6th July 2010: June/July News Round Up

National Ladies & Gents Strokeplay Finals
National Ladies Strokeplay Finals take place next weekend in Cunnigar Pitch & Putt Club (Dungarvan). The Junior and Inter Ladies play on Saturday July 10th while the Senior Ladies play on Sunday July 11th. Offaly have a number of competitors traveling down to Munster for the championships, they include Annie Galvin (Tullamore), Ger Ryan (Erry), Eileen Guerin (Ferbane) in the Inter Grade and Margaret Hogan (Tullamore), Ann-Marie McCabe (Ferbane), Helen Wynne (Erry) and the defending champion Tracey McGrath (Erry) in the Senior Grade. We wish them all the very best of luck.

The National Gents Strokeplay Finals do not take place until Saturday July 24th & Sunday July 25th at Ryston Pitch & Putt Club (Newbridge). The regional qualifying rounds took place on Sunday June 27th, at Erry Pitch and Putt Club. The qualifiers were as follows (36 holes strokeplay):
Gents Junior Grade
105 Aonghus Coughlan (Ferbane),
Gents Inter Grade
104 Sean Robinson (Ferbane)
104 Sean Galvin (Tullamore)
105 Ciaran Boland (Tullamore)
105 Larry Maher Snr. (Erry)
Gents Senior Grade
96 Anthony Galvin (Tullamore)
98 Larry Maher Jnr. (Erry)
100 Graham Newman (Erry)
101 William Buckley Jnr. (Erry)
101 Edward Fleming (Erry)
102 Darren O'Connell (Tullamore)
102 Jimmy Scanlon (Erry)
102 Mark Hogan (Tullamore).

Leinster Ladies & Gents Strokeplay Finals
On Sunday last the Leinster Strokeplay Finals took centre stage on one of the year's windiest days in two of the capital's clubs. The Ladies finals were hosted by R.G.S.C. (Kingswood) while the Gents were hosted by Glenville (Tallaght). Offaly sent a strong field in both Ladies and Gents but the day proved a struggle for most unfortunately under the severe weather conditions. There was a nail bitting finish to the Gents Junior Grade where Offaly and Ferbane's Brian Doyle forced a nine hole playoff for the title but unfortunately had to be content with Runner-Up as Seapoint's Eoghan Coyle proved a little more stronger on the day. Eoghan and Brian had finished on a very good score of 2 over par for 36 holes, and Cement's Daniel Clinton secured third on 3 over par. In the Gents Intermediate Grade, which was also played over 36 holes, Lucan's David Hayden II overcame St. Patrick's Conor Murphy in another nine hole playoff to capture the Intermediate title as they both finished on impressive scores of 4 under par. The host club's Robby Ingram secured third place on 1 over par. On what was a very long hard fought day against the elements in both R.G.S.C. AND Glenville the Senior Gents Grade, played over 54 holes, proved a very wide open affair in which Old County's George McGreal battled hardest and fought off hard competition to win by 2 shots on 10 under par. George built on his narrow lead of just one shot after 36 holes with a final round of 49 to emerge victorious over Lucan's Anthony Malone on 8 under par. Third place went to this year's Leinster Matahplay Champion Sean Downes of Stackallen with a score of 6 under par. The cut for the 18 hole playoff fell at 1 under par seeing Erry's William Buckley Jnr. just missing out by 1 shot.

Photo - Ferbane's Brian Doyle Doyle.

The Ladies also endured heavy winds in R.G.S.C. In the Senior Ladies St. Bridget's secured first and second as Chrissie Byrne carded an aggregate 54 hole score of 8 under par with her sister Marian carding 5 under par while Collinstown's Liz Quinn came in third on level par aided by a fine final round of 5 under par which included a hole-in-one on the 18th hole. Offaly had two competitors reaching the final 10 to play the final 18 hole playoff, both Margaret Hogan (Tullamore) and Tracey McGrath (Erry) carded final 18 rounds of 2 under par to finish on 1 over par and 2 over par respectively to finish in 5th and 6th place overall. In the Ladies Intermediate Grade Dublin's and Fairview's Helen Greagsbey finished on an aggregate 36 hole score of 10 over par to win the title with Bernie Dunne of St.Bridget's falling one shot short on 11 over par to secure second on the back 18 holes from Collinstown's Anne Kelly who also finished on 11 over par. In the Ladies Junior Grade, also over 36 holes) the hosting club R.G.S.C. had good reason for celebration as Marise Carroll ran out a convincing winner on 14 over par to win a deserved Junior title. Lucan's Bernie Blake finished 6 shots further back to take second place by two shots from C.P.M.'s Theresa King. Offaly and Ferbane's Eileen McCabe put together a good performance in the Ladies section but fell one shot short of third on this occasion. Well done to all the Ladies and Gents who endured the harsh elements on Sunday and Congratulations to Brian Doyle on a very proud performance.

