Ennis drive on in JB Carr seniors

ENNIS marched on to the next round of the JB Carr seniors competition when they comprehensively beat Ceann Sibeal from Dingle at Ennis on Monday. The win has earned them a clash with Nenagh and this will also be in Ennis on a date to be confirmed.

Noel Pyne and Michael Culliney won their match on the 17th, Luke Coote and Larry O’Farrelly won their match on the 13th while Aidan Lynch and Eamonn Corry were victorious on the 15th. The matches involving Seán O’Gorman and Paul Higgins and the final pairing of Tony Kehoe and Matt Flynn were called in with both Ennis pairings in the lead.
The team is managed by Jimmy McNamara
Paddy Lane was the winner of the open singles at Ennis on Friday with a score of 43 points. Bernard O’Brien was second on 42 followed by Alan O’Neill on 42 and Joe Colleran on 41. Patrick Sheedy (Newcastle West) won the gross with 41.
In Sunday’s gold medal competition, Noel Whelan won the gross with 71 from TJ Scanlan on 76. In the nett section, the winner was Ollie Kennelly with 61 from John Callinan on 67.
John Byrne won the June monthly medal on Saturday last with a score of 65 nett.
Open week commences at Ennis this Thursday with a boys’ and girls’ 18-hole singles Stableford competition.
There will be an 18-hole mixed foursomes stroke competition on Friday while on Saturday, the competition will be men’s fourball Stableford. There will be a singles competition for ladies and men on Sunday followed by a three-ball scramble on Monday, a men’s four-ball Stableford on Tuesday, a three-ball rumble on Wednesday, a team of four on Thursday, ladies’ and men’s singles on Friday and a mixed scotch foursomes on Saturday to finish the week’s competitions.
Timesheets will operate for all events.

Woodstock
THE captain’s (John O’Connor) prize will be played for at Woodstock this Saturday and Sunday. A timesheet is in operation for what promises to be a great competition.
Cyril O’Dowd won the weekly senior’s competition at Woodstock with 33 points from Tom McKaigney on 32.
In the Wednesday open singles, Leroy Crowe (Kilrush) won with 42 points form Chris Power on 36.
The winners of the open modified four-ball were Cathal O’Connor and Michael O’Brien with 56 points from Brendan McMahon and Ollie McNamara on 53 with Thomas Gleeson and Darragh Walsh in third spot, also with 53 points.
In the team-of-three rumble, David Garrihy, David McLoughlin and Joe Collins were the winners with 82 points from Tony and Martin Nugent and Michael Chandler on 81 points. Liam McInerney, Michael Cullinan and Ollie McNamara were third with 79 points. In the ladies’ section, the winners were Mary Sadlier, Yvonne Morrison and Jenny Cagney.
In the team-of-two scramble at the weekend, the winners were Aidan and Noel Mulcahy who won by a shot from Kieran Cunnane and Michael O’Brien with Mark Hogan and David Garrihy in third spot, a shot back.
Joan Barrett and Mary Sadlier won the ladies’ prize.

Kilrush
THERE was a team-of-four club fundraiser at Kilrush last Saturday when the winners, with 100 points, were Denis Nolan (9); John Normoyle (10); Pat Curtis (13) and Michael Miniter (16). They had nine points to spare over Edmund (20); John (18) and Cian O’Mahony (8) and Diarmuid Murphy (7).
Denis Nolan won the president’s, Gearóid Williams’ prize with 65 nett. The best score was returned by Bryden Cody, who had 64 nett but junior members cannot win the first prize so Bryden had to be content with second spot. John Stapleton was third with 65 nett followed by Pat Curtis on 67. Neil Browne won the gross with 71 while other prize winners were: distance member prize: Tony Kenny (12) 66 nett; category 1. Gregory J Young (4) 67 nett; category 2. Darragh O’Flaherty (12) 68 nett; category 3. Joe Ryan (19) 69 nett; first nine: Jeremiah Murphy (21) 30 nett; 2. Nine: Adrian Kearney (9) 33.5 nett; committee members’ prize: Denis F Nagle (7) 69 nett; past president’s prize: John Hehir (8) 70 nett; visitors’ prize: Eugene Mackessy (14) 69 nett; concealed prize: Thomas Williams, John O’Mahony; longest drive: Anthony Burke; nearest the pin: Billy Clarke.
In the ladies’ singles, Olivia McCarthy was the winner with 38 points from Mary Young on 36, Niamh Whelan on 36 and Sheila O’Grady on 35. The category winners were Margaret Clancy with 34 points, Anne Gallagher with 35 points and Stephanie Roughan with 32.

