9th August 2009: Leinster Inter-County Championships Round-Up
Offaly Juveniles Crowned Leinster Champions

It was one of the busiest weekends on the pitch and putt calendar for both the juvenile and adults in Munster and Leinster with all eyes on the Inter-County team championships. The action teed off on Friday morning at Kilbeggan, a short journey for our young Offaly team participating in the Leinster Juvenile Inter-County Finals. Offaly were first to tee off with playing partners for the day Louth. They proved to set the pace early in the first round of doubles with pairings of Brian Doyle & Gary Pyke carding -7, Dillon Melia & Liam Huson -6 and David Newman & Patrick Flemming -4 for an overall -17, four clear shots ahead of rivals Westmeath and five shots ahead of Meath. The Offaly youngsters were not fazed by the lead they set and continued to showcase some impressive pitch and putt at the Westmeath course. The team brought in an aggregate second round of -13, the second round singles strokeplay format, for an impressive total score of -30. Brian Doyle carded -4, Dillon Mellia -3, David Newman -2, Patrick Fleming -1, Liam Huson +3 and Gary Pyke -6. A great performance from the six juveniles representing their county with pride overcame the tournament favourites Westmeath and hotly tipped Dublin. They won by seventeen clear shots from Westmeath and Dublin on -13. Tribute must go to the team mentors of Joe McGrath Jnr, James Walsh and Una Pyke who have done great work with the juveniles in Offaly over the past few years. Congratulations to the Offaly team the future certainly looks bright in terms of potential senior talents!!

On Saturday the juveniles were back to compete for the individual strokeplay titles. The course was in fine condition once again and it was indeed on for a low score. Offaly had a number of representatives including Aoife and Amy Galvin (Tullamore) in the girls section, Darren Fleming (Erry), Mark Newman (Erry) and David Newman (Erry) in the boys 10-13 section, Gary Pyke (Tullamore) Dillon Melia (Tullamore), Patrick Fleming (Erry) and Brian Doyle in the boys 14-16 section. It was the Tullamore contingent that made the best of the Saturday conditions with the Galvin girls dominating the girls 10-13 section and Dillon Melia fresh off his Leinster Inter-County win came third in the boys 14-16 section. Full results were as follows: In the Girls 10 - 13 the Amy Galvin took the honours while her sister Aoife took second place while Aoife Haran from the Kilbeggan club finished in third place. The girls 14 - 15 was won by Claire Martin from Stackallen, Laura Coffey and Aine Egan from the Kilbeggan finished second and third. The boys 10 - 13 saw Matthew McPartlin from the Ratoath club beat Dale Donohue from the St. Patrick's club in an exciting play-off after they both tied on -6, Brendan Lawlor from Channonrock finished in third place on -4. In the boys 14 - 16 Ciaran Byrne from the Channonrock club shot a fantastic score of -15 to win from Paul Tobin of the St. Patrick's club on -9, and Dylan Melia from Tullamore finished in third place on -8. Well done to all the juveniles who took part in the championships over the weekend and to all the parents, supporters and mentors who supported the juveniles. Special congratulations to our newly crowned Leinster Inter-County champions Brian Doyle (Ferbane), Dillon Melia (Tullamore), Gary Pyke (Tullamore), Patrick Fleming (Erry), David Newman (Erry) and Liam Huson (Tullamore). Special thanks to Michael Egan, Clara Sports & Leisure Centre, sponsor of the Offaly Juvenile Team.

Sunday brought the turn of the adults to take to the stage for the Leinster Senior Inter-County Championships, this time at the fantastic Clonee pitch and putt course of Royal Meath. In the same format of the juveniles the counties played one round of scotch foursomes doubles and one round of singles strokeplay. Finely kitted out in new gear sponsored by the County Teams sponsor Michael Egan of Clara Sports and Leisure Centre, the Offaly teams were certainly among the best dressed! The ladies team got the championships underway at 9am along with playing partners Down. Slick greens made for interesting putting conditions for everyone. The Offaly ladies lay in fourth following the doubles and dropped one place to fifth following the round of singles. In the doubles Ann-Marie McCabe (Ferbane) teamed up with Ann Minogue (Ferbane) for a round of +1, Eileen Guerin (Ferbane) and Linda Flanagan (Erry) carded +4 and final pairing of Geraldine Ryan (Erry) and Tracey McGrath (Erry) shot -6. Best for the Offaly ladies in the singles were Ann-Marie McCabe +2, Linda Flanagan with a superb -3 and Tracey McGrath with the joint lowest score of the day of -6. Dublin were the eventual winners of the Ladies event from the local Meath team. The Gents team then took to the tee with Louth in chase of the title. In the doubles young guns Graham Newman (Erry), debutant to the Offaly team, and Mark Hogan (Tullamore), making his second appearance in the Offaly shirt, paired up to shoot -5. This was followed by Tullamore's Anthony Galvin and Darren O'Connell's -8 and Erry's Joseph McGrath Jnr and Larry Maher Jnr's -9. Playing partners Louth carded scores of -13, -11 and -5 to lie in second by one shot behind midway leaders Dublin on -29. It was all to play for as all six players' scores would count in the 18 holes singles strokeplay. For Offaly top scorers were Anthony Galvin with -9, Joe McGrath Jnr -6 and Mark Hogan -5. Graham Newman shot a steady round of -4 for his first appearance on the inter-county team while Larry Maher Jnr and Darren O'Connell shot -3 and -2 respectively. Offaly's total of -51 saw them take fourth overall just four shots behind Meath in third. Louth continued their steady play and finished on -64 but was eight shots short of the newly crowned champions Dublin who cruised to victory with an outstanding score of -72. Congrats to all the winners and to everyone who made the championship a very memorable one. Well done to all our Offaly teams and special thanks to our sponsor Michael Egan of Clara Sports & Leisure Centre.

Vist the PPUI website for full tables of scores from the weekend's championships at www.ppui.ie

2009 Gents Inter-County Team

2009 Ladies Inter-County Team