Ennis and Woodstock in JB Carr final

Ennis, national champions three years ago, have qualified for the Clare area final of this season’s JB Carr Trophy, where they will play neighbours Woodstock. They defeated Lahinch by three-and-a-half points to one-and-a-half at Lahinch last week. The final will take place in Ennis.

The Ennis pairings of Tom Fox and Michael Carmody, along with Pat Murphy and Matt Flynn, both won their matches four and three while Tony Coote and Paul Higgins picked up the third point, winning their match four and two. Tom Saunders and James Ball lost their game two and one while in the final game, Walter O’Brien and Tom Woulfe were called in.

The Lahinch pairings were Martin Barrett and Michael McDonagh (they won their match); Denis O’Ceallaigh and Gerry Buckley; Dickie Pyne and John O’Flaherty; Greg Young and Andy Curry; JD Smith and TJ Kerins (their game was called in).

Woodstock beat Kilkee in their semi-final.

Ennis
Ennis seniors held a modified three-ball scramble (two to score at each hole) last week, when the winners, with 76 points, were Carl O’Neill, Pat Rutherford and Joe O’Brien. Second were Joe McMahon, Johnny Guerin and Brian Higgins with 75 followed by Bernard Hanrahan, Don Ryan and John Guilfoyle, also on 75. In fourth spot were Frankie White, Tom Pender and Pat McInerney on 70 followed by Peadar Cosgrove, Gerry Scanlan and Tony Lynch on 70, with sixth spot filled by John Keane (ESB), Sean Finnerty and Terry Hughes on 69.

In the ladies’ 18-hole Stableford competition, the winner was Kathleen Frehill with 41 points from Della Burns on a similar score, with third spot filled by Anna Marie Darmody on 37 points.

The winner of the Friday open was Mary Glynn with 36 points.

In the ladies’ seniors outing last week, the winners were Kathleen Pyne, Carmel Verling and Loretto Torpey from Joan Malone, Ann Casey and Mary Woulfe, with third spot filled by Pat Lacey, Kate O’Ceallaigh and Mary McMahon on 50.

Lahinch
The Lahinch Scratch Cup (formally known as the Vaughan Scratch Trophy), a 36-hole stroke competition, will be held on Saturday, April 27. The entry is limited to the 72 lowest handicaps of 14 and under.
This event counts for women, girls and seniors’ orders of merit. Entry forms are available on www.ilgu.ie or www.lahinchgolf.com.

In the men’s monthly medal at the weekend, the winner was Richard DeCourcy (13) with 72 nett from Eamon Foley (21) with a similar score. Greg Young (5) was third with 73 while the gross was won by Thomas Neenan with 77.

Sunday’s singles Stableford was won by John O’Gorman (20) with 33 points from Urban McMahon (11) with 31 points.

Kilkee
The semi-finals of the spring league at Kilkee will be between the teams led by Mike Mullane and Ger O’Flynn and those captained by Jimmy Murray and David O’Flynn.

Doonbeg
The presidents’ (Timmy Killeen and Elizabeth Williams) prizes were played for at Doonbeg Links at the weekend.

In the men’s competition, the winner was Stephen Mahony from Martin Griffin with Michael Conway third followed by Kevin Hayes. The nines were won by Ger Ryan and Kevin Kenny. Vivian Killeen won the gross while Diarmaid O’Donnell won the long drive, with Nigel Dillon winning the prize for nearest the pin. Bart O’Brien won the guests’ section, with Gearóid Williams winning the past president’s prize.

In the lady president’s competition, the winner was Marie McGuire with 34 points in very poor weather conditions from Mary O’Sullivan with Veron O’Connor in third spot. The nines were won by Mary Nolan and Geraldine Burke. Maeve Pender won the award for the best 36 handicapper.

Gort
In the men’s 18-hole singles competition at Gort on Sunday, the winner was Gerry Burke (17) with 40 points from John Williams (19) with a similar score. Bernard Byrne (14) with 36 points was third with Dave Hennessy  (2) fourth on 35 points. Colman Cooney (4) won the gross with 31 points.

In the open singles on Friday, the winner was John Moylan (14) with 40 points while the open singles on Monday was won by Robert McDonagh (10) with 36 points from Tony Kenny (9) with a similar score. This weekend, there will be another men’s open singles.

Last week’s ladies’ singles was won by Gabrielle Warnock (2) with 34 points. This week, the ladies will play for the Bob Forde Trophy.

Dromoland
In the men’s club foursomes at Dromoland at the weekend, the winners were Eugene Fawl and Tom Frawley with 38 points from Liam Hayes and Brian Hickey with 37 points and Paul O’Brien and Jason Ronan with 35 points.

The junior winners were Dale Foley and Sean Shanahan with 35 points. The mixed scramble commenced this week and takes place each Tuesday evening from 5pm to 6pm. The Friday open singles for men commences on May 10 and runs throughout the summer.

This weekend’s competition for men is an 18-hole singles Stableford and is the first golfer of the year completion for 2013.

The winner of the ladies’ strokeplay competition was Mary O’Donnell with 70 net from Tina McGuire with 72 and Katrina O’Neill with 73. The ladies’ seniors were won by Corola Wixted.

NBCRI  ladies’ open day
On Wednesday, May 1 there will be a ladies’ open day at Dromoland in aid of breast cancer research. The format is team of four with two scores to count. Tee times are available from 9am to 4.30pm and can be booked by contacting Dromoland on 061 368444. All funds raised on the day go directly to NBCRI.