Spanish Point
LAST weekend saw the playing of the first of the Spanish Point club’s summer major competitions and a large entry competed for Len Wilson’s prize.
Liam Ryan emerged as the winner with an impressive score of 41 points. He was followed by David Egan, a junior member playing off 17, who scored 43 points. In third spot was Shane Fitzgerald with 39 points followed by Tony Crowley with 38 points, Austin Kelly with 38 points and Seán McMahon on 37 points.
Eoghan O’Loughlin (5) continued his good form to win the gross with 35 points. Other prize winners were: past president: Brendan Reddan; back 9: Cathal Whelan (12) 21points; front 9: Jonathan Wilson (18) 25 points: nearest the pin Pat O’Malley and guest prize: Michael Horgan 35 points.
In the president’s prize to the ladies, Martina Skerritt was the winner with 37 points from Della Malone on 34 and Maura Burke on 33.
The winner in the juniors’ section was Niall Hickey with 41 points from Eoghan Sheehy on 40 points and Cathal Whelan on 39.
In the ladies’ nine-hole competition, Valerie Ross won with 18 points from Valerie Shannon on 17 points.
In the seniors’ competition, David Fitzgerald was the winner with 37 points from Patrick O’Boyle on 35.
The winner of the Thursday open was Cathal Whelan with 44 points from Ray Ward on 41 points and Seán McMahon on 39 points.

Shannon
THE ladies’ July medal at Shannon saw student member Laura Hogan produce the best score of the year when she returned a gross 78 for a nett 65 to win the competition.
Laura covered the opening nine in one over commencing with seven straight pars before her only concession to par at the eighth. A steady par at the ninth saw her out in one over. The highlight of her back nine, which she covered in three over was a birdie at the 18th. Laura had four shots to spare from Anne Casey who returned an excellent 69. Anne in turn had three shots to spare from Jean O’Callaghan and Elizabeth O’Sullivan who finished third and fourth respectively, both returning 72 nett.
Lady captain Marie Hogan was fifth with 73 nett. The gross was captured by Naoimh McMahon with 82.
The Wednesday open singles saw visitor Terry Coughlan from East Clare capture the spoils with 43 points. Terry had one point to spare from Noel O’Loughlin on 42 while Michael Cummins was third on 40 points. The gross was captured by Lorcan Hassett from Dromoland with 35 points.
The men’s August medal saw a welcome return to the winners’ enclosure for Francis Kennedy, who went around in level par for 63 nett. Despite starting with a bogey, birdies at the sixth and eighth ensured he was out in one under par. He then headed for home with five straight pars before he dropped shots at the 15th and 16th but steadied the ship with a par on the 17th followed by a birdie on the 18th to see him home by one shot from junior member Eoin Collins who returned 64 nett. Highlight of Eoin’s round was back-to-back birdies at the 10th and 11th. Third place was occupied by Peter Daly with 67 nett. The gross was won by Jason O’Donnell with a level par round of 72. They were followed by a quartet on 68 with Adam McMahon and Brendan Foley occupying fourth and fifth places while the back nine was required to separate brothers Eoghan and Colm Hanley both also returning 68s.
There will be an open team-of-four (any combination) this weekend with an open men’s singles on Monday and a team of four for members only on Tuesday.

Lahinch
THE winners of the Eileen Murphy foursomes, played on the championship course in Lahinch last week were Siobhán (13) and Sinéad Conway (28) with 40 points.
In the men’s singles Stableford competition on the Castle Course on Saturday, Michael Whelan was the winner with 43 points from Alan Donegan who had a similar score. Donal Curtin was third with a similar score while Aidan Davidson won the gross with 33 points.
Saturday’s ladies’ Stableford competition was won by Catherine McKenna (18) with 41 points.
In the men’s four-ball Stableford competition on Sunday, Martin Guerin and Leonard Shanahan were the winners with 45 points from Paul Talty and Bernard O’Brien on 44 points. Third spot was filled by Eugene Judge and Fergus Blake with 43 points.

