Lee Valley Junior Golfers heading for Golf 6s All-Ireland finals in Meath

SEVERAL golf clubs are now finished with their inter-club and competitive seasons, but that’s not the case in Lee Valley.

They still have a team involved in the Golf 6s and they’re heading to Meath this weekend for the All-Ireland finals. The squad won the area final earlier in July when Lee Valley hosted the event.

That saw them reach the Munster finals in Cahir Park in late August and it was there that they secured a Munster pennant and qualified for the All-Ireland finals. Two months have passed since Cahir Park and everyone has gone back to school, but the panel and the coaches have kept up the practice, and they have also worked with the successful Lee Valley Senior Cup team, and they all travelled to Black Bush in Meath earlier this month to get a feel for the course and the challenge they’ll face this weekend.

The panel that will be in action in the All-Ireland finals is Jack Bohane, Jack Mulcare, Stephen Hallissey, Jamie O Sullivan, Emelia Hallissey, Roise Kavanagh, Rory Hallissey and Ciara Quinlan.

The format is three teams of two, six-hole scramble with the best two scores from the three pairings counting on the day.

Golf 6s is a great introductory competition and is aimed at those who are new to the game. The players must be 13 or under with a handicap of at least 28, and each team must also include a minimum of two girls.

Team manager Declan Farrell along with all of the junior committee will be hoping for another good performance as the team are into the final eight.

Their qualification is a great boost for the entire club, and a great reward for the work that has been put in by the club to develop their junior golf programme.

Lee Valley Golf Club’s junior section caters for junior golfers from age eight to 18, and they have grown from a small membership to over 100 juniors at the end of the 2022 season.

As part of the Golf Ireland Framework, the mission is to provide juniors of all abilities the opportunity to learn and play the game of golf, and most importantly, to have fun and the club are working under the Stage 1 to Stage 4 Golf Ireland pathway.

In addition to the junior committee the full club is supporting the next generation of golfers and club member John Kavanagh has recently launched a new dedicated website for the junior section.

Along with Declan Farrell, Brian Keane and Chris O’Sullivan are also involved and they are supported by PGA Professional Ian Stafford.

BEGINNERS

The junior beginners programme for boys aged 10-12 is run by Chris O’Sullivan and has grown to over 30 golfers in the past year. Practice takes place on Wednesday nights with Ian Stafford, and they play every Sunday including the winter months. The cadet’s programme is open to six- to nine-year-olds and that too has seen a big increase in players over the past year.

Siobhan Hallissey and Siobhan McGrath lead the junior girls, again supported by Ian Stafford and they now have only 30 girls involved in the programme.

As well as the support from the club officers, the juniors have also benefitted from the installation of a new short game area in Lee Valley.

The new astroturf green and chipping area was designed to give all golfers a testing workout, with several shot options to replicate on-course conditions.

The investment by the Keohane family is the latest in a series of improvements to the course that includes bunker and tee box renovations as well as a detailed sanding and drainage programme to improve the year-round playability of the Clashnure course.

It’s been a very positive year for the club, as well as the AIG Senior Cup pennant that was won earlier in the year, many teams on the women’s and men’s teams advanced through several rounds of the inter-club series.

IRISH SCHOOLS CHAMPIONSHIPS

The finals of the 2023 Irish Schools Championships took place in Castlemartyr earlier this month, but there was no joy for Cork schools.

In the senior grade, St Francis College Rochestown won their semi-final but lost out to De la Salle Waterford on the 19th hole in the final.

In the junior school’s competition, Christian Brothers College qualified for the final thanks to a solid performance in the first round but they finished in fourth place behind winners St Brendan’s from Killarney.

In the girl’s finals, St Mary’s Mallow won the east section ahead of Loretto Fermoy, Mount Mercy and St Mary’s Macroom while Urseline was runner-up in the senior section.