Round-up of a great year at Castlelyons Pitch and Putt

As our season draws to an end, it’s time to recap on a great year at Castlelyons Pitch and Putt, especially if your surname is O’Callaghan!

As we all know, the first quarter of 2021 was handed over to Covid, so the only people allowed onto the course were those maintaining it. By April we were given the go ahead for members only to use the course and we got back to our Sunday morning socially distanced game. It was magical to be back!

Mid-May we were delighted to welcome back green fees, so it felt like we were getting back to normality.

We cannot express enough gratitude to all who re-joined from 2020, when we had a huge uptake in membership due to travel bans and people realising that pitch and putt was a very suitable sport for Covid times. The membership was way beyond our expectations, and coupled with a decent summer, between members and green fees we had huge numbers on the course throughout the year.

As ever, we are very grateful to those who maintain the course. We have a couple of people dedicated to certain machinery, but when the shout for help goes out, it’s all hands on deck. Special mention must go to Noel, Kevin and Phillip for the course cutting. This is done hail, rain or shine and in summer is 2-3 times a week. Thanks to Tadhg and Willie for painting/strimming and generally lifting the appearance of the course; to the O’Sullivan’s for spraying/hollow tining and all who helped on those days. Thank you to Solas (FAS) for their work; to Mark O’Sullivan who replaced the toilet doors – courtesy of Cork County Council Community Enhancement grant – it has made a huge difference to the look of the site and the support from our local County Council was second to none. In the next couple of days, we will be availing of the delayed 2020 Cork County Council grant, which is to re-surface our car park.

None of the competitions would run without Majella keeping an eye on things – what an asset it is to have someone who is so knowledgeable on the game, its rules, changes etc – our rock!

Thank you to all our sponsors – without them there would be no competitions. Toss Bryan, Riordan’s SuperValu, Foley family, Danny Healy (Captain’s Prize) and Tadgh Manley (Chairman’s Prize).

Congratulations to all winners during the year and all who represented the club in County Board competitions. What a year it was for Cian and Sean – both still juvenile players.

RESULTS

Fleming Shield – winner Cian O’Callaghan; runner-up Danny Healy. Holton Shield – winner Cian O’Callaghan. Captain’s Prize - winner Sean O’Callaghan. Foley Cup - winner Sean O’Callaghan - runner-up Deirdre Fitzgerald. Chairman’s Prize – winner Cian O’Callaghan. Toss Bryan – overall winner Danny Healy.

Wishing everyone a very happy and peaceful Christmas and looking forward to seeing you all when we reopen on 1st January, 2022.