While it had been well marked on everyone’s calendar in Pitch & Putt circles, three out of four successes on home turf in the Munster Inter-County Championships in Tralee last weekend exceeded a lot of expectations as there was a historic success for one of the two Kerry Ladies sides on the day.
On Saturday afternoon they became the first Kerry Ladies side in 23 years to win a Munster Inter-County competition as they won the Nett event with a combined total of 241 points. Deerpark’s Eileen McCarthy was the playing link between both sides as she was on the Kerry Ladies side that won the 2001 Munster event in Deerpark.
This year she combined with Tralee trio Charlotte Blake (Captain), Lisa and Catriona O’Connor to give the county a momentous win. After the Scotch Foursomes Doubles Kerry trailed the Tipperary 3 team by one point on 80 points but a 45-point return from Eileen in the Singles coupled with 43 points for Charlotte put Kerry ahead as Lisa and Catriona brought in 37 and 36 point totals respectively to give Kerry their final total of 241.
It saw them finish seven ahead of Cork 2 as Cork’s first team won the main Gross prize with 187 points. Well done to Charlotte, Eileen, Lisa and Catriona on a momentous win along with their manager Tony Blake as the team was kindly sponsored by the Meadowlands Hotel in Tralee. The second team that competed on the day was supported by O’Connor Construction and consisted of Betty O’Brien, Eileen Switzer, Jean O’Shea and Orla O’Mahony. The Ladies success on Saturday afternoon followed a victory for the Junior Mens team in their event earlier in the day.
They had trailed Cork by four after the Doubles by really stepped up in the Singles as Mark O’Regan had one under par in the Singles, Pa Byrne level par, with David Hobbert (+1), Robbie O’Connor (+4) and Noel Lee (+7) their counting scores in the Singles with Mark O’Shea the other member of the winning team as their total score of +12 was 17 better than Cork in second. The team was looked after by County Board Chairman Christy O’Mahony as Kerry retained the title and won the event for a third time overall.
Sunday’s play meanwhile saw victory for the Intermediate Mens team as similar to the Juniors, singles scoring got them the win. It was tied at 15 under par each between Kerry and Cork in the Singles before two under par for team captain Eamon Sheehy, one under for both James Fleming and Keith O’Brien, level par for Bobby McCarron and one over for Fergal Roche gave them a winning score of 18 under par with Listowel’s Bobby McCarron the other member of the winning team and John Fitzgerald of Tralee the team manager. It was Kerry’s third time winning this event as well as both the Intermediate and Junior Mens teams now go forward to National Challenges against Leinster winners Kildare (Intermediate) and Westmeath (Junior) on Sunday September 22nd next at a venue to be confirmed.
Meanwhile the Kerry Senior Mens team were unable to complete the clean sweep for the weekend as they had to settle for second against defending champions Cork. Kerry trailed Cork by three after the Scotch Foursomes (29 under as opposed to 26 under for the hosts) but Cork’s strong singles scoring told in the final 18 holes. Jason O’Regan and Darren Goodall both brought in eight under par with Damien Fleming and Jason Cregan shooting seven under par each as Michael Conway had Kerry’s other counting score of four under in bringing the county to a final total of 58 under, 13 off Cork’s winning score of -71 as Jamie Blake was the other member of the Kerry side managed by James Fleming.
Out thanks to Utility Trust for their support of the Mens teams as we say well done to Tralee as a club on their hosting of the weekend. This weekend sees the final major U16 event of the year the National Matchplay Championships in St Bridgets, Kildare where Brian McCarthy of Deerpark is the defending champion. We wish all the Kerry players the best of luck this weekend.
Best Wishes also to Damien Fleming, Jason Cregan and Tony Blake in the deciding Irish World Cup Team Trial in St Patricks, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford this Saturday. Finally, we would like to pass on our symapthies to the family and colleagues of Dan O’Donovan of the Gleneagle club on his death in the past week.
May he Rest in Peace.
