Woodstock in Purcell Shield North Munster final

WOODSTOCK qualified for the North Munster final in the Pierce Purcell Shield when they won through the area section played at Dromoland on Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday, they overcame the challenge of Spanish Point to qualify for a Sunday meeting with Shannon where they were again successful and this set up an afternoon final against neighbours Ennis, which Woodstock won.
Shannon had defeated Kilkee in the first round, while Dromoland accounted for Doonbeg in their opening game before going under to Ennis at the semi-final stage. Ennis had previously defeated Kilrush.
Under team manager, Micheál Hehir, the Spanish Point Pierce Purcell team played Lahinch Golf Club on the previous Wednesday evening in a preliminary first-round match and were convincing winners with two victories on the 13th and one on the 17th for a 4 to 1 result.
In the first round proper, when they met Woodstock, Spanish Point lost out, with a putt by Woodstock on the 18th making the difference. The team members were Mervin Hehir/Eric Murrihy, Eamonn and Niall McMahon, Fergal Hehir/Pat Greene, Pat Lorrigan/Michael O’Brien and Martin Glenny/John Meere.
Woodstock’s victory gives them a North Munster final against Limerick Golf Club and this is scheduled for Doonbeg next Wednesday at 4pm. The team is managed by Robbie Dormer and Eoin O’Loughlin. Woodstock won the national title in 2002 and Robbie Dormer was a member of the winning side, while the club contested the final in 2007.
In Sunday’s final, Jimmie Kelly and Declan Coote; Jason Considine and Brian Mulcahy and Micheál Talty and Shane Fitzgerald won their matches, while the games involving Martin Dormer and Frank Doherty and Thomas Hehir and Michael O’Brien were called in.
The other pairings used by Woodstock over the weekend were Seamus Kelly and Ollie McNamara; Liam McInerney and Michael Kelly; Tom Dormer and Shane Slattery and Jamie Vaughan and Colm Cooney.
Meanwhile, on the domestic front, Frank Doherty (14) was the winner of last week’s open singles with 43 points from Joe Collins (7), who had 41 points with Bernardo Kelly (8) in third spot with 40 points.
In the bank holiday open fourball, Cathal O’Connor and Michael O’Brien were the winners with 45 points from Cormac Walsh and Tom Hanrahan on 42 points.
Wednesday’s open singles was won by Michael Reen (10) with 38 points from Dara Walsh (17), who had a similar score.
The competition art the weekend was also a singles and the winner was Michael O’Connor (19) with 41 points from James Carmody (10) with 39 points, with third spot filled by Anthony Sweeney (4) with 38 points.
Adrian Kearney, Cormac Walshe, Carl Hale and Ciarán Gallagher won the winter league. Next weekend’s competition is a club singles Stableford.
In the ladies’ singles last week, Fran Feighery was the winner with 29 points. On Sunday, the ladies’ minor team will play Kilkee at Lahinch’s Castle Course and the panel comprises Teresa Sherlock, Nancy Burke, Maura Umlawski, Mairéad Carroll, Mary Gleeson and Una Patton. The team manager is Bernie Power.

Ennis National School classic
ENNIS Golf Cub was the venue for a team-of-four competition in aid of Ennis National School on Saturday. The winners were Cillian Duggan, Niall Heaney, Stephen Guilfoyle and Mick Daffy from Della and Steve Burns, Johnnie Kierse and Rita O’Brien. In third spot were Michael Lydon, Joe Griffin, Colm Murphy and Joe Whelan. They were followed by Tom McMahon, Brendan Coyne, Ray Boyce and Sean McMahon. Ross Darmody won the prize for nearest the pin on the seventh, while Eoin Glynn won the long drive at the 14th.
Meanwhile, the school’s junior classic for pupils was held last Thursday when the winners for nine holes were Killian McDermott (fifth class), Darren O’Brien, Ross O’Flaherty and Harry Talty (all fourth class). In second place were Jamie Roche, Ethan Cronin (both sixth class), Lee Canty and Mark Collins (both fifth class).