Kilkee
THE winners of the course development classic at Kilkee were Michael Mullane, Neil Higgina, Pat Sheehan and tom Carr with 100 points from M Minihan, B Fleming, P Bennett and M Barry on 99 points. In third spot were T Cronin, P Micks, M Benson and T Cusack with 97 points.
In the seniors’ section, the winners last week were T King (15), D Lynch (22) and J Groarke (18) with 64 points from J O’Riordan (22), D O’Connor (21) and M Ahern (14) with 63 points.

Portumna
THE Portumna captain’s prize was played for over 27 holes and the winner was Pat Healy with 99 from Ger Lynch on 101 with David Burke in third spot on 101.5. They were followed by Pascal Moran on 102.5; Albert Kelly on 103 and Alan Madden on 104. Niall Kilkenny won the gross with 110 from Willie Carty on 117.
The leading qualifier was John Lynch with 105 while other prize winners were Frank Forde 107 (19 and over) Joe Slattery with 104.5 (past captain) and Joe Austin with 72 (seniors).
In the open Monday singles, Ronan O’Meara was the winner with 41 points from Dermot O’Donovan on 40 points and Kevin Kavanagh on 40 points. Shane McHugo won the gross with 31 points.
During the month of August, Portumna Golf Club will host the Musgraves Crumlin Children’s Hospital All-Ireland club challenge. The format is nine-hole rumble for team of three and the competition will be played over the first nine holes with one score to count on holes one to three, two scores to count on holes four to six and three scores to count on holes seven to nine.
The winning team qualifies for the Connacht Final at Lough Erne Golf resort on the September 8.
The winners from there qualify for the All-Ireland final to be played in Portugal in October.
The lady captain’s (Marie Kelly) prize to the men will be played for in the coming week and details are available at the clubhouse.
Birgit Degenhardt won the 18-hole Stableford ladies with 38 points from Sally O’Connell with 36 points.
The mixed foursomes went to Ballina in Mayo last weekend hoping to regain the All-Ireland trophy. They beat Claremorris in the first semi-final, however, Oughterard proved too strong in a tightly contested match, which went down to the wire, Portumna losing 3/2.
The seniors lost to Enniscrone last Tuesday in another thrilling finish. Portumna won their two matches at home but were defeated in their three away.
Portumna are in the Connacht finals of the Junior Cup where they play Rosses Point in Castlebar on August 4.
There will be a men’s open singles this Sunday while Marie Kelly’s lady captain’s prize will be on August 7.

Gort
JOHN Tierney emerged as the winner of the captain’s prize at Gort with a score of 132. He had one shot to spare from Des Casey with Steve Mahon a shot further back in third spot. David O’Dell was fourth on 135 with Gerry Connors in fifth place on 139. Paudie Grealish won the gross with 75 while Gerry Lally won the nett with 67. Brendan Dolan won the past captain’s prize with 67. Gerry Cahill was the winner of the seniors’ section with 69 while the category winner was Dermot McDermott on 68.
In the open singles last week, Alan Fogarty was the winner with 43 points from Philip McNamara on 41, Adrian Malone on 40 and Brian Hynes on 40. Adrian Conway won the gross with 34 points.
Ronan Higgins was the winner of the 18-hole singles competition at Gort at the weekend with 41 points from David Quirke who had a similar score. Owen O’Donnell was third with 40 points while Noel Ruane was fourth with 39 points. Colman Cooney won the gross with 37 points.
The winner of the ladies’ singles last week was Bernie O’Dea with 40 points from Denise King on 34 points.