Shannon
More than 300 members played in last weekend’s April medal at Shannon, where the competition was played over three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The winner was Padraic Carey (16) with 64 from Michael Mulcahy (14) with 66, Kieran Considine (8) with 68, Denis McCarthy (13) with 68, John McPhillips (13) with 69, John O’Connell (8) with 69, Richard Healy (16) with 69 and Michael Hayes (18) with 70. Ed Hickey (1) won the gross with 73.

Shannon juniors were leading qualifiers in the North Munster section junior foursomes qualifier played at Shannon recently. They now play Dromoland, who were second qualifiers.

In the open Wednesday singles, the winner was Donal Walsh (21) with 42 points from Malwyn Roberts (21) with 40 points and Jim O’Grady, with a similar score. Paul O’Neill (10) won the gross with 37 points.

Kilrush
In the Kilrush ladies seniors’ outing at Kilkee last week, the winner was Claire Pyne with 26 points from Kathleen Haugh with a similar score and Ann Cooper with 25 points.

In the men’s seniors outing last Wednesday, the winners were John Robinson, Denis F Nagle and Maurice Roche with 77 points from Michael Ryan, Paddy Carmody and Brendan McNamara with a similar score. In third spot, with 76 points, were Seamus O’Doherty, Leo Harvey and Bill Murphy.

In the ladies’ singles on Thursday the winner was Dolores Reidy with 39 points from Marion Brennan with 36, Niamh Whelan with 35 and Annie Gallagher with 35.

Saturday’s ladies’ singles winner was Majella Cotgreave with 34 points from Jean Murphy Wright with 33, Dorothy Madden with a similar score and Carina Rosingrove with 31. In the men’s singles on Sunday, Pat Shannon was the winner with 38 points.

The entry sheet for the Glynn Cup, a men’s fourball matchplay competition, is now on the noticeboard and the draw will take place at the weekend.

The competition this weekend will be the Pat Geaney men’s singles while on Thursday next there will be a ladies’ singles competition.

Spanish Point
The winner of the Tuesday seniors open singles Stableford competition at Spanish Point was Tony Crowley, with a score of 38 points. The winner of the weekend singles Stableford competition was Eoghan O’Loughlin, with a score of 35 points.

This weekend, there will be a golfer-of-the-year competition and the usual timesheets are in operation by calling the clubhouse on 065 7084198.

The Gathering event is getting increasingly popular and all present and past members are invited for a weekend of festivities during the June Bank Holiday.

Portumna
Portumna held its first ladies and gents’ Centenary Medal competition at the weekend and this was very well supported. The winners were Philip Harte and Lily Graydon, who played excellent golf in difficult weather conditions. The presentation of these prizes is scheduled for Sunday, May 5. Four further Centenary Medal competitions will be held for the gents while the ladies will have two more opportunities to win the special prize.

In the men’s event, John Harte (15) won with 73 nett from Basil Kennedy (8) who had a similar score and Ollie Flanagan (13), who also returned 73. JP McLoughlin (scratch) won the gross with 78 while the seniors’ section was won by Joe McCormack (19) with 77.

Lily Graydon’s (26) winning score was 75 and she was followed by Mary Jo Kelly (29) with 77 and Anita Carey (13) with 78. Anne S Carty (31) won the seniors with 84.

The ladies’ spring cup will be played for this week.

East Clare
The winner of the men’s golfer-of-the-year singles competition at East Clare at the weekend was Patsy Kett (12) with 66 nett from Dominic Stuart (15) with  67 nett and Ger O’Brien (17) also with 67 nett.

In the men’s yellow markers competition, the winner was Joe Moloney (18) with 42 points from Michael Drew (23) with 40 points.

The winners in the men’s seniors outing were Brendan Moloney, Jack Manly and Eamon Long from Jim Greene, Pat Clancy and Jack Hogan, with third spot filled by Tony McNulty, Kevin Grimes and Charles Stuart.
In the ladies’ golfer-of-the-year outing, the winner was Trish Kerr with 70 nett from Breda O’Loghlin on 72 nett.

The category winners were Bridie Hanrahan (74 nett), Noreen Skehan (74 nett) and Deirdre Cooney (73 nett).

In the senior ladies’ outing, the winners were Hilda McHugh, Kay Grimes and Bess Fennessy from Anna McGillicuddy, Phil Burke and Maria Moloney.

This weekend, the men’s club have an 18-hole singles competition.

Munster Youths
Jack Walsh (Castle) won the Munster Youths Amateur Open Championship at Ennis last week after an exciting play-off with Daniel Brennan (Shannon).
The three-day competition provided lots of excitement and some great golf. Conditions were cold but remained sunny for the three days.

Clare Teachers
Galway Bay was the venue for a Clare Teachers’ Society outing last Saturday, when Conor Murphy won with 33 points from Sean Cleary, who had a similar score. John Doyle was third with 32 points while the categories were won by Pat McNamara with 31, Seamus Frehill with 31 and Kathleen Frehill with 23. Sean Daly won the front nine with 19 points while Michael Drew won the second nine with 18 points.

This Saturday, teachers will play for the Hillery Cup at Shannon, when the tee will be available from 10am. This will be an 18-hole singles competition.

Clare hurlers
Shannon will be the venue for the annual Clare hurlers team-of-four classic on Friday and Saturday, May 3 and 4. There has been an excellent response to date and there are still tee times available, which can be booked by contacting Mick O’Neill, chairman of the supporters’ club.

Lissycasey GAA
Entries for the annual Lissycasey GAA classic at Kilrush on May 17 and 18 are being accepted. Times can be booked by contacting Declan Kelly (086 8540652) or Robert McMahon (086 3347768).

Pitch and Putt
At the Clare Cup on Sunday morning, the two-ball scramble was won by Kenneth Kerin and PJ Considine from Gerry Kierce and Kevin Woods. The Bob Canty Trophy will be played for this Sunday.