Spanish Point rocked by disqualification from Purcell Shield

AS Spanish Point Golf Club were making plans this week ahead of the upcoming North Munster Pierce Purcell final against Charleville, they were rocked with the news that they have been disqualified from the competition.
The Clare club won three matches on the Castle Course in Lahinch last weekend but following their disqualification, the three clubs they beat are now back in the race.
Kilkee and Woodstock have been asked to play as soon as possible and the winners will play Ennis, who have also been contacted by the Munster branch of the GUI. It is expected these matches will be played over the coming week and whoever comes through will go on to play Charleville in the North Munster final.
The weekend victory marked the first time ever in the club’s history that Spanish Point had qualified out of Clare in this competition.
“We feel very aggrieved,” Spanish Point secretary Fergal Hehir told The Clare Champion on hearing the news. “All our players had the required amount of games played and we are well above board in everything we have done. Our captain Eoghan O’Loughlin sought clarification on the day and the GUI official on duty told us everything was okay. We have looked for clarification from the GUI several times since hearing the news and all we have been told is that there is no official appeals process. We will continue to seek clarification,” the secretary added.
Regulation 23 in the list of rules regarding eligibility for the competition states, “In order to be eligible to compete in the Junior Cup, Jimmy Bruen Shield and Pierce Purcell Shield, a player shall have, in the calendar year prior to the event, returned a minimum of four returns in qualifying competitions (supplementary scores are not included) all of which must be recorded on the handicap records of the player’s home club on or before 31st December in the calendar year prior to the event”.
Charleville won through to the North Munster final after emerging from the area competition at Nenagh. Two Clare clubs were in action here with both getting through their opening rounds. Shannon had a 4-1 win over Rathbane while East Clare progressed when Adare withdrew. On Saturday afternoon Charleville were 4-1 winners over Shannon.
East beat Limerick on a 3½ to 1½ on Sunday morning and this set up an afternoon date with Charleville, who beat Adare Manor. The Cork club proved too strong for East Clare and emerged with a 4-1 victory.
The members of the Spanish Point panel are Brendan Kyne, Seamus McMahon, Anthony Garrihy, Micheál, Mervin and Fergal Hehir, Martin Dormer, Evan Talty, Eric Murrihy, Micheál Talty, Martin Glenny, John Meere, Noel Connellan, Conor O’Loughlin and Kevin Hynes.

Portumna
The open Scotch Foursomes overall winners at Portumna were James Porter and Mary Madden with 64.
In the men’s category, the winners were Vincent Treacy and Tom Moloney with 67 while the winners in the ladies’ category were Kathleen Lynch and Pauline McEvoy with 70. The mixed category winners were John Harte and Mary McElory with 68.5. The gross was won by JP McLaughlin and Anne Cassidy with 76.
In the ladies’ 18-hole Stableford, the winner was Dagmar Ullrich Werner (23) with 31 points.
There is a gents’ open singles every Monday and a senior men’s open singles every Wednesday.
This weekend, there will be a men’s and ladies’ open fourball and further information is available from 090 9741059 or www.portumnagolfclub.ie.

Woodstock
In the mixed scramble over 15 holes on Friday evening at Woodstock, the winners were Donal Kenny, Anne Marie Russell, Brendan McMahon and Patsy Nugent with a score of 51.1 from Jim Carmody, Ramona Gleeson and Martin White on 52.7.
The open singles at the weekend was won by Anthony Sweeney (3) with 40 points from Conor Sexton (5) with 39 points and Colm Mullen (6), who also scored 39 points.
The club’s minor ladies’ team suffered a narrow 3-2 loss to Ennis at East Clare at the weekend.
In the club singles at the weekend, the winner was Nicky Ryan (5) with 41 points from Tom Fogarty (19) with 40 points and Jarlath Fahy (21), also with 40 points.
The president’s (James Meade) prize will be played for this Saturday and Sunday and the timesheet is available in the Pro shop. A draw for tee times on Saturday will be made this Thursday evening while the draw for Sunday will be made on Friday evening. There will be an open two-person scramble on Bank Holiday Monday.

