Fleming has to be settle for second place at National Matchplay Final
FOR the second time in four years, Deerpark's Damien Fleming contested the National Gents Matchplay Final. Unfortunately unlike 2011 he was unable to repeat his win that year as he went down by 5 & 3 to Cork's John Walsh in Monday's decider in Parteen.
Fleming had some tough matches on the way to the decider defeating Dublin's Stephen Power and Westmeath's Michael Buckley by slim margins in his opening two games. His Last 16 and quarter-final wins over Kildare's Joe Ronan and another Dubliner Chris Gallagher were a bit more comfortable as he set up a meeting with his third opponent from the capital last weekend, John Crangle in the semi-finals on Monday morning.
Fleming was four behind after the first 18 holes and appeared to be in big danger of going out but won the last five holes of the contest to secure a 2up win and a place in the Final. His luck deserted him in the final however as he never led the contest, trailing by seven after the first 18 holes and even though he did manage to half an 8-hole deficit to four in the closing stages, Damien conceded at the fourth last hole in his 5&3 loss.
Along with Fleming’s great run to Monday, clubmate Jason O'Brien also impressed reaching the Last 16 in knocking out Louth's Christopher Murray and a fancied Ian Dillon from Kildare before losing out to eventual semi-final Chris Scannell from Cork. Tralee's Jason O'Regan was unfortunately defeated at the last hole by Cork's Brian Delaney in his First Round match.
This weekend sees both local and indeed international focus with the Bob Casey Memorial Tralee Scratch Cup taking place this Sunday. Cards are available from 8.30am2.30pm at €10 per player with the playoff for the top 16 players taking place at 5pm approx. All players please note that this is the second trial for the Kerry Inter-County teams at all grades.
Elsewhere Deerpark's Conor McCarthy becomes the third Kerry player to wear the Irish colours this weekend as he represents the country in an International Challenge against Catalonia in Lloret Papalus.
Conor follows in the footsteps of club-mate Derry McCarthy and Tralee's Jonathon Goodall in representing the country and the Kerry County Board wish both him and the Irish team in general the very best of luck in Catalonia this weekend.