Pitch & Putt Ireland2017 Provincial Inter-Counties Day Two Report
Titles decided in Lough Owel & Castleisland
2017 Leinster Inter-County Latest
2017 Munster Inter-County Latest
Communications & Press Officer Jason O’Connor reports on the second day of play in both Lough Owel and Castleisland.
Leinster
AFTER ending their Anchor Cup wait last year, Dublin once again got their hands on the Smith Cup in the Leinster Senior Gents Inter-County Championship in Lough Owel this afternoon. They had six shot to spare over the host county Westmeath as they were the only side from our nation’s capital to win a provincial title this weekend. Although Westmeath’s Pat Malone and Gary Middleton shot the best Scotch Foursomes score of 42 (12 under), Dublin led the hosts by three after the first 18 with George McGreal & John Ross Crangle (44), Stephen Murray & Junior Smith (45) and Chris Gallagher & Gary Healy (46) combining for a Scotch Foursomes total of 27 under par.
McGreal shot the best Singles score with nine under par (45) as an eight under from Crangle and two sevens from Gallagher and Healy guided the Dubs towards their winning total of 426 (60 under par). Westmeath finished on 432 in second, eight under par rounds from Gerry Coyne and Alan O’Hanlon in the Singles along with a six under from Malone not enough to see the host county triumph in Lough Owel. Wexford were third overall ahead of Meath with a combined total of 48 under par. Eight under from William Hudson in the Singles along with six under from Graham Donohoe combined with a Scotch Foursomes score of 10 under from the combination of Richard Grannell and Hudson were the key features of the Model County’s bronze medal. Meath were left to rue the Singles in missing out on a medal after Anthony and Eamon Gibney had combined for the second best Scotch Foursomes round with 11 under.
In the Senior Ladies Kildare retained their title with a total of 17 shots to spare over Dublin with Tara Dillon in fine form for the winning Lilywhites. She combined with Mary Donnelly for a score of four under in the Scotch Foursomes before going on to shoot six under in the Singles as despite Dublin leading after the Scotch Foursomes with all their scores under par, Maree O’Toole & Sheelagh Elmes with three under, the Singles would prove tough for the leaders. Ger Ward did shoot three under but Kildare managed to keep their Singles scores under 60 as Chrissie Byrne, Marian Courtney, Margaret Keogh and Mairead O’Toole joined Tara and Mary in the winning Kildare side.
Louth finished third overall ahead of Offaly, Mary Agnew and Marlo Everitt with 54 in the Scotch Foursomes as Concepta Maddick (58) and Mary (59)’s Singles scores helped them to a total of 558.
Munster
DOUBLE delight for Cork in the two Gents competitions at Castleisland but they were denied a clean sweep by the host county in the U-16 event as Kerry won a dramatic underage event after a three hole playoff. The Cork Seniors laid to rest an old ghost in winning their seventh consecutive provincial title as they made amends at the scene of their last defeat in this event back in 2010. John Cahill and Bryan Delaney gave the Rebels the nest single Scotch Foursomes score with 15 under par (39) but it was Kerry and Limerick who shared the lead after the opening 18 holes. Kieran Earls and Conor Fahy combined for 14 under par for the Treaty County in the Scotch Foursomes while Kerry’s Damien Fleming and James Dignan had 12 under par as both counties had 29 under par combined.
Cork were two behind with 27 under combined but their strength came through in the Singles as 12 under from Cahill, 11 under from Declan Freeman and nine each from Frank Dineen and Delaney saw them in front as Ray Murphy and Darren Collins combined to make the total winning score for the Rebels 406, 80 under par! Limerick pushed hard for their first win since 2008 in finishing eight shots behind as 12 under from Liam O’Donovan and 10 under from Thomas Hanley were the standout Singles scores for them in finishing on 72 under for the tournament. The hosts couldn’t quite get motoring in the Singles, seven under each from Jason Cregan and Fleming their best efforts as they had to make do with third on 65 under, 13 clear of Tipperary in fourth.
The Cork Intermediate side were 15 shot winners over the Premier County meanwhile with a combined total of 435, 51 under par. 11 under from Conor Irwin and Daniel Quirke gave them a good platform after the doubles as both players were also their best Singles scorers with nine under for Irwin and seven under for Quirke. Eoin Keating, Ronan O’Driscoll, Jimmy Quinn and JJ Quirke made up the winning side as Tipperary were four shots ahead of Kerry for the silver medals. Father and son Sean & John Minogue had eight under par together in the Scotch Foursomes as six under from Shaun Ryan and five under from the elder Minogue in the Singles helped them finish the tournament on 36 under as opposed to 32 under for Kerry. Seven under for Alan Hobbert and John Fitzgerald in the Scotch Foursomes along with four under for Chris Curran, James Fleming and Hobbert in the Singles were the main scores for the Kingdom.
The U-16’s did bring Kerry a second title for the weekend however as they came from seven shots behind after the Scotch Foursomes to force a playoff with Cork before going on to deny the defending champions a fourth consecutive title. Glenn Towler & Cian Mulcahy (six under) and Dylan Seymour & Iain Aherne (five under) had Cork in control after the first round but Kerry regrouped in the Singles with four under for Cillian Courtney, three under from Adam Kelly along with Jack McCarthy and Erin Moloney shooting under par saw the two counties level on 472, 14 under par, after 36.
All six players on each team played a further three holes to decide the outcome with Kerry finishing on three under as opposed to level par for Cork as Darragh O’Callaghan and Robbie Harnett made up the winning Kerry side.
Click on the above links for details of all scores in both provinces today.
In a correction from yesterday’s article Tipperary’s Elaine Quinn had 34 points for their Junior Ladies team and not Josie McCormack as stated in yesterday’s report.
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