Ennis
Ennis Seniors held a team-of-four competition last week, with two to score at each hole. In first place with 78 points were seniors captain Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Kenny, Tony Lynch and Michael Cummins. They won from Michael Connolly, George Dilger, Sean O’Gorman and Tom Purcell, who had a similar score. Third place was filled by Pierce Cahill, Pat Shannon, Jim Felle and Pat Rutherford with 75 followed by Tom Pender, Terry Hughes, John Guilfoyle and Michael Dempsey with 74,  Ferdie O’Donogue, Dan Spaight, Carol and Joe O’Neill with 73.
This Thursday, the competition will be for the Memorial Trophy and a timesheet is in operation.
In the weekly ladies’ 18 hole Stableford competition, the winner was Margaret Ann Killeen with 37 points from Mary Lenihan and Maura Ryan, both of whom also scored 37 points.
In the ladies’ Friday open singles, the winner was Geraldine Lynch with 34 points from Monica Finnerty, with a similar score.
The winners of the ladies’ seniors outing last week were Kathleen Pyne, Ann White and Ann Casey from Marie Dilleen, Peggy Costello and Patricia O’Donnell, with third spot filled by Vera Byrne, Claire Kennelly and Phil Butler.

Lahinch
The ladies’ singles at Lahinch last week was won by Catherine McKenna (18) with 40 points from Anna Glynn (19) with 39 points.
In the men’s open singles on Thursday on the Championship Course, the winner was Tim O’Keeffe (13) from Kanturk with 41 points from Daniel Lyons (8) from Charleville with 36 and Brian McCarthy (11) from East Clare with 34 points.
Thursday was ladies’ exchange day at Galway Golf Club and the winners of the competition were Gráinne Dalton (5), Val Shannon (8), Muiriosa Connolly (10) and Anne Vaughan (12) with 84 points. They had two to spare over Elayne Hickey (7), Yvonne Morrison (18), Mona Davis (22) and Marion Keane (22).
Michael Hennessy (7) was the winner of the men’s singles on Saturday with 39 points from David Sheedy (7) with 38 points, John Daly (18) with 37 points and Tom Curry (10) with 36 points. Duncan Cusack won the gross with 32 points.
In Sunday’s men’s singles competition, Stephen Hennessy (4) was the winner with 39 points from James McMahon (12) with a similar score. Kevin Power (8) was third with 38 followed by Jackson Coleman (5) with 37. Eddie Power won the gross with 36 points.

Dromoland
At Dromoland last weekend, the men’s singles competition was won by Tony Burns from Frank McNamara and Tom Bennett, with all three returning 37 points. The over-18 winner was Richard Flynn with 35.
In the ladies’ section, Julie Newman won with 35 points from Tina McGuire on 34 and Kitty Quinn on 30.
The club’s ladies’ intermediate team were winners over Kilrush at East Clare on Sunday.
The competition for the bank holiday weekend will be a two-person rumble.

Shannon
The Jimmy Bruen team, under the management of Noel Morgan have reached the Munster final stages following their win in a very close match against Charleville in Adare Manor Resort last Thursday.  The final will take place in Bandon on Sunday, July 14.
Shannon boys’ junior foursomes team had a comprehensive win over Dromoland on Sunday last in Nenagh in the North Munster final
They now play in the Munster finals at West Waterford on August 2.
In the men’s open singles competition last week, the winner was Daniel Brennan (1) with 40 points from Mark Dore (11) with 39 points and Stephen O’Callaghan (12) with 37. The gross was won by Pádraig Cahillane (3) with 31 points.
In the Dr William Flynn Memorial May medal, the winner was Terry O’Connor (25) with 65 from James Corry (8)  66, William Fealy (18) 68, David Kirby (12) 68, Eamonn Fanneran (9)  68, Patrick Cassidy (12) 68, Roy McGrath (15)  69 and Dermot Glynn (14) 70.
The gross was won by Ed Hickey (1) with 72.

Spanish Point
Fiona O’Boyle (14) won the Spanish Point captain’s (Eoghan O’Loughlin) prize to the ladies with a score of 42 points from Angela Dowling (33) on 33 points and Breeda Murphy (35) on 32 points.  The Gathering 2013 takes place this weekend at Spanish Point.
The winners of the Friday scramble at the club were Fergal Hehir, Brendan Coyne and Stephen Cunningham.
A big entry has been received for The Gathering weekend, which has been organised by a committee led by Denis Gallery.
The Dan Gallery singles matchplay has reached the second round.

