Kanturk Girls win All Ireland Inter-Club title in Westmeath

Ava Buckley, Beth Buckley and Hannah O’Connell won All-Ireland glory for Kanturk Golf Club last week when they were the winners in the Girls Inter Club finals. 

Moate Golf Club in Westmeath was the location for the Golf Ireland underage finals with four competitions taking place.

Hannah O’Connell led the Kanturk challenge with 37 points as her side emerged victorious in a tight contest, edging Belfast’s Belvoir Park by a single point to secure the coveted green pennant for the Cork side. 

“They are great girls, I’m thrilled with them and so happy to bring it to Cork,” said team captain Eimear Savage. “We did this in 2019 with other girls and it was amazing but this is absolutely amazing to come home with the cup.”

Lee Valley were also playing in the finals, representing Munster East, they finished in fifth place, four shouts behind the winner. The team as made up of Heather O’Gorman, Amy Mulcare and Clodagh O’Sullivan.

Monkstown were in action in Boys Junior Foursomes and they got all the way to the final before losing out to Clontarf by the narrowest of margins. Monkstown’s Cian McDonnell and Billy O’Leary were giving up nine shots to their opponents and they clawed back five of them to finish four down. In the second match, Cormac Sheehan and Matthew Sheehy were three up but couldn’t extend the lead and Monkstown lost out on the 18th.

In the quarter final Monkstown beat Portstewart by eight holes despite giving up nine shots, and in the semi final they beat Greystones by four holes. Previously in Munster East they beat Muskerry, Fota Island, Douglas and Cork to set up a final in Tramore against Faithlegg. They won that by a single hole to claim the Munster pennant and advance to the finals in Moate Golf Club.

Fermoy were involved in the Fred Daly Trophy and they faced Galgorm Castle in the quarter finals. The Northern Ireland team had a strong side and won three matches to advance and send Fermoy home. 

The team was Conor Ronan, Henry Bagnall, Zack Morrissey, James O’Mahony and Robbie O’Leary. Clonakilty played in the Boys Inter Club where they finished in fourth. The team was Tadgh O’Brien, Euan Whelton, Sean Ahern, Billy Quirke and Matthew Kelleher.

SHOWDOWN

Muskerry Golf Club hosted the mixed Munster East finals on Sunday, and the Flogas Irish Mixed foursomes was an all-Cork battle between Douglas and East Cork. Douglas won the first two matches but East Cork rallied to win matches three and four and that sent the final to a playoff. East Cork prevailed on the second playoff hole, claiming the Munster East pennant and booking a place in the All-Ireland series.

The team was made up of Ciaran Goldspring & Ruth Evans, Francis McCarthy & Mags Cummins, Matthew Carry & Linda Cuddigan, Francis Maher & Marie O’Brien, and the reserve pairs were Jerry McCarthy & Ellen Dorgan and Eddie Cleary & Mary B Walsh. East Cork now advance to Westmanstown at the end of September for an All-Ireland quarter-final and will play the winners from Ulster North.

A large number of Douglas players and supporters have made the journey to Shandon Park in Belfast for three AIG national finals. They are involved in the Men’s Barton Shield, Men’s Senior Cup and Women’s Senior Cup. Having completed the Senior Cup double at home last year, Douglas have a number of experienced golfers and will be hoping to add to last year’s wins.

Douglas made all four scratch finals in Munster East this year, they won three and lost out to Tipperary in the Senior Foursomes.

This weekend, Cobh will head to Ennis for the All-Ireland quarter-final of the AIG Pierce Purcell Shield. They will face Moyola Park and a win will see them advance to the semi-final in September.

The KPMG Women’s Irish Open gets underway today on the K Club’s Palmer South Course, with a strong field assembled for one of the most popular fixtures on the Ladies European Tour calendar. Cork’s Sara Byrne tees it up following a solid run of form this season, and her appearance adds a Cork, Munster and Irish interest to the event. The South Course is expected to offer a fair but testing setup, it recently hosted the K Club ProAm and the course set-up received many positive comments from the field. Tickets are still available for individual days and for the weekend.