Ennis reach Munster semi-finals

ENNIS will host Nenagh in the Munster semi-final of the JB Carr seniors’ inter-club competition next Monday.
This is one of the most popular inter-club competitions, as the numbers playing seniors golf have increased in huge proportions in recent years.
Ennis beat Ceann Sibeal from Kerry in their last outing and now face a difficult assignment as Nenagh have a formidable team.

Lahinch

The captain’s (Eugene Gilligan) prize was played at the weekend and there was a full timesheet on both Friday and Saturday. The leading qualifiers from both days went through for a nine-hole play-off on Sunday.
West Clare native Pascal Looney emerged as the winner with 60 points and he had two to spare from Jim O’Leary, with Gerry Buckley in third spot on 59 followed by Diarmuid Leonard on 59, Parry Mandal on 58, Jimmy Condon on 57, Frank Keating on 57, Danny McGrath on 56 and Matthew Griffin on 55.
The gross was won by Thomas Neenan on 49 from Juan Fitzgerald on 48.
Vice-captain Dickie Pyne had the best gross on Friday while his brother Noel, a former captain and president of the club, had the best gross on Saturday. The winner of the seniors’ section was Paddy Vaughan with 40 points from John Abernethy on 39 while the junior category was won by Aaron McNulty with 36 points.
Jerry O’Donnell was the winner of the past captain’s section with 35 points. Robert Kennedy was first on Friday with 38 points from James O’Gorman, who had a similar score. Sean Scanlan was third on 36 points followed by Kevin O’Donovan with 36.
On Saturday, Brendan O’Doherty had the best score with 39 to win from Pat Cronin on 36, Kieran Daly on 36 and Dan O’Donovan on 36.
The winners of the nines on Friday were Michael Begley with 19 points and Mark O’Donoghue with 22 points while these categories on Saturday were won by Ger McMahon with 20 points and Tom McMahon with 22 points.
Jim Nolan had a hole in one at the eighth hole on Saturday.
In a ladies’ invitational fourball on the Castle course on Saturday, the winners were Aedin McCarthy (14) and Jenny Gracey (22) with 41 points. They won from Siobhán Conway (14) and Clionadh Mulcahy (16), who had 39 points.
In third spot with 39 points were Helena Tiernan (25) and Breda Murphy (33) with 39 points and they were followed by Therese Conway (2) and Catherine Cronin (15), with 38 points.
Gay and Eimear Costello were the winners of the ladies’ fourball Stableford competition on the course on Sunday with 46 points from Helena Tiernen (25) and Liz O’Driscoll (22) with 37 points.
Olivia Lucas won the ladies’ singles v par for the Knox Cup with a score of four up. She won from Sinéad Sexton, who had a similar score. In third place with four up was Ita Slattery, followed by Angela Cullinan with three up, Chloe Duggan with two up and Catriona O’Callaghan with two up. Eileen Rose Power won the gross.
In the men’s fourball Stableford competition, Vincent Downes and Andrew Cloonan were the winners with 48 points form Tim and Rob Hurley with 46 points. In third spot were Ronan Murphy and Vincent O’Doherty with 46 points followed by Michael Cagney and Peadar Thynne with a similar score.

East Clare

Barry McMahon won the men’s open singles at East Clare last week with 44 points from Ray McInerney on 41 and Jim Greene on 41. Mike Whelan won the gross with 30 points.
In the men’s open fourball, Ian Mulready and Bobby Deegan were the winners with 45 points from Paul Madden and Martin Mason, who had a similar score. Shane and Ray McInerney were next with 44 points.
The winners of the ladies’ team-of-three competition were Siobhán Shanahan, Catherine Minogue and Helen Ahern with 66 points.
In the men’s seniors’ section, Tony McNulty, William McLysaght and Richard Hayes were the winners while the ladies’ senior section was won by Mary Bugler, Bernie Bohan and Sue Casey from Mary Collins, Connie McKenna and Margaret McNamara.
This weekend, the men’s intermediate scratch cup will be played for while the ladies will play a golfer of the year competition.

