President’s day at Lahinch and Woodstock

MEMBERS of Lahinch and Woodstock turned out in big numbers at the weekend to play for their respective presidents’ prizes. The Lahinch competition took place on Friday and Saturday, while Woodstock members played on Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile, in Ennis, the competition was the captain’s (Joe Carmody) prize.

Lahinch
IN the president’s (Sean Collins) prize, Martin O’Sullivan emerged as the winner with 42 points. He had one to spare over Gerard Wall with Kevin Power, also on 41 points, in third spot followed by Jerry Keohane on 40 and Gus Neylon on 39.
The leading score on Friday came from Keith Molony on 39 from John McEntee on 39, Domhnaill O’Mahony on 39 and Tim Cronin on 39. Jackson Coleman won the gross with 34.
On Saturday, Niall Shaw had the best score with 38 points from Declan McInerney on 38, Hilary Haydon on 38 and Tommy Lenihan on 3. Michael O’Kelly won the gross with 38.
Jerry O’Donnell won the past president’s prize with 35 points, while Mark Power won the junior’s prize with 38. The senior’s prize, played for on the Castle Course, was won by Colm Hayes with 39 points from Pat Cronin on 34 points.
In a ladies’ singles competition v par for the O’Mara Cup, played for on the Castle Course, Edwina O’Brien was the winner with five-up from Suzanne Hassett on four-up and Una Higgins on four-up. Miriam Abernethy won the gross with six-down
In the silver division, Anne Vaughan won with three-up from Olivia Lucas on a similar score. The bronze division was won by Helena Tiernay on three-up from Frances Hough on level.
Shane Duggan (9) and Frank Keane (10) won the men’s fourball Stableford competition on the Castle Course on Sunday with 45 points.
In the captain’s (Ray Hennessy) prize to the ladies on Sunday, Fiona McCarthy (16) was the winner with 40 points from Edwina O’Brien (18) with 39 points and Niamh Whelan (11), also with 39 points.
Eileen Rose Power won the gross with 33 points.
In the silver division, Nollie McCarthy (20) was the winner with 38 points from Jenny Cagney (15) with 37 points and Connie Fahy (19) with 35 points. Margaret Cooney (27) won the bronze division with 36 points from Liz O’Driscoll (21) with 34 points and Carmel Burke (25) with 33 points.
Last week’s ladies’ singles Stableford on the Castle Course was won by Teresa Felle (29) with 35 points from Margaret Cooney (27) with 34 points and Angela Cullinan (11) with 34 points.
In Thursday’s men’s open singles, Paul O’Brien (6) won with 37 points from Domhnaill O’Mahony (9) with 35 points and Brendan Monaghan (11) with 35 points.

Woodstock
FORMER Clare hurler Alan Markham (12) emerged as the winner of James Meade’s prize at Woodstock with an impressive score of 45 points. He won by virtue of a better back nine from John Mulcahy (13) with Dermot Melody (10) in third spot with 41 points and Brendan Neylon (11) on 41 points. Kieran Cunnane (scratch) won the gross with 34 points, while the category winners were Joe Green (10) with 40 points, Declan Rigney (18) with 40 points and Brendan O’Reilly (20) with 39 points. Seamus Kelly (14) won the past president’s prize with 37 points, while the seniors’ section was won by Noel Dinan (14) with 37. Eoin McMahon won the guests’ section with 35 points.
In the juniors’ section, Aaron Donegan (13) won category A with 41 points, Aideen Walsh (17) won category B with 33 points and Áine Donegan (36) won category C with 41 points.
The open singles on the first Wednesday of the month for the summer will be a Stableford competition off white markers.
Last week’s open singles was won by Kevin Lane (13) with 39 points from Gareth Pyne (20) with 39 and Michael Reen (7) with 39.  