Dromoland
DROMOLAND ladies’ bumper medal competition on Sunday was won by Sandy Smyth from Julie Fitzgerald, with Mary Arthur in third spot followed by Ann Nix. This week’s competition will be on Saturday.
In the men’s singles Stableford competition, Stephen O’Mullan was the winner with 39 points from Nicholas Duggan, who had a similar score. John Casey was third with 36 points, while Philip Hehir won the category for handicappers of 18 and over with 36 points. The junior section was won by Sean Shanahan with 41 points.
This weekend’s competition will be an 18-hole singles Stableford, while the Barton Shield team will compete at Castletroy this weekend.
Last week’s juniors competition was won by Cormac O’Neill with 44 points from Aidan O’Mahoney on 40 points, Danny Mungovan on 40 points and Conor McCarthy on 37 points. The nines were won by Brian Meaney with 21 points and Killian Howard with 20 points, while the winner of the junior girls’ section was Clodagh O’Mahoney with 22 points.

Shannon
THE Wednesday open singles at Shannon saw Michael Hayes (Limerick) capture the honours with 43 points. An excellent front nine of three over highlighted by a birdie at the sixth resulted in Mike turning with 22 points. A steady back nine resulting in 21 points was sufficient to see Mike home by one shot from James Bullman. In third place was Adam McMahon on 41 points helped by a hole-in-one on the fourth. Ed Hickey captured the gross with 32 points.
The weekend competitions were the Professional’s (Artie Pyke) Prize to both men and ladies. In the ladies’ competition, Liz O’Sullivan was victorious with 76 nett. She had one shot to spare from Sheila Forde, who just edged out Bina Donworth also on 77 nett. Ann Daly was fourth on 78 with Debbie Reddan fifth on 79. The gross was won by Jean Murphy-Wright with 87.
In the men’s prize, Eugene Logan set a hot pace when returning 67 nett on Friday evening highlighted by a tremendous start when he covered the first seven holes in one under gross. His score held until Saturday when he was edged out by Christy Sherlock, courtesy of a better back nine. The highlights of Christy’s round were birdies at the eighth and 13th and a rock steady back nine, which he covered in three over. This looked likely to be the winning score until Gavin Meehan came in with 65 nett very late on Sunday evening. Gavin certainly did not entertain hopes of victory when he turned in eight over but he covered the inward nine in three over, highlighted by birdies at the 10th and 18th.
The next team in action are the Barton Shield squad, who play in Castletroy on Saturday afternoon.
On the domestic front, the Holmpatrick Cup (men’s fourball) will be the competition this weekend, while the Junior Scratch Cup will be played for on Sunday.
The course will be closed next week as the Irish Amateur Close Championship will take place.

Gort
LAST week’s open 18-hole singles Stableford at Gort was won by Trevor Cummins with 38 points from Ian McLynn, who had a similar score, followed by third and fourth placed Ciarán Coughlan and  Brendan Hanniffy, also on the same score. The gross was won by Jason McLynn with 34 points.
This week there will be an 18-hole singles v par.
In the mixed foursomes last week, the winners of the rosebowl were Johnny Joyce and Bernie O’Dea with 69.5 from Paddy Grealish and Teresa Gill with 71. In third spot, also with 71, were Aidan Fahy and Josie Commins.
The Bob Forde Trophy was won by Siobhán O’Connor with 42 points from Margaret Whelan on 37 points and Josie Collins on 36 points. The gross was won by Siobhán Forde.
The winner of the Monday open singles was Siobhán Forde with 38 points from Marie Hannon Healy on 35 and Geraldine Lynch on 33.
This Sunday’s competition will be the May Club Cup, an 18-hole singles stroke medal event, while there will be an 18-hole fourball in aid of the blind on Tuesday.