East Clare
JUNIOR club member Tara Whelan has been selected to play for Munster in the U-18 inter-provincials in Roscommon. This is the first time that the club has had a junior selected on a provincial side. Tara started out with a handicap of 24 which has been reduced to 12 in the space of five months.
The club’s ladies’ minor league team has qualified for the Munster final to be held in Youghal on August 21. They beat Ross Golf Club from Killarney in Monkstown last Saturday. The panel comprises Peggy Ryan, Mary Beatty, Terry Mulvihill, Breda O’Loughlin, Mary Brennan, Trish Browne and Noreen Skehan. The team manager is Siobhán Shanahan-Moloney.
The lady captain’s (Mary Beatty) prize was played for on Sunday when Noreen Skehan emerged as the winner with 66 nett. She had four shots to spare from Mairéad Twomey with Mary Fagan in third spot on 71 followed by Imelda O’Hanlon on 71, Catherine Minogue on 71, Ann McInerney on 72, Connie McKenna on 73, Leslie O’Flynn on 73 and Heather Cullen on 73. The winners of the nines were Peg Hanrahan on 32 and Deirdre Cooney on 33.
Tara Whelan won the gross with an impressive 77.
Ciara Magill won the juniors’ competition from Eleanor Minogue. In the ladies’ 10-hole competition, Noreen Doyle won with 15 points from Ann Harte on 13. The ladies’ prize to the men was won by Dave Phillips with 48 points.
There will be an open four-ball for men and an open singles for men this bank holiday weekend.

Dromoland
JOAN Ryan was the winner of the ladies’ 18-hole Stableford competition at Dromoland from Dorothy Brennan with Cora O’Toole in third spot.

Ennis seniors
EIGHTY-eight members played in the Ennis seniors team-of-four competition last week. The winners with 85 points were Pat McInerney, Luke Coote, Colm McNevin and Ollie Kenneally. They had one pint to spare over John White, Tom Glynn, Charlie McEnery and Gerry Gilligan. In third spot with 82 points were Seán O’Gorman, Pat O’Reilly, Michael O’Reilly and TJ Waters. The fourth place finishers also returned 82 points and they were Jimmy McNamara, James Ball, George Dilger and Jim Scully. Fifth spot was filled by Peadar Cosgrove, Tom Pender, Seán Fitzpatrick and Michael Kenny and they had 81 points. In sixth place with 79 points were Ned Ryan, David O’Brien, Kevin Murray and Willie Moloney and they were followed by Cyril O’Dowd, Michael O’Grady, Frank Landy and Tom Saunders who had a similar score.

Bridgetown
THE Bridgetown Society held its president’s (Dominic McArthur) prize at Nenagh on Saturday last when 26 members played.
Tim Jones emerged as the overall winner with 40 points from TJ Burns and Ollie McCoy. Burns scored 42 points but the society rules demand that members must have played two or more outings prior to the captain’s and president’s prizes to qualify and TJ had only played one. Ollie McCoy scored 39 points.
Dominic McArthur won category A with 38 points from Tom O’Shaughnessy on 37 while category B was won by Barry O’Sullivan on 32 from Mike O’Brien on 31. The winner of category C was Mike Leonard with 21 points from Brendan Fitzgerald on 17 points. Tom Buckley and Liam Hession won the nines.
TJ Burns won the long drive and Tom O’Shaughnessy was the winner of the nearest the pin prize. The society’s next outing will be to Ballykisteen on August 21 when the tee will be available from 10am.

Whitegate GAA
THE seventh annual Whitegate GAA golf classic will take place on Friday week, August 6 from 2.30pm to 4.30pm and on Saturday week, from 12 noon to 4.30pm at East Clare.
Amongst the prizes will be a round of golf at the Heritage in Portlaoise while participants will be able to enjoy an on course barbecue.
A timesheet will operate and details are available from any member of the committee or by contacting East Clare Golf Club.

Moran Memorial
ON Saturday, August 28, Ennis golfer Pat Lucey will defend his title at the Joe Moran Memorial Golf outing at Ennis. A timesheet will operate and details can be had from Mark at 086 2328290.

Spanish Point ladies
Aoife O’Malley(13) was the winner of the Londis Open day competition at Spanish Point with a score of 41 points. Sinead Sexton (4) was in second place on 38 points, followed by Bernadette O’Gorman (24) on 35 points and Aileen Kyne(21) with 34 Points.
The nines were won by Kay Dunworth and Deidre O Malley. The lady captain’s charity competition will take place next Sunday.