Offaly Juvenile Strokeplay Championship
The first of the Offaly Juvenile Championships took place recently, when Erry Pitch & Putt Club played hosts to the Offaly Juvenile Strokeplay Championships. The course was in superb condition and proved a challenge for the 20 juveniles who too part. On that evening Tullamore's Dylan Melia proved too strong as he recorded two impressive rounds of 4 under par for 8 under par overall to take the Offaly Strokeplay for 2010. In the Boys 14-16 grade Erry's David Newman secured first place by 2 shots over Tullamore's Liam Huson on 6 over par while in the Boys 10-13 grade David's younger brother Mark won out over Tullamore's J. Carroll by four shots with a good 36 hole score of 3 over par.
It was also an extremely good evening for Offaly pitch and putt to welcome the participation of Tullamore's Amy Galvin in the event as it has been many years since a young lady competed in an Offaly Juvenile Championship. Amy accepted her well deserved prize.

Photo - Offaly Juvenile Strokeplay Prize Winners

The Offaly Juvenile Strokeplay was the final trial for the Offaly Inter-County Team, those who secured a spot on the 2010 team are as follows: Dylan Melia (Tullamore), D. Brophy (Tullamore), Liam Huson (Tullamore), David Newman (Erry), Mark Newman (Erry) and J. Carroll (Tullamore).

Erry Open Fourball & Scratch Cup
The Erry Open weekend took place over the June Bank Holiday with the Open Fourball tournament teeing off from Friday to Sunday and the climatic Scratch Cup taking place on Monday. Great support was recorded over the weekend and Monday saw over 110 competitors take part on an unfortunate overcast and wet day.
The winners of the Open Fourball tournament were as follows:
All-In 36 Nett - 68 Patrick Fleming Jnr. & S. O'Brien (Erry)
36 Gross - 84 Seanie Buckley & Edward Fleming (Erry)
18 Nett - 36.5 Aonghus Coughlin & Brian Doyle (Ferbane)
18 Gross - 41 Ronan & Darren Whelan (Kilbeggan)
Mixed 36 Nett - 74 F & L Carton (Kilbeggan)
36 Gross - 90 Johnny Scully & Linda Flanagan (Erry)
18 Nett - 38 B. Cummins & L. Anderson (Trim)
18 Gross - 45 J.J. & Helen Wynne (Erry)

The prize winners of the Erry Scratch Cup were as follows:
Overall 54 Hole Winner - 139 Billy Buckley Snr. (Erry)
Runner-Up - 145 Larry Maher Jnr. (Erry)
Third - 146 Seanie Buckley (Erry)
Last 18 - 50 Joe McGrath Jnr. (Erry)
Gents Inter 36 Gross - 97 S. Ryan (Riverdale)
Gents Junior 36 Gross - 104 Aonghus Coughlin (Ferbane)
Ladies 0-7 36 Gross - 110 Una Pyke (Tullamore)
Ladies 8-18 36 Gross - 120 Annie Galvin (Tullamore)

Congratulations to Billy Buckley Snr. on a fantastic performance and final 18 hole 47 round on his way to a long overdue win on home soil, he was certainly a popular winner. Tribute must be paid to the Erry committee on running the tournaments very smoothly over the four days and to the grounds men who had the course in excellent condition. The club would like to thank our sponsors for their continued support, to St. Brigids Credit Union Clara who sponsored the Fourball from Friday to Sunday and to Kenny's Newsagents who sponsored the Erry Scratch Cup on Monday.

Photo - Erry Scratch Cup Winner Billy Buckley Snr. with sponsor Dermot Kenny.