Kilrush
THE Leadmore Trophy was played for last Sunday in extremely tough conditions at Kilrush. Tom Prendeville (16) came out on top with a fine score of 38 points, This is Tom’s second visit to the winners’ podium recently, as he was on the successful team that won the team of four club fundraiser. Tom was followed in second by John O Sullivan (17) with 37 points. Third, with a similar score, was James Murtagh (17).
With Shane McGibney featuring last week, it was the turn of brother, Paul (20), to hit the frame when he captured the front nine with 19 points. Eoin O’Brien (11) won the back nine with 20 points.
The Ladies’ Australian Spoons Foursomes was played for on Thursday and was won by Marion Brennan (18) and Anne Hogan (30) with 44 points from Anne Brennan (11) and Annie Gallagher (19) with 41 points.
The ladies’ open singles competition played on Bank Holiday Monday was won by Peggy Mulqueen (34) with 38 points, from Stephanie Roughan (34) with 37 points and Mary Bolton (24) on 35 points.
The ILGU Ladies’ Leagues will be played in Kilrush this Saturday. The course will be closed to members and green fees from 8.30am to 3pm to facilitate the matches.
The Friday mixed played on May 6 was won by John Hehir, Margaret Hehir and Noel Hehir, from Declan O’Donovan, Tom Cleary and Ursula Lineen. In third place were Kieran Lillis, Mary McCarthy and Michael Hemmings.
In the men’s seniors’ team event played on Wednesday, the winners were PJ Maher, Tom O’Dea and Michael Hemmings with 58 points from Tom McCarthy, Barry Taylor and Michael Horgan with 54 points. In third spot with 56 points were Denis Hassett, Kieran Lillis, Noel Enright and Paddy Carmody.
On Sunday, there will be an 18-hole open singles competition.

Portumna
THE JB Stronge Cup, an open 18-hole competition, at Portumna, was won by Ian Davis (12) with 64 nett from Henry Torpey (20) with 68. In third place was Leslie O’Meara (9) with 68, followed by Ollie Callanan (21) with 71 nett.
The gross was won by John Cleary (5) with 76 from John Harte (6) with 78.
After eight months of playing, the final of the club three-ball was played over the weekend, with each month providing its own winners.
The winners were Mary McElroy (24), Mary Madden (19) and Audrey McGrath (24) with 54 points from Brian Fahy (20), Gerry Lynch (17) and Patsy Lynch (20), Cregmore Golf Club, who had a similar score. In third place with 51 points were John Hynes (19), Ronan Nevin (13) and Anne Fahy (16), followed by Eoin Slattery (15), Patrick Maher (19) and Darren Gleeson (10), Nenagh with 49 points. Fifth spot was filled by Pauline McEvoy (27), Sean Whelan (11) and John Lynch (19), who also had 49 points.
The Connacht District Senior Cup for ladies will be held at Portumna this weekend. The format is five singles matches played off scratch.
The ladies’ and gents’ masters’ competition will be on Sunday, May 22 with the annual husband and wife competition taking place a week later on May 29.

St Flannan’s PPU
THE annual St Flannan’s past pupils outing was staged at Ennis on Sunday. Johnnie Finn was the winner with 38 points from Tim Ryan, who had a similar score. In third place was Eamon Callinan with 37 points, followed by PJ Garry (37 points) and Peter Quinn with 36 points. Brian Gilligan won the gross with 29 points and other prizewinners on the day were John O’Connor (staff); Kieran McDermott (parent of pupil); Jim McMahon (visitor); Cathal O’Neill (guest) and Kieran and Tiernan McDermott (parent and pupil).
In the Ennis members’ section, the winner was Leo Herbert from Michael Kearney and Pascal Phelan and all three pairings returned 38 points.
In the Friday open singles, John Fitzpatrick was the winner with 39 points from Frank Considine on 36 points, Leo Herbert on 35 points and John Finn on 35 points. Brian Gilligan won the gross with 35 points.
Pádraig Cusack won the May monthly medal on Friday with 69 nett.
In the ladies’ section of the St Flannan’s outing, the winner was Emmanuel McMahon with 36 points from Cora Kerins with a similar score. Yvonne Keohane was third with 34 points, while Kitty Morris won the gross with 22 points. Anne Kehoe won the category for granny of a present pupil with 34 points.