East Clare
In the ladies’ 18-hole singles at East Clare, the winner was Mary Beatty from Bernie Bohan, with Bridget Minogue in third spot.
In the men’s foursomes qualifier the winners were Brian McCarthy and Darren Rosney with 69 nett.

Kilrush
Last week’s ladies’ seniors outing at Kilrush was won by Anne Hogan, Mary Collins, Bernadette Eastham and Agnes Shannon from Mary McNamara, Mary McCarthy and Peggy Mulqueen, with third spot filled by Mary Young, Maeve Murphy and Freda Moran.
In the men’s seniors outing last week the winners were Tom Prendeville, Murt Collins, Peter Glynn and Noel Haier from Tom Cleary, Sean Moran and PJ Maher, with third spot filled by John Robinson, Tom O’Dea and Seamus O’Doherty.
In last Thursday’s ladies’ singles, the winner was Geraldine Burke with 70 nett from Anne Brennan 70 and Miriam Saunders 73. Bernadette Eastham won the gross with 89 while the nines were won by Marion Brennan and Anne Hogan.
In the Friday mixed, the winners were John Stapleton, Ollie McNamara, Agnes Shannon and Anne Hogan from Finbarr McMahon, Pat Shannon and Annie Gallagher.
The junior intermediate and minor scratch cups were played for on Sunday. Jason Woods from Ennis won the junior competition with 76, Padraic Cotter won the minor with 88 and Billy Clarke won the intermediate with 84. Jim Young junior won the gross with 74.
The draw for the Glynn Cup fourball matchplay will take place this weekend.
The weekly mixed will continue this Friday while there will be a club fundraiser open team-of-three (any combination) on Saturday and Sunday. The ladies’ singles will continue on Thursday.

Clare Teachers
East Clare was the venue for an outing for the Clare Teachers Society last week. Sean Daly, with 38 points was the winner from Conor Murphy on 36 and John Reynolds on 34. The nines were won by Mary Collins with 22 and Pat McNamara with 17 while the category winners were John Doyle with 34, Fintan McEvoy with 32 and Kathleen Frehill with 26.
The society’s next outing will be to Ennis on Monday next when members will play for captain’s (Betty O’Riordan) prize. The tee is reserved from 4pm and the outing will be followed by prizegiving, with the annual general meeting at 9pm.

Haven Arms
The Haven Arms Society held an outing to Kilrush last Saturday when Brian Scanlan was the winner with 39 points from Denis Nagle on 38 and Michael Miniter on 37. Mary G Nolan won the ladies’ prize.

Munster challenge to aid Pieta House
This summer will see the first Pieta House Munster Golf Challenge taking place in a host of clubs throughout the province including Adare Manor, Ballybunion, Doonbeg, Roscrea, Rathbane and Kilkee. Pieta House is calling on all Munster golf clubs to sign up for the challenge and help raise funds for suicide prevention. Each club will host a qualifying competition and the winners of these will go forward to play in the final at Adare Manor and Golf Resort on September 15, with a trip to the 2014 British Open in Royal Liverpool Golf Club up for grabs for the overall winner.
Pieta House is a suicide and self-harm crisis centre providing a professional, face-to-face, free-of-charge therapeutic service for people in the acute stages of distress. T
Further information on dates and participating clubs can be had from Kieran O’Brien in Pieta Mid-West on 061 484444 or kieranobrien@pieta.ie.

Pitch and Putt
The Clare Road scratch cups were played for on Saturday when Declan Sheedy from the host club was the winner of the senior competition from Liam O’Donovan from Bruff. Mark Ryan from Bruff won the prize for the best 36 nett while Pacelli Darcy from Bruff won the prize for the final 18.
In the intermediate section, the winner was Niall Seery from the Clare Ryan from Michael Darcy, Bruff, with the prize for the final 18 going to Aidan O’Connell from Castleisland.
In the junior section, the winner was Michael Kerin from the Clare Road club from Garath Kerin, also Clare Road, with another Clare Road member, Gerry Kierce, winning the final 18 category. Helen Daly from the Cill na Mona club won the ladies’ section.
On Sunday, Declan Sheedy won the senior county strokeplay competition. Kenneth Kerin won the intermediate section, with the junior title going to Gerry Kierce. All are members of the Clare Road Club.