Leinster’s likely lads pushing for more success
Future is looking bright as the province’s brightest talents continue to shine.
LEINSTER golf has been on the rise for the last few years and the conveyor belt of talent shows no signs of slowing down.
Winners of the Interprovincial Championship for the past three seasons, there has been a major focus on giving youth a chance and judging by the performances of this year’s Order of Merit winners, the future looks bright.
With Seamus McParland reappointed as team captain, a host of youngsters are looking to step up to Senior level and follow in the footsteps of Dundalk’s Caolan Rafferty, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent seasons.
This year’s Senior Order of Merit winner, Rafferty (24), was the leading qualifier in the British Amateur Championship at Sandwich, firing a 10-under 62 at Prince’s before eventually falling at the 25th hole in the third round.
That was only the start for Rafferty, who is now at Maynooth University, as he helped Leinster win the Interprovincial title, tied for seventh in the Lytham Trophy and then led the qualifiers for the North of Ireland at Portrush, reaching the semi-finals.
His performances were good enough to earn him an international call-up, and he did not disappoint, finishing as the top scorer on an Irish team that captured the Home Internationals for the fourth year running at Moortown in August.
He went on to win the team title with Tiarnan McLarnon as well as the individual title in the FedeCup in Colombia before rounding off the year by claiming the Irish Intervarsity title at Enniscrone.
Hermitage international Rowan Lester won the Leinster U21 Order of Merit following his win in the North of Ireland and continues to shine at Texas Wesleyan University in the US, where he was NAIA champion this year.
But there are a host of great young players coming through the ranks with Elm Park’s Charlie Denvir leading the charge.
The Dubliner capped another strong season in style when he won the Connacht Boys title by eight strokes on 11-under par at Galway Bay, and he’s looking forward to more individual and International success in 2018.
“It was a really good year and great to top it off with the win at Galway Bay,” Denvir said this week. “I was up there in the Munster and Ulster Boys too and it’s great to see the work I’ve been doing with my dad and my coach John Langan really paying off.
“I played a lot at Portmarnock Links in their Winter Series last season, and that helped me learn a lot of new shots.”
Now in his fifth year at St Andrew’s, where he was a winner of the All Ireland Schoolboys Hockey title this year, Denvir has big plans for 2018.
“I am in fifth year now, and that means I have one more year of Boys golf, which will be great,” he said. “I’d love to get a few more wins.
“I am really looking forward to the new season and trying to close the gap on guys like Mark Power, who had another great season. I made my senior debut in the West, and while I missed the cut, it was a great experience.
“I made the cut comfortably in the East, and hopefully I can play a few more championships next year and push on a bit by going a few rounds in matchplay, which is a format I like because you can be aggressive.
Under 16 Order of Merit winner, Alex Maguire from Laytown and Bettystown is another young gun to watch, recently outshining the likes of Damien McGrane with an Alliance win at Portmarnock Links.
Runner-up in Leinster U16 Close and third in the Leinster U18 Championship at Headfort, where he won the Tom Bishop Trophy for leading under 17 player, he has reduced his handicap from 10 to scratch in just two years.
Baltinglass’ Joseph Byrne edged out Portmarnock’s Brandon St John for the Leinster Under 14 Order of Merit after another impressive season.
The highlight came at Corballis in June, when he fired a course record, four-under par 62 to win the Leinster Boys Under
14 title.