Gort claim seniors league title

The final round in the Clare-Galway Winter League was held at Woodstock last week when Gort A, led by club captain Kevin Mulkerrins sealed the title with a four-point win over Ennis G, led by Luke Coote.

The overall golfer of the league prize was won by Ennis member Paul Higgins, a former member of the Gort club. His clubmate Luke Coote was in second place while Noel Pyne won the overall gross.
Winner on the final day was Pat Cradock from Gort with 38 points from Luke Coote (Ennis) who had a similar score. They were followed by Paul Higgins (Ennis) and Oliver McNamara (Woodstock), both with 37 points. Noel Pilkington from Ennis was next with 36 points followed by Mattie Molyneaux (Ennis), Martin Quinn (Gort), Michael Culliney (Ennis), Kevin Mulkerrins (Gort) and TJ McNamara (Woodstock) with 35 points each.
John Kelleher from Gort won the gross with 27 points. John Daly from Gort recorded a hole in one at the par three 14th hole.

Kilrush
The first 18-hole competition of the season at Kilrush Golf Club was won by the ever-consistent Tom Coffey (11) with 40 points. He was followed in second place by Ollie McNamara (12) with 38 points with David Egan (13) in third spot with 37 points.
This Sunday the Paddy Ryan open singles will be the competition and a timesheet will operate.
The ladies’ competition played for last Thursday was won by Lucy Blake on 30 points from Margaret Clancy on 28 points followed in third by lady captain Geraldine Burke on 28 points and Mary Nolan with 27 points.
In the men’s seniors three-ball scramble last Wednesday John Stapleton, Brendan McNamara and Noel Hehir won with 34.4 from TJ Lyons, PW Glynn and Michael F Nolan with 38.6. In third spot were PJ Maher, Paddy Carmody and Noel Thornton with 40.2.
The club will be holding a fundraising race night on Friday, April 15. Members are asked to have cards returned to a committee member no later than this Friday.
The Friday mixed will recommence this week with a draw for opposites at 6pm sharp.
On each Tuesday for the month of April at 6pm, people are invited to come and try their hand at golf. There will be no charge and members of the committee will be there to help. Clubs and balls will be supplied.
The draw for the Paddy Shannon Matchplay will take place on Sunday. It is open to 18-plus handicaps. Further details on the club are available at www.kilrushgolfclub.com

East Clare
In the men’s fourball matchplay qualifier at East Clare, Joe Barriscle (13) and Dave Mitchell (13) were the winners with 46 points from Val Donnellan (10) and Sean Jones (18) with 44 points.
In the ladies’ scotch foursomes Ina Reddan and Evelyn Skehan were the winners with 35 points from Margaret O’Grady and Catherine Murphy on 32 points.
In the March ten-hole re-entry, Margaret McNamara was the winner from Frances Gaffney with Brigid Minogue in third spot.
In last week’s ladies’ seniors’ competition, the winners were Celia Moloney, Catherine Murphy, Pat Williams and Marie Moloney from Nancy Starr, Georgina Wright and Anna McGillicuddy.
In the men’s seniors’ competition, Liam Nolan, John Brett, Michael Quigney and Jim Greene were the winners from Jim Bradley, Vinny Henchy and Steve Symes with third spot filled by Tony McNulty, Tom Larkin and Michael Fenlon.
The ladies’ club will have a golfer of the year competition this week while the men will have a club foursomes.

Shannon
The ladies first masters qualifier competition at Shannon saw Linda Doherty a comfortable winner with an excellent 69 nett. Linda had two shots to spare from Doris Keane on 71 nett. Margaret Hope was third with 72 nett while Hilary Park captured fourth with 74 nett. The gross was won by Rose Doyle with 85.
The men’s Wednesday open singles saw Batt Crowley capture the honours with 44 points. Batt laid the foundation for victory when he covered the opening nine in level par, highlighted by successive birdies at the fourth and fifth, which helped Batt to the turn with 25 points.
A modest return of just 11 points for the next seven holes seemed to prove costly but a superb finish of successive birdies on 17 and 18, which resulted in eight points, just got him over the line. In second place was six-handicapper Jim O’Grady who had, probably, the round of the day as he went around in one under par for 43 points.
Jim did not entertain hopes of being in the prizes when he turned two over after nine holes but came home in three under with one concession to par at the 15th offset by birdies at the 10th, 11th, 17th and 18th. In third place was Hugh Heaney with 42 points while Ed Hickey won the gross with one-over par 35 points.
Sean Murphy scored a hole in one at the 12th.
The men’s competition at the weekend was the club fourball qualifier, which saw scores of 36 points or better qualify for the matchplay stages
Next weekend sees the men’s April medal, which acts also as a qualifier for the Rineanna, Tullyvarraga and Drumgeely Cups.
May 1 is the final date for entry to the Scratch Matchplay, Thomond and Knappogue Cups.