Ennis
THE ladies’ seniors’ competition last week was won by Anne Casey, Bridie Keane and Vera Byrne with 50 from Pat Leacy, Berna Connolly and Grace Ryan with a similar score. In third spot with 52 were Carmel Verling, Anna Glynn and Monica Gallagher.
The men’s seniors’ section held a modified scramble last Thursday when the winners were Noel Pilkington, Johnnie Cullinan and Bernard O’Loughlin with 73 from Dick Burke, Paddy Cahill and Bill Leacy on 71. In third spot on 69 were Tim Ryan, Tim Kelly and Aidan Guilfoyle, followed by Sean O’Gorman, Michael Torpey and John Keane on a similar score. Fifth on 68 were Frank Landy, Tony Blake, John Joe Coyne and James Ball, followed by Jim Scully, Bobby Burke and Willie Moloney.

Spanish Point
VICE-captain Noel McMahon, who looks after the 2011 inter-club competition teams, is now seeking members for the Jimmy Bruen panel.
In the annual quadrangular competition between Lahinch, Kilrush, Kilkee and Spanish Point held on the Castle Course, Spanish Point were the winners from Kilkee. With five cards to count, both clubs had 209 points and a back nine margin of 107 to 102 decided first place. The best card for Spanish Point was 44 points, brought in by Liam Ryan (12) and Jim Marrinan (17).
In the Friday evening team nine-hole scramble, the winners were Mervin Hehir (14), Jim Dowling (16) and Rory Sexton (23) from Fred Happanstal (19), Darragh Mullins (15) and Fergal Hehir (14).
There will be an 18-hole golfer-of-the-year competition this weekend.
Martina Skerritt (22) won the captain’s (Michael Hennessy) prize to the ladies with a score of 39 points. Rose Kerrison was in second place with 30 points, followed by Nuala Kilroy with 27 points.
Kathleen Twoomey and Kathleen Haugh were the winners of the May flower competition.
There will be an 18-hole competition on Sunday.

Lahinch
THE winners of the men’s fourball on the championship course in Lahinch on Saturday were Declan McInerney (1) and Brian McDonagh (14) with 39 points.
In Sunday’s singles, Eugene Judge (8) was the winner with 35 points from Kevin Glynn (9) on 33 and Gerry Pierce (6) on 31.
The winner of the ladies’ singles was Olivia Lucas (10) with 31 points.

East Clare
TERRY Coughlan (15) won the men’s singles at East Clare last week with 35 points from David Mitchell (13) on a similar score. In third spot with 34 points was Pat McNamara (14). William O’Brien (6) won the Thursday singles with 39 points, while the men’s seniors’ winners last week were John Brett, Tom Moloney and Nick Ryan.
In the ladies’ competition, Evelyn Skehan was the winner with 66 from Mary Beatty on 69. The category winners were Bríd Hayes with 72, Ann McInerney with 73 and Mary Rodgers with 69. The ladies’ seniors’ competition was won by Bess Fennessy from Pat Williams with Breda O’Loughlin in third spot.
In the nine-hole scramble, Leo and Kevin Mannion and Joan Kinsella were the winners from Siobhán Shanahan, Mike Ryan, Pat Williams and Sylvia Clancy.
This weekend, the men’s club will have a foursomes contest, while the club is also hosting the ILGU section of the minor league.

Cooraclare/Cree
THE Cooraclare/Cree Society will hold their next outing at Kilrush on Saturday, June 4, with a tee time at 10am. On Saturday, July 2, they will travel to Spanish Point and tee-off time is 10am. The annual society captain’s day will be held on Bank Holiday Monday, August 1 at Kilrush. Further details are available from society captain, Michael Studdert on 087 2299476.
Meanwhile, the society continues to meet at Kilrush Golf Club each Monday at 5.30pm and new members are always welcome.

Building of Hope
A GOLF classic in aid of the Building of Hope project will take place at Woodstock this Friday. Further information is available from Helen O’Neill on 085 1295844.

