On a weekend of provincial and local action, pride of place went to Deerpark’s Brian McCarthy as he kept the Munster U16 Boys Matchplay Cup in the Kingdom following victory in Tipperary Hills in Tipp Town last Saturday.
He kept the Cup in the Deerpark club as well as he brought back the Cup he was initially returning from his club-mate and last year’s winner Nathan Cronin in strong fashion. Brian made it through to the Championship semi-finals of the event when it moved to 36-hole matches and overcame bring one down to Cork’s Aidan Spence Murphy after 15 holes to record a 6&5 victory.
In the decider he would face one of his Irish U16 International team-mates from last year in Tipperary’s Joe Franklin as following a pretty even start between the pair, Brian moved into a 3up lead after nine holes. Franklin brought the deficit back to two after the first 18 holes but Brian motored well again over the next nine holes as he went 5up with nine to play before recording another 6&5 win to claim the title.
His win means he hold the County, Munster and National U16 Matchplay (from last year) all at the one time as he also holds both Munster U16 Boys Individual titles at the one time following his win in the Strokeplay event last year also. The win in Tipperary Hills had special family significance also as it was the venue where his father Derry won with the Kerry U16 team back in 1986 in winning the county’s very first National U16 Inter-County at the time.
Locally Listowel held their Individual Scratch Cups as well as a novel new Scotch Foursomes Scratch Cup event. It was a great weekend there for Jason O’Regan as he won both senior events. On Saturday in the individual he won Listowel’s Senior Scratch Cup for a fifth time before teaming up with Deerpark’s Damien Fleming to win the Senior Scotch Foursomes on the Sunday. He beat a returning Declan McCarron from the host club on Saturday as Tralee’s Jason Cregan won the Last 18 prize in that section.
Listowel Pitch & Putt Club Chairman Chris Gibney (centre) pictured with Tralee's Jason O'Regan and Deerpark's Damien Fleming after their win in the Listowel Senior Scotch Foursomes Scratch Cup last Sunday. Jason was also victorious in the Senior Mens Individual Scratch Cup at the same venue the previous day.
There were local successes in the Intermediate and Junior events meanwhile with Bobby McCarron winning the Intermediate event from his club-mate Tom O’Connor as Paul Hayes was the Junior winner from Deerpark’s Paddy Murphy. The Ladies 0-12 and 13-18 sections were won by Julianne Broderick of Castleisland and Deerpark’s Eileen McCarthy respectively. Eileen herself was a winner in the Scotch Foursomes event on Sunday as well winning the Mixed section with Tralee’s Darren Goodall.
In the Senior Section Tralee duo Jamie Blake and Michael Conway were second to Jason O’Regan and Damien Fleming with Killian O’Gorman and Chris Gibney from the host club third. The Final 18 was won by another local pair in Declan McCarron and Jake Shine as Intermediate winners were Ger Guerin and Richard Bunyan (Tralee) while the Junior prize was won by Paul Hayes and Trevin Chute for the hosts.
Congratulations to them on a successful weekend and their innovative new Scotch Foursomes format. This weekend sees a number of entries from the county in the National O55’s Strokeplay Championships as we wish those involved the very best of luck.