Dromoland
In the ladies’ weekly competition on Saturday at Dromoland, Yvonne Shanahan was the winner from Colette Colleran with Julie Fitzgerald in third spot. The bumper medal stroke competition will be the attraction this Sunday.
In last week’s men’s singles Stableford competition, Pat McGrath was the winner with 40 points from Harry Bugler on 39 and Niall Gannon on 39. Frank O’Grady won the category for those with handicaps of 18 and over with a score of 39 points while the winner of the junior section was Sean Shanahan with 41 points. This week’s competition will be V par with re-entry.
Lahinch
Jim Young Senior (5) was the winner of the men’s singles Stableford competition on the championship course in Lahinch on Saturday with 37 points from Murt McMahon (8) with 36 points.
In Sunday’s men’s fourball Stableford competition, John (8) and Don Dillon (16) were the winners with 37 points from Paul O’Brien (6) and Harry Comber (20), who had a similar score.
Catherine McKenna (18) won the ladies’ singles Stableford on Monday with 35 points.

Ennis
In the ladies’ seniors scramble at Ennis last week, Mary McMahon, Mary Gardiner and Eileen Corry won with 43 from Teresa Felle, Jean Moloney and Pauline Parkes on 46.
In the monthly medal the winner of the silver section was Yvonne Keohane with 71 nett from Geraldine O’Mahoney on 73 while, in the bronze section, Mary Glynn won with 74 from Carmel Cummins on 76.
Eoin Glynn was the winner of the Friday open singles at Ennis with 41 points from Adrian Glynn on 39 and Patrick Mullins on 35. Sean Burns won the gross with 29 points.
John Nevin was the winner of the weekend singles with 39 points from Andrew Cregan on a similar score and Seamus Frehill, also with 39 points. Tom Woulfe was fourth and he also scored 39 points while Noel Whelan won the gross with 32 points.
The St Vincent De Paul team of four will be the competition this Sunday while the monthly medal will be played for on Saturday.

Gort
The 18-hole scotch foursomes at Gort at the weekend was won by Michael Whelan and Ollie Curtin with 61.5 from Steve Mahon and Ronald Ryan on 65.5. Third spot filled by Michael Donnelly and Noel Ruane on a similar score.
Last week’s open singles was won by Adrian Conway with 39 points from Neil Lyons on 37 with Joe Lyons (Birr) winning the gross with 29 points.
There will be an 18-hole singles Stableford this weekend while the weekly open will continue on Monday.
Meanwhile, the team golf classic got underway at the weekend and will continue over the coming months.

Woodstock
After round six of the winter league at Woodstock, John O’Connor’s team has moved into the lead with 418 points, three ahead of Michael Hayes’ team Adrian Kearney’s team is in third spot on 414 points followed by George Smith’s team on 412 points.
In the matchplay semi-finals of the league, John O’Connor’s team will take on George Smith’s while the teams led by Michael Hayes and Adrian Kearney will clash in the other semi-final.
Pat Keane (11) was the winner of the Sunday singles with 43 points from Ross Darmody (11) on 41 points with Aidan Coleman (15) in third spot with 40 points. This week’s competition will be the March medal.
In the ladies’ singles competition, Joan Barrett was the winner with 35 points from Mairéad Carroll on 31 points. There will be a similar competition this Sunday, with a draw for partners at 12 noon.

Spanish Point
Tuesday’s seniors open at Spanish Point continues to be well supported and continuing with his good play of the past few weeks, Gerry Meade (16) brought in 37 points to finish in first place last week. He was closely followed by Dave Fitzgerald (15) with a score of 36 points.
Last Friday’s open competition was won by Eoghan O’Loughlin (5) with 37 points from Ross Burke (19) with 36 points. Last weekend’s competition was a singles stroke and in breezy conditions scoring was very good, with Eoghan O’Loughlin continuing his run of form to shoot one over gross, nett 62, to win by two shots. In second place was Bernie O’Halloran (19) with 64 nett and he pipped Pat Lorrigan (15) on the back nine, also on 64 nett. The first of the 2011 golfer of the year competitions is scheduled this weekend and will be played off the blue tees. On Saturday the preliminary round of the Munster Country Towns 2011 Cup will take place in Spanish Point when the local team take on Listowel, with the first match at 11am. The timesheet on Saturday will not be available until 2pm.
The winners of the ladies’ three-ball scramble were Val Shannon, Della Malone and Tanya Carroll. The Easter hamper competition will take place on Sunday.