Daycare centre classic
THE Clarecastle Daycare Centre Classic in aid of the dementia unit was a success at Woodstock last week.
The winners with 101 points were Jimmie and Michael Kelly, Liam McInerney and Michael O’Brien, followed by Vincent Hennessy, Noel Casey, Michael Murphy and Gerry Griffey, who had a similar score. In third spot were Frankie Vaughan, Cormac Walsh, Niall Howard and Alan Woods with 96 points, followed by Mark Hogan, Yvonne Shannahan, Dara Walsh and Sean Shannahan, who also had 96 points.
In fifth place with 95 points were Barry Smythe, Paul Coote, Sean Heaslip and Brian Kearney. The ladies’ team prize was won by Mary Sadlier, Marianne McGough, Áine Burke and Joan Barrett with 86 points.

Cranny-Coolmeen
CRANNY Coolmeen Society had an outing to the championship course in Lahinch recently when the format was a team of three. The winners, with 64 points, were John McNeilis, Des Murphy and Mary McNamara. They were followed by Pat Shannon, Conor Clancy and Dermot Connolly, who scored 58 points. In third spot were Tommy Coffey, Michael Meaney, Denis Cahill and Flan Arthur. The guests’ section was won by Pat Lucey with 37 points.

Pitch and putt
TOMMY Kelly was the winner of the strokeplay competition at the Clare Road Pitch and Putt Club on Sunday. Michael Kerin was second, while Marty Fawl won the gross.
The Clare Cups will be played for at Cill na Mona on Sunday. There will be a county board competition on Thursday at Cill na Mona at 6.30pm.
The Clare Road Scratch Cups will be played for on Saturday, May 21 when the tee will be available from 9am to 1pm.

Ennis to stage special skills regional finals

THE Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Dublin in 2003 created great awareness of the Special Olympics movement throughout the country and the network structures set up in many towns and villages throughout the country to host and accommodate the athletes and volunteers from all over the world is still very vibrant.
Ennis Special Olympics Network was set up at that time and continues to facilitate many sports and activities. Siobhán Costelloe is chairperson, with Rose Hally, Kate Deegan, Isobel O’Dea and many other volunteers involved.
In 2005, Rose requested Ennis Golf Club officers to get involved in the golf section of Special Olympics and that year, three club members, Vincent Gardner, Kathleen Kierce and Jackie Morris, joined up with three athletes from Brothers of Charity Ennis, Ronan Keane, Adrian O’Neill and Tom Kenny to participate in the various Special Olympics golfing events.
They competed in the Munster Championships in Cork in 2005 and progressed from there to the national finals in the Curragh. In 2006, they competed in Munster and in the World Games in Belfast. Golf became part of the Special Olympics Sports eight years ago.
Special Olympics Golf incorporates a number of stages. The first stage is special skills, which has six elements: wood shot; iron shot, pitch shot, chip shot, long putt and short putt.
Athletes traditionally compete initially at this level and can then progress to the next level. In competition, the athlete will have five attempts at each discipline.
The second stage is foursomes golf, where an athlete competes with a club handicap golfer in foursomes or alternate shot golf over nine holes.
The third stage is where the athletes compete in nine-hole singles golf, while the final stage is where the athlete competes in 18-hole singles golf.
In 2007, Ennis Golf Club celebrated its centenary and as part of the calendar of events, the club hosted the Munster Finals of Special Olympics Golf with 100 athletes competing, supported by 50 or 60 volunteers.
The Munster finals event was fully supported by Ennis Special Olympics Network and Brothers of Charity, Ennis and both organisations provided support and many volunteers, with a huge response from golf club members, who volunteered for the day.
In early 2009, the Ennis Special Olympics Golf Club was formed and it is affiliated to Special Olympics Ireland. The club can accommodate athletes not alone from Brothers of Charity, as before, but from other organisations or individuals who want to be involved. At present, there are 16 athletes participating and Ennis Golf Club provides facilities each Monday.
On May 23, Ennis will stage the North Munster Regional Finals of the special skills. In excess of 60 athletes will compete with 40 volunteers. The event is run in Olympic fashion with a opening ceremony, parade competition and presentation of medals.
The club’s athletes who compete in the nine-hole golf will play in the Munster finals in Fota Golf Club on May 30.