Ennis
PAUL Higgins won the captain’s (Joe Carmody) prize at Ennis on Sunday, finishing two strokes clear of Tony Coote. Higgins completed the competition in 100.5 followed by Coote on 102.5 with Cyril Corry a further shot back in 103.5 and he pipped Johnnie Kearse who had a similar score. Tim McAllister was next on 104.5 followed by Paul Coote on 104.5, Joe Brack on 105.5, John Kelly on 105.5, Val Bredin on 106 and Gerry Bredin on 106.5. Richard Pyne won the gross with 72 from Pat Murphy with 74. The category winners were Jerry Keohane with 69, Tommy Timpson with 70 and Gerard O’Brien with 64. The leading qualifier was Michael Hehir with 69. James O’Connor won the past captain’s award with 72, Bernard Hanrahan won the seniors’ prize with 70 and Cathal O’Neill won the guests’ prize with 71.
Ennis Seniors’ Group held a team-of-four competition on Thursday when the winners with 80 points were John White, Michael Kenny, Luke Coote and Sean O’Gorman. In second place on 79 were Peadar Cosgrove, Tom McGrath, Gerry Gilligan and Johnny Cullinan followed in third on 75 by Jim Scully, Michael Nunan, Paul Higgins, and Willie Moloney.
The captain’s (Joe Carmody) prize to the ladies was won by Celia Reilly with 37 points from Flor Coffey on a similar score with Pat Leacy third on 36 and Anna Glynn next on 36. Maura McNicholas won the gross with 33.
In the Peugeot foursomes, Margaret Dinan and Eileen Corry won with 37 points from Monica Finnerty and Ann Casey with a similar score.
In the ladies’ open on Friday, Joan Murphy was the winner with 45 points from Mary O’Halloran on 37 and Ann Marie Darmody on 37.

Shannon
CHRISTINA Halpin (24) won the PGA Tankard at Shannon last week with 42 points from Eleanor O’Brien (24) with 40 points. Michelle Pyke (11) was next with 39 points followed by Colette Colleran (19 also with 39 points. Kyra Donworth (11) won the gross with 29 points.
In the Wednesday open singles, Pat Green (13) was the winner with 41 points from Danny Finnegan (15) with 40 points and Liam Hogan (11) with 39 points. Ed Hickey (1) won the gross with 36 points.

Kilkee
THE winners of the Whit Weekend fourball were John Keane (16) and Barry Harte (11) with 47 points from Jimmy Murray (10) and Paddy McInerney (16) with 44 points.
The winners of the charity rumble were Mike Benson (10), Ger Lowe (11) and Pat Micks (17) with 88 points from Pat Powell (15), Gráinne Forde (21) and Deirdre Powell (24) with 84 points.

Gort
THE open singles at Gort at the weekend was won by Ryan Boyle (5) with 43 points from Colin Whelan (14) with 41 points and Shane Diviney (14) with 40 points. Enda Cradock (1) won the gross with 35 points.
Open week starts this Saturday and runs to Sunday June 17.
In the ladies’ section, the winner of the Cummins Trophy, an 18-hole single Stableford event, was Maureen Brennan (20) with 43 points from Ruth Naughton (20) with 40 points and Patricia Skehill (26) with 39 points. Hannah McInerney (10) won the gross with 28 points.

Portumna
MICHAEL Carty’s president’s prize will be played for at Portumna this Saturday and Sunday. The format is an 18-hole single Stableford.
The play-off will take place on Sunday. The top 39 gents and 15 ladies (including two best gross scores from each club) will qualify for the play-off. The players go out in order of placing on leader board.
In the seniors’ competition last week, Michael Keyes (11) was the winner with 41 points from Peter Gibbs (13) with 40 points, Matt Donoghue (7) with 39 points and Pat Madden (18) with 38 points.

Dromoland
THE winners of the two-person rumble at Dromoland at the weekend were Arnold Rosney and Chris Willetts with 52 from Declan O’Leary and Sean Shanahan who had a similar score. Declan O’Leary and Sean Myatt were third with 51 followed by John and Cormac O’Neill with 51, Leonard Shanahan and Noel McMahon with 51, Alan Neville and David Casey with 51. All proceeds were in aid of the Clare branch of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland.
This week’s men’s competition will be 18-hole v par. The weekly open singles continues on Fridays.  
The club’s Barton Shield team will compete in East Clare this weekend.

Kilrush
IN the ladies’ 18-hole singles at Kilrush, Helen Williams (36) was the winner with 41 points from Annie Gallagher (17) with 39 points and Ger Burke (19) with 36 points. The winners of the categories were Margaret Clancy (15) with 35 points, Elizabeth Blake (19) with 34 points and Ursula Lineen (29) with 32 points.
The men’s open singles at the weekend was won by Bernie Clancy (17) with 40 points from Bill Murphy (25) with 39 and Cathal Clarke (13) with a similar score.
In the Friday mixed, Gay Looney and Anne Hogan were the winners from Noel Thornton and Jean Lorrigan with third spot filled by Declan O’Donovan and Maeve Murphy.
The annual club fundraiser, scheduled for the bank holiday weekend, was cancelled due to inclement weather. It will now take place in July on a date to be confirmed.
Open week commences this Friday with an 18-hole open mixed scotch foursomes. Open week continues until June 17.
Entries for the Hartman Cup mixed foursomes are now being accepted.

