Barton Shield Joy for Lee Valley Golf Club

Lee Valley secured their third Munster East Pennant in three years when they won the AIG Barton Shield. 

Having won the Senior Cup in 2022 and 2023, the Clashnure club were back in the winners circle after four matches in Fota Island.

It was a dominant performance from Lee Valley. Saturday saw comprehensive wins over Clonakilty and Muskerry, and on Sunday morning a win over Bandon saw them advance to the final against Cahir Park. 

The Tipperary club had beaten a strong Thurles side on Sunday morning, and although they were hoping for a win against the Cork side, Lee Valley kept up the pressure and won with a few holes to spare.

Manager Jim Corcoran stuck with the same two pairings for all four matches, and they delivered. 

The first pairing of James Murray and Ben Murray set the tone for the weekend. 

They were two up in both of their Saturday matches when they were called in, and on Sunday they were six up against Bandon and two up in the final.

Jason Galway and Keelan McCarthy were particularly impressive in the second pairing, they finished an aggregate of 15 up from their two matches on Saturday. 

They were all-square on Sunday morning in the semi final against Bandon but were three up when the final was called.

In all there were 16 teams in action in Fota on Saturday morning, in a return to the old format of four matches in a weekend. 

The winners from Saturday morning included Bandon, Mallow, Muskerry and Lee Valley with Castlemartyr, Clonakilty, Monkstown and hosts Fota Island losing out.

Youghal and Mitchelstown were on the eastern side of the draw. Mitchelstown bowed out in the first round while Youghal had a one hole win over West Waterford before they lost out to Cahir Park in the second round.

By Sunday morning there were just four teams left, Lee Valley faced Bandon and Thurles faced Cahir Park. 

Lee Valley were not to be stopped, and the club will now be looking to the All Ireland Quarter final where they will face Nenagh.

Lee Valley are the final Cork team to book their place in the All Ireland finals in Carlow at the end of August. Cork are through in the AIG Men’s Senior Cup, and Douglas have qualified in the Women’s Senior Cup. 

Mallow are though in the AIG Senior Foursomes. All Munster East winners will face Munster West winners as part of the rotation system in place for the quarter finals.

The last of the Men’s competitions to be decided is the AIG Junior Cup. That takes place in West Waterford in two weeks time where Cork will face Monkstown in the semi-final.

This week all eyes are on Lahinch, and from the field of 150 golfers just 64 will make it through to the matchplay which starts tomorrow. 

The eventual champion will need to win six rounds on the famous Old Course to claim the trophy that was first played for in 1895. 

Nine Cork golfers will be hoping to emulate the success of the most recent Cork winners, James Sugrue and Sean Desmond.

With mixed weather promised Lahinch promises to provide a great test of golf over the five days. 

The west Clare course hosted the Arnold Palmer Cup at the start of July and the South closes a very busy but prestigious month for the club.

There was a strong Cork presence at the Munster Over 18 Women’s Championship in Tramore last week, with four Cork golfers in the top ten. Aoife Ni Thuama from Douglas finished in fourth place after shooting a one under par 74, thanks in part to a great start that saw her birdie the first two holes.

Paula Walsh and Clodagh Coughlan shared 7th place after they shot +3 and Kanturk’s Aine Martin was one shot behind to claim tenth place. Martin won the best nett prize.

Eileen Healy (Macroom) also took 5th place in the net category with Cork’s Irene Rafferty in 10th place. 

Home golfer Anna Dawson was the overall winner, finishing four shots clear of the field with a very impressive seven under par 68.

Next up on the Women’s calendar is the AIG Irish Women’s Close which takes place in Roscommon next week. 

Defending champion Sara Byrne is not in the field but a number of other Cork golfers will tee it up. Aine Martin along with her sister Mairead are in the field as are Clodagh Coughlan, Emma O’Driscoll. 

Young guns Julia Falvey Ryan and Hailey Martinez are also entered in what will be their first Irish Women’s Close.