline Campbell, Lady Vice-Captain Criona O’Reilly and Elaine Ward secured the victory for Dundalk and a place in the third round.
The Minor Cup team, managed by Jacinta Foran & Elizabeth McGuinness, met Balbriggan the third round at Luttrellstown and the three points needed to advance to the fourth round were duly delivered by Ide McDermott, who won by 3&2, Marie McGuigan, who won 4&3 and Briege Renaghan who also won the 15th,. The other members of the team were Geraldine Blackmore and Bernie Prendergast.
The Men’s Pierce Purcell team, managed by Seamus Bailey & Billy Cairns, finished seventh in qualifying at Balbriggan with the cumulative score of 357 by the five scotch foursomes pairings just five shots short of the total needed to qualify for the semi-finals.
Dundalk’s defence of their Fred Daly Trophy Leinster title continues next Sunday when the Boys U18 squad face The Island with three match in Dundalk and two in The Island from 4.30pm.
The first leg of the JB Carr Diamond Trophy second round tie against Greenore will be played on Thursday next, May 17, with the second leg in Greenore on May 25.
Caolan Rafferty regained the Club Championship on Saturday when shot a seven under par total of 137 to win the 36 hole event by nine shots from fellow plus player Aaron Grant.
Rafferty, who plays off plus four, shot a bogey free five under par 67 in his morning round and was four under par and bogey free after 15 holes of his second round before three putting the 16th and 17th and finishing with a two under par 70.
Aaron Grant, who is now off plus three, was battling a head cold as well as the course and in the circumstances did remarkably well to produce two rounds of 73 to take second place. Conor Curran (2) took the best nett with a score of 145 after nett rounds of 73 and 72.
Fergal Sexton picked up his third win of 2018 when he won PGA Tankard on Sunday. Last month Sexton (11) won back to back Wednesday Open competitions and produced similar form to claim the overall by victory by two points from Shane McGuinness (19) with Andrew Keenan (3) recording the best gross score of the day.
Sexton went out in 21pts after a flawless front nine which included three point pars at the third, eighth and ninth and he produced three more three point pars on the 10th, 11th and 12th to move to 30pts after 12 holes. After that it was all about getting home safely and he dropped only one shot over the closing six holes when he had to settle for one points after a double bogey six at the index four 16th.
That gave Sexton a back nine score of 20pts and an overall total of 41pts which was two more than McGuinness who is another player running into form.
The category prizes were won by Zak Alderdice (9), Kieran Reidy (15) and the in-form Mark Browne (17). Browne started 2018 with handicap of 22 and began last week with a handicap of 20, but lost three shots after he shot a spectacular 42pts to win the SemiOpen Singles Stableford competition on Bank Holiday Monday by seven points from Kyle Rafferty (4) and Michael McDermott (16).
Wednesday’s Open Singles Stableford competition was won by Garett Duffy (4) with 39pts with Aaron Grant (+2) just a point behind with 38pts which was enough to see his handicap lowered to +3.
Eoin Murphy was part of a three man Ireland U18 team which took part in the Fairhaven Trophy in England and he finished 13th in the individual competition after rounds of 71, 75, 74 and 71. He also led Ireland to ninth place in the team event. The performance has moved Murphy up to sixth in the Bridgestone Order of Merit.
Sunday, May 13 – PGA Tankard – Overall: Fergal Sexton (11) 41pts, Shane McGuinness (19) 39pts. Category 1 (0-11): Zak Alderdice (9) 38pts, Alan McDermott (6) 37pts. Category 2 (12-16): Kieran Reidy (15) 38pts, Brendan Keane (12) 37pts. Category 3 (17-28): Mark Browne (17) 36pts, Hugh Reilly (20) 35pts. Best Gross: Andrew Keenan (3) 31pts. CSS: 73 (35pts)
Saturday, May 12 - Club Championship (36 Holes): 137 - Caolan Rafferty (+4) 137 (67, 70), 146 - Aaron Grant (+3) 146 (73, 73). Best Nett: Conor Curran (2) 145 (73,72). CSS: 73 (Round 1), 76 (Round 2).
Wednesday, May 9 - Open Stableford Singles – Overall: Garett Duffy (4) 39pts, Aaron Grant (+2) 38pts. CSS: 36pts.
Monday, May 7 – Semi-Open Singles Stableford – Overall: Mark Brown (20) 42pts, Kyle Rafferty (4) 35pts/21, Michael McDermott (16) 35pts. Best Gross: Richard Newell (2) 32pts. CSS: 74/34pts.
DUNDALK LADIES
THE 18-hole stableford played on April 28th and May 1st was kindly sponsored by Felda Health, Fitness & Spa. The ladies would like to thank Felda for their continued support. Congratulations to all the winners.
Results: Class A winner Deirdre Smith (+2) 33pts, 2nd Theresa Connolly (17) 32pts, 3rd Bernie MacGuinness (18) 30pts; Class B winner Mary Cumiskey (25) 33pts, 2nd Bernie Prendergast (23) 31pts, 3rd Sally McDonnell (28) 31pts; Class C winner Grainne Mullins (36) 30pts, 2nd Joan McKenna (31) 30pts, 3rd Alison Quigley (36) 27pts. Nine-hole winner Margaret Gaughran (36). CSS Sat and Tues 76 (reduction only).
DUNLEER SOCIETY
THE society visited Killeen Castle GC last Sunday week where 38 members competed for the President’s Prize on a very sunny morning.
President Gary Broughton, Captain Jeanne Connolly and Ray Moore from sponsor Hibernia Steel led the charge, but the competition was won by Ciaran Reynolds with 35 points, just piping David Myles on the back nine.
The prizes were presented that evening in Shearman’s, Dunleer, and as well as the overall winner the following were the recipients: Cat 1 winner Martin Sheridan 33pts, 2nd Pat Meehan 32pts, 3rd Wayne Brady 30pts; Cat 2 winner David Myles 35pts, 2nd