Portumna
Adrian White (20) was the winner of the 18-hole Stableford competition at Portumna at the weekend with 41 points from Bernard Murtagh (7) on 39 points and Kevin Kelly (12) with 39 points. JP McLoughlin (2) won the gross with 31 points while the winner of the seniors’ section was PJ Hogan (26) with 33 points.
In the ladies 18-hole stroke competition, Claire Callanan was the winner with 72 from Geraldine O’Reilly on a similar score. Suzanne Corcoran was third with 74 points.
The winners of the open three-ball for March were Mark Connaughton, John Monaghan (Claremorris) and David McGrath (Nenagh) with 55 points. In second place with 54 points were Mary McElroy, Audrey McGrath and Mary Madden (all members of Portumna) with 54 points.
In the Wednesday weekly seniors competition TJ Egan (22) was the winner with 32 points from Padraic Flynn (17) with a similar score.
In the Monday open, Eoin McGuinness (4) from East Clare won with 41 points from David Flynn (Ballinasloe) (8) with 40 points. In third spot was TJ Kennedy (18) with 39 points while Thomas O’Connor (1) won the gross with 38 points.
The PGA Tankard will be the competition on this Sunday. There will be junior registration evening on Tuesday, April 19 from 5pm to 8pm.

Ennis Seniors
Sixty-six members played in the Ennis seniors’ team-of-four competition last week when the winners were Bobby Burke, Noel Pilkington, Sean Brennan and John R Cullinan with 70 points from Ned Ryan, Pat Cusack, Jim McNamara and Jim Scully, who had a similar score.
In third place with 69 points were Conor Murphy, Pierce Cahill, PJ Garry and Tom Purcell followed in fourth place with 68 points by Matt Molyneaux, Michael Kenny, Sean Finnerty and Ollie Kenneally. In fifth place, also with 68, were Michael Nunan, Dave Dillon, Pádraig Ryan and Michael Irwin. Sixth place was filled by Greg Fogarty, Tom Pilkington, Ferdie O’Donoghue and Joe McMahon with 66 points.

Éire Óg
Paul Coote was the winner of the Éire Óg outing to Portumna on Saturday with 37 points from Michael Griffin on 36, Tony Coote on 36 and Tom Corbett with a similar score.
The society’s next outing will be to Ennis on May 23.

Clarecastle
The society will hold its next outing at Gort on this Saturday. The first tee has been reserved from 10am. Members and guests intending to play should text 086 3246015 with their preferred tee time.

Sixmilebridge Camogie Club
Sixmilebridge Camogie Club will hold a classic in East Clare on May 27 and 28. Further details can be had from Linda on 087 9907405 or Breda on 086 0750778.

Corofin
Corofin Society visited Dromoland recently for their March outing. More than 30 members took part in excellent weather conditions.
Pat McCarthy emerged as the winner from Martin Flaherty with David O’Dell third and Matthew O’Halloran fourth. David O’Loughlin and Pat Curtis won the nines.
The next outing will be to Loughrea on Saturday, April 16.

Mike Mac
memorial
Preparations are almost finalised for the inaugural Mike Mac Memorial Golf Classic, which takes place this Saturday at Ennis. Organised by the Ennis Leeds United Supporters Club in conjunction with some of Mike’s best friends in Ennis, the event is proving extremely popular so far and the timesheet currently has more than 40 teams registered to play. Leeds legend John Giles will be in attendance. Proceeds from the day are being donated to Cahercalla Hospice and other charities.
The presentation of prizes will take place in the clubhouse at 9.30pm sharp. Following this, there will be an auction of some items, including a 1972 FA Cup final jersey donated by John Giles. Anyone wishing to play should call Kieran Ryan on 087 8055306 or 087 2340378 to secure their place or alternatively tee boxes can be sponsored by contacting Cyril Corry on 087 1221920 or Paul Nihill on 086 8346091.

Pitch and Putt
The Bob Canty Trophy will be played for this Sunday at the Clare Road Pitch and Putt Club with the tee available at 10am.