Ennis

Open week got underway at Ennis at the weekend and despite the not so pleasant weather, there have been big turnouts.
In the mixed foursomes on Friday the winners were Bridie Keane and James Ball with 65.5 nett from Ann and Peter Daly with 66 nett. In third place with 68.5 were Phil Butler and Luke Coote and they were followed by Mary Walsh and Tony Blake with 70.5. The gross was won by father and daughter Gary and Sarah Cunningham with 79.
The competition on Saturday was a men’s 18-hole fourball and the winners were Paul Nihill and John Kelly with 46 points. They had one to spare from Sean O’Gorman and Brendan A Considine, with third spot filled by Ian Myatt and Noel O’Connor, who had a similar score. In fourth spot with 44 points were Michael O’Reilly and Ollie Kenneally. Nearest the pin prizes were won by Trevor Cummins (Gort) at the 16th and Luke A Coote at the eighth (second shot) while the longest drive at the 14th was won by Ronan Nalty.
In the ladies’ section the July medal silver section was won by Valerie Hassett from Kay Vaughan while the bronze section was won by Liz Kelly from Mary Hennessy.
In the CBS ladies’ 18-hole Stableford competition Pamela Murphy was the winner with 39 points from Monica Finnerty on 37 and Deirdre Molyneaux on 36. Celia Reilly won the gross.
Sinéad Mortell won the ladies’ open singles on Friday with 33 points from Margaret Lacheiner on 32 and Vera Madden on 30.
In the ladies’ seniors the winners were Brid Kelly, Pat Leacy and Kathleen Frehill with 47 from Susan O’Brien, Teresa Corcoran and Phil Butler on 49. In third spot on 50 were Mary Colton, Carmel Verling and Liz Kelly on 50.
The seniors’ week four competition winners were Bridget Hoey, Mary Leahy and Phil Butler with 47 points from Oonagh Fitzpatrick, Claire Ruane and Clare Kennelly with 48. In third spot on 49 points were Jean Molony, Noreen Farrelly and Kate O’Ceallaigh.

Woodstock

The captain’s (John O’Connor) prize was played for on Saturday and Sunday at Woodstock and there was an excellent entry.
The winner was Michael Kelly (17) with 97.5 from Seosamh O’Riordan (16) 101, Rory Callinan (18) 101 and James McMahon (15) 101.5. The gross was won by Kieran Cunnane (+) 72 while the category winners were Kieran Dromey 104, Cathal O’Loughlin 104 and Alan Garrihy 107. Other prizewinners were past captains, Brian Dinan 73; seniors, Seamus Kelly 68; juniors Nicky Ryan (8) 44 points followed by Stephen Casey. Vera Madden, president of Ennis Golf Club, won the guests’ section with 35 points. 
The captain’s prize for the ladies was won by Bernie Power (21) 35 points, from Patricia Graham (33) 33 points, Mary Gleeson (24) 33 points and Joan Barrett (18) 33 points. The gross was won by Mary Sadlier (12).
The winner of the Wednesday open singles was Aaron Donegan (22) 43 points, from Niall Mulcahy (15) 41 points and Chris Power (17) 40 points.
The senior cup will be played for this Saturday and there will be a club singles on Sunday.
In the open singles on bank holiday Monday, John Daly (14) was the winner with 39 points from Eoghan O’Loughlin on a similar score. Cathal O’Connor was third with 38 points.
Nicky Ryan and Joe Collins won the Kelleher Trophy for the fourball matchplay.

Portumna

There was a men’s open singles Stableford competition at Portumna over the bank holiday weekend when the winner was Michael Kennedy (14) 44 points from Alex Whiriskey, Gort (19) 41 points, Gary Larkin (8) with 41 points and Brian Grogan (18) with 41 points. The gross was won by Paul Porter (8) with 33 points. There will be an 18 hole Stableford golfer-of-the-year competition this Sunday.
Suzanne Corcoran won the 18-hole stroke competition for ladies last week from Caroline Carr and Mary Conwell.
In the weekly nine-hole competition, Ollie Flanagan was the winner with 24 points from Alan Hayes on a similar score. Sean Cleary won the gross with 18 points.
The winner of the Monday open was Gary Larkin with 41 points from Donal Robinson on a similar score. Dermon Hannifin was third with 40 points while Sean Cleary won the gross with 33 points.
Marie Kelly’s lady captain’s prize will be played for on this Saturday and will be followed by the captain’s dinner in the clubhouse at 8pm.
The Junior Cup team, captained by Matt Donoghue and Pat Healy, will be playing in the Connacht final this weekend in Castlebar. Portumna take on County Sligo, Rosses Point.
Golfers from Portumna junior section did well last week in the Connacht Close, which was played in Portumna. David Cleary in the U-18s qualified to play in Tuam and Ronan O’Meara is on first standby for the U-15 event.
The Junior Alliance will be playing in Galway on Wednesday, August 18 and details are available from Jim Hynes 087 6411711.

