Fota Island Golf Club capture Munster East title in Dungarvan

FOTA ISLAND captured their first Golf Ireland pennant in Dungarvan at the weekend, they came through four matches to win the Munster East Area Final. 

The Cork side had an impressive win over Macroom on Saturday morning, and they had a similar win over hosts Dungarvan in the afternoon. 

Going with the pairings of Sean Barry & John Doyle and Keith Crowley and David Howard they came through the first two matches to reach the semi-finals.

With John Doyle unavailable due to international duty on Sunday, former Cork underage hurler Rob White stepped in to great effect, and by Sunday afternoon Fota Island were the winners. 

The Munster East champions will now head to Dun Laoghaire in early September for the national inter-club finals. 

Team managers Ross Williams and Brian Kelleher also have Sam Hogan, Jack Murphy and Thomas O’Flynn in the squad, giving them a really strong hand to pick from. 

It was a second pennant for Fota Island’s David Howard, he was part of the team that won a Munster Irish Mixed Foursomes title in 2019.

In Saturday’s matches, there were 10 Cork clubs in action. 

Castlemartyr were first off and they had had a two-hole win over Blarney and Muskerry saw off the challenge of Mitchelstown. Bandon had a six-hole win over Gold Coast but Cobh lost out to Tramore. 

The surprise of the morning came when the hosts Dungarvan beat Douglas by four holes. 

Douglas had been hoping for success after their Senior Cup area final loss last week, but their wait for a Munster East pennant goes on.

Kinsale weren’t in action until Saturday afternoon as their received a walkover from Cahir Park, and they were up against Castlemartyr in the first of the quarter-final matches. 

It was a close game but the 2019 winners Kinsale went through with a three-hole win. 

Muskerry faced Waterford Castle and dispatched them to set up a semi-final against Kinsale.

In the lower half of the draw, Fota Island had another double-digit win over Dungarvan and in the last match, Tramore saw off Bandon after the Waterford side brought in Pat Murray and Paul Flynn for their quarter-final match. 

DERBY

In Sunday’s semi-finals, the all Cork pairing of Kinsale and Muskerry attracted a large crowd. 

Muskerry had previously won a Munster title in Dungarvan in 2015, and they won a close match against 2018 winners.

In the second semi-final saw off a tough challenge from Tramore to set up the final against Muskerry. 

Brian Lane and Fionn Hickey were paired off for Muskerry along with John Waldron and Stephen Riordan. 

They were a few down to Fota at the turn but they didn’t fall further behind and eventually ran out of holes as the win went to Fota.

In Mallow, the Women’s Senior Foursomes were taking place, with the hosts winning over Bandon and Gold Coast to make it to the semi-finals. 

They faced Douglas who had beaten Cork, and it was Douglas who advanced with a 2-1 win over the hosts. 

Fota Island had wins over Dungarvan and East Cork to set up a semi-final match against Monkstown, and Fota made it through to face Douglas.

The city club had a good win in the final, Gemma Barry and Anne Gallagher had a 6&5 win while Jessica Kavanagh and Kate Harvey won on the 15th to secure the win. Aoife NiThuama and Marjo Farrell were called in to leave the final score 2.5-0.5.

There are four national pennants up for grabs in Dun Laoghaire at the AIG Inter-Club finals. 

Lee Valley will take part in the Men’s Senior Cup and Cork are in the Women’s Senior Cup. 

Douglas are in the Senior Foursomes with Fota Island in the Barton Shield. All four will first play a quarter-final with the event taking place from 7-10 September.

The first-round matches in the AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield were completed over the weekend, with eight Cork clubs making it through to the final 16. 

Home advantage had a big part to play in the first round matches with 16 of the sixteen matches going the way of the home team. 

Cobh will host the Munster East area play-offs on the weekend of the 5-6 August, with one team going forward to the national quarter finals in early September. 

This weekend Fermoy will host five finals in the Men’s and Women’s inter-club events, as well as the Munster East final of the Flogas Irish Mixed Foursomes.