East Clare
INA Reddan won the lady captain’s (Catherine Minogue) prize at East Clare with 104. She finished ahead of Terry Mulvihill (104.5) and they were followed by Kathleen O’Brien (106), Noreen Doyle (106), Trish Browne (107.5), Sue Casey (107.5), Bernie Bohan (108) and Bess Fennessy (109). Tara Whelan (76) won the gross, while the nines were won by Connie McKenna and Brigid Minogue. Ciara Magill won the long drive with the nearest-the-pin award going to Tara Whelan.
In the men’s singles competition, Eoin McGuinness (2) was the winner with 40 points from Ben Rittweger (6) with 38 points. In the ladies’ section, Catherine Murphy won from Bernie Bohan and Noreen Ryan.
In the men’s senior section, the winners were Willie Roche, Tom Moloney and Steve Symes from Jim Greene, Pat Browne and Michael Drew with third spot filled by Jackie McHugh, Tony McNulty and Jack Hogan.
The winners of the Friday scramble were Sheena Mannion, John Doyle, Noreen Ryan and Brendan Moloney from Mary Mannion, John Doyle, Ina Reddan and S McNamee with third spot filled by Margaret MacNamara, John Kelly and Noreen Doyle.
In the ladies’ 14-hole competition, Marie Moloney was the winner from Bernie Cox.
The men’s section will hold an 18-hole singles competition this weekend.

Pemba Golf Classic
A GOLF classic in aid of education of the poor on Pemba Island, Tanzania will be held this Saturday on the Castle Course, Lahinch. For teams of four, maximum handicaps apply of 18 for men and 28 for ladies.
Tee times are available from 065 7071024 or Lahinch Golf Club at 065 7081003. Refreshments will be served in the Castle Course clubhouse.

Cooraclare-Cree
THE Cooraclare/Cree Society had an enjoyable day at Woodstock last Saturday. In first place were Eoin Cooney and Clare Pyne with Michael Cooney and Peggy Mulqueen in second. The visitor’s prize was won by Dolores Reidy.
The next outing will be to Gort on June 30. Those interested can give names to society captain Clare Pyne or secretary Michael Studdert.

Spanish Point
AFTER a great performance by the Pierce Purcell team, managed by Micheál Hehir, in Kilkee, when they defeated Doonbeg Golf Club and Ennis only to go down by the narrowest margin (three games to two) to Shannon in the Clare section final, inter-club action now moves to the mixed foursomes team. They take on Kilkee at Dromoland on Saturday, June 16 at 10.30am. Later on in the month (Saturday, June 30) joint managers, Martin Glenny and Noel Connellan, take their Munster Country Clubs team to Doneraile in Cork to play Lismore in the quarter -final of this year’s competition.
Last weekend’s singles competition was the Jim Finnerty Memorial and despite the heavy rain, there was a good entry with Liam Burke (19) winning on count back from Gerry Gallagher (22), both shooting 37 points.
On Tuesday, May 29, the seniors’ open was won by Brendan Reddan (15) with 42 points and in that competition Willie McNamara recorded a hole-in-one at the fifth. The Friday open was won by Michael O’Brien (5) with 35 points.
This weekend will see the second golfer of the year singles and timesheets for all competitions are in the clubhouse.

Éire Óg GAA
ÉIRE Óg GAA club will hold a 60th anniversary classic this Saturday at Ennis. The winners will receive the Gerry O’Meara Cup in memory of Gerry who was a member of the club executive for many years. His sons, Sean and Darren, play for the club.
Those wishing to participate in this week’s outing should contact club member Des Neylon, vice-captain of Ennis Golf Club at 087 2491960.

Avenue United FC
THE annual Avenue United Eddie Ryan Memorial Golf Classic will take place on Saturday, June 30, in Ennis. The time sheet is with Kieran Ryan at 087 8055306. The proceeds will go towards Avenue United pitch development fund and there will be a raffle in aid of Cahercalla Hospital.

St Senan’s RFC
ST Senan’s RFC, Shannon will host the annual Jimmy Slattery Memorial golf outing this Friday at Shannon. This team-of-four event has been running for a number of years and continues to be a huge attraction for friends and supporters of the Shannon-based club.

Pitch and putt
THE two-ball scramble at the Clare Road Pitch and Putt Club was won by Denis McElligott and Ger Hanrahan from Paddy Sheedy and Noel Cuddihy.
The Dormer Memorial Cup will be played for this Sunday with the tee available from 10am.