Spanish Point

Willie McNamara (17) was the winner of the seniors’ open at Spanish Point with 37 points from David Fitzgerald (14) on 36. John Fitzgerald was in third spot on 33 points. In the Thursday open, Joe Flynn (20) was the winner with 44 points from Eamonn McMahon (16) with 38 points and Robbie Healy (16) in third spot on 38 points.
The winners of the nine-hole scramble were Micheal Hehir, Roger Emmett, Geraldine Reddan and Paddy Kyne, who were six-under. They won from Andy White, David Downes, Tony O’Connell and Pat Greene on four under.
The weekend team-of-four competition was won by Sean McMahon (10), Pat Greene (15), Mervin Hehir (15) and Niall McMahon (17) with 90 points. In second place were Cian Kelly (14), Harry Crowe (17), Brendan Hughes (11) and Mick Kelly (24) with 88 points.
Club members Mervin Hehir (15), Michael Waters (15) and Fergal Hehir (14) finished in second place in the Wednesday pro-am at the Irish Open last week in Killarney.

Shannon

The untimely death of Shannon club member Timmy Halpin caused widespread shock throughout the club last week. His death took place after a short illness and his popularity was highlighted at the funeral, which was attended by huge number of people.
Timmy was renowned as a great competitor and he took great pride in representing the club in inter-club matches, namely the Jimmy Bruen and Pierce Purcell shields and the independent mixed foursomes. Known for his great wit, the fairways will be much the quieter without his presence.
The ladies’ weekly competition saw Connie Corry continue her impressive form this year when returning 69 nett to win by one shot from Colette Colleran. Eileen Quinn was third with 71, with Rose Doyle fourth on 73. The gross was won by Jean Murphy Wright with 82.
The Wednesday open singles saw superb scoring, with 44 points required to figure amongst the prizewinners. The winner with 48 points was Paul Tobin. Paul returned 27 points for the front nine, which he covered in one-under gross, recording birdies at the second and seventh. His only concession to par came at the third.
Highlight of his back nine of 21 points were birdies at the 14th and 18th. Paul had three points to spare from William Ryan, who covered the outward nine in 21 points but really caught fire on the back nine, which he covered in one-over with his only concession to par coming at the 15th for an inward nine of 24 points.
Third place was filled by club captain Joe Sheehan, who returned equal nines of 22 points for a total of 44 points. The gross was won by Paul O’Neill with a two-under par 38 points and the highlight of his round was a hat-trick of birdies at the seventh, eighth and ninth.
In the open team-of-four competition at the weekend, the winners were Colm Reidy, Pat Madden, John Hayes and Joe Tucker with 10 7points from Eamonn Fanneran, Jim Corr, Michael and Barry Murphy with 102 points. In third place, also with 102 points, were Kevin McCarthy, SA Doyle, G Reilly and L Upton, while fourth spot was filled by Liam O’Mahoney, Mick Cummins, Joe Finlay and Paul O’Connor, also with 102 points.
Monday’s 18-hole open singles was won by Kieran McEvoy with 45 points from Bryan Power on 43, John G O’Connell on 41, James Kierans on 41 and Walter Walsh on 40. Eoghan O’Dea was the winner of the gross with 35 points.

Gort

Damian Hanniffy was the winner of the August weekend 18-hole stroke competition at Gort with a score of 64. He had two strokes to spare over Michael Cahill with Tom Divinney, also on 66, in third spot followed by Alan Minogue, who also scored 66. Frank Keeley won the gross while Mike Gill had a hole-in-one at the eighth.
Monday’s open singles was won by Vincent Egan with 44 points from Aidan O’Donnell on 42, Jim Lovett on 41 and Pat Flanagan on 41. Colman Cooney won the gross with 37 points.
The winner of the ladies’ competition was Helen McCormack with 71 from Madeline Donohue on 72 and Patricia Skehill on 73.
Open week will commence this Sunday and there will be a selection of competitions throughout the coming week, with timesheets in operation.
Ennis Seniors
Fixty-six members of the Ennis Seniors Club played in a modified team-of-four competition last week. The winners with 83 points were Eamonn Corry, Pat O’Reilly, Pádraig Ryan and Pat Cahill.
They had two to spare from Charlie McEnery, Luke Coote, Sean O’Gorman and Colm McNevin.
In third spot with 79 points were Jim Scully, John Stack, Dick O’Connell and Aidan Lynch and they were followed by Denis O’Ceallaigh, Pat Rutherford, Tim Kelly and Frank Landy on 76 points.

Clarecastle

Clarecastle and Éire Óg golf societies will play the annual Sutton Cup challenge match at Woodstock next Tuesday when the tee is reserved from 3pm to 5pm and a timesheet will operate on the day.

Corofin

Corofin Society will travel to Kilrush this Saturday for their August outing. The tee is reserved at the Kilrush course from 10.30am.
The event is a singles Stableford competition and is also the last club outing before the captain’s prize, which will be held in Gort in September.
Saturday will therefore offer many members the opportunity to increase the number of outings they will have played so far in 2010, with a minimum number required in order to be eligible for the top prize in September.