Pitch & Putt IrelandLeinster Inter Counties review
2024 Leinster Intercounty Championships
Reviewed by Declan Sheedy
Oldcastle in Meath and Collinstown in Westmeath played hosts to the 2024 Leinster Intercounty Championship last weekend. Over the weekend Oldcastle welcomed the Ladies championship on Saturday followed by the Gents Senior and Junior championships on Sunday while the Gents Intermediate championship was fought for in Collinstown on the Saturday. All four championships proved to be exciting and competitive affairs played on two exceptionally well-presented courses. With the 2024 cups now settled in their homes for the coming year we take a quick look back at how the championships unfolded.
Ladies
2024 saw a new format introduced for the Leinster Ladies Intercounty. Gone was the traditional graded strokeplay championships replaced with an all in one championship played under the stableford format. The overall winners would be the team with he best gross total followed by overall nett and first nett. Dublin entered as defending champions and left Oldcastle with the cup again as they successfully defended their title on Saturday. The team of Glenda Hoey, Ger Ward, Lousie Grace and Tracey Smith put in a very strong performance across both the foursome and singles. After the two foursomes Dublin led on both the gross and nett fronts heading into the singles from the Kildare 3 team. In the singles all four of the Dublin ladies put in excellent performances to run out comfortable gross and overall winners of the championship. It would be the two Meath teams who picked up the remaining prizes with the Meath A team of Teresa Fagan Annette Dowling, Liz Maguire and Geraldine Brannigan taking the overall Nett with 250pts while Meath B made up of Ursula Dowd, Kathleen Geraghty, Margaret Reilly and Paula Lynch claimed 1st Nett on 247pts. Congrats to Dublin on retaining their title as their eyes have already quickly turned to Bagenalstown next week and the National Intercounty championship where they will enter as one of the favourites. It was also great to see 14 ladies teams from 8 counties compete under this new format. With greater entries enthused by the new system, and after its inaugural year in Leinster, it looks like it will continue successfully into the future.
Gents Intermediate
With teams of six and every score to count in both the scotch foursomes and singles this championship was really about consistency across the whole team. It was expected this grade would be a pretty level playing field and that is exactly how it turned out. The host county Westmeath would take an early advantage at the conclusion of the scotch foursomes with a team total of 16 under which included best of the day scotch foursome score of 46 from the pairing of Billy Buckley and Shane Kinahan. Defending champions Louth showed they were there to defend with a team total of 13 under in the scotch followed in third from Kildare who were on 11 under. It would prove to be these three team who would take the medals home but the singles would determine the final order. Kildare were first into the clubhouse and set a team total of 13 under, adding a net total of 2 under in the singles. The Kildare team of Cathal O’Toole, Ollie Lambe, Kevin Lambe, Eoin Commiskey, Martin Power and Anthony Higgins all combined for a very strong and consistent singles total, Eoin Commiskeys round of 4 under being Kildare’s best single score. With Westmeath and Louth in the last grouping they knew what was needed and while all players fought to the very finish both teams would come up agonisingly short of the gold. Louth would return singles team total of 2 over to end of a total of 11 under while a 6 over singles total from Westmeath would see them finish on 10 under overall, good enough for bronze. It would be joy for Kildare in Collinstown taking the title by 2 shots from Louth with Westmeath only a shot further back. Best singles score on the day would come from Offaly’s Dillon Melia with a score of 7 under.
Gents Junior
An early start and long day for the Gents Junior teams on Sunday back in Oldcastle. Slight variation in the format for this championship compared to the Gents Senior and Inters was that it would be the best 5 from 6 single scores to count. Unlike the Senior and Inter championship where only a few shots separated the top three, the team from Westmeath to take this title with a commanding 13 shots to spare over second place Carlow with Louth a further two shots back on third. It was Louth however who would take a handsome lead after the scotch foursomes with a team total of 6 under which was nine ahead of Westmeath and 15 better than Carlow. A brilliant scotch foursome round from the Westmeath pairing of Matthew Cunningham and Neil Hanigan was the best on the day. In the singles the Oldcastle course proved a challenging but fair test and for the leaders Louth it would prove tough as their lead was quickly eroded as the players returned to the clubhouse. A team total of 31 over in the singles would see the Louth men slip back but still take the bronze with a final total of 25 over. A solid performance from Carlow in the singles saw them return singles total of 12 over and final total of 23 over. Westmeath however would put in an excellent showing in the singles. The team of Matthew Cunningham, Neil Hannigan, William Quigley, Michael Flynn, Tom Metcalfe and Pat Maguire combined to return team singles total of 7 over and a winning score of 10 over in total. A round of 3 under in the singles from Kildare’s Colin English would be best on the day.
Gents Senior
After 162 holes of play per team, only one shot would separate the top three Senior teams in Oldcastle on Sunday in a thrilling finale to the Intercounty championship weekend. With nine counties taking part and with many players also likely to represent their counties in the Nationals next week this was also a good barometer for teams to see how they sit heading into Bagnelstown. Before then however all eyes were on the Leinster title. Little rarely separates many teams after the scotch foursomes but it would be the Offaly team who took early advantage in Oldcastle leading after the scotch on an impressive total of 25 under, which included an exceptional round of 11 under from Denis Hill and Jamie Hogan. They would take a three-shot advantage over Louth heading into the singles with Meath a further four back. Offaly’s challenge however would stall in the singles and they would slip back into the field come the end of play. First team to put a marker down would be the men from Kildare. A team total of 35 under would see them in the clubhouse with a real chance for a medal with others out on the course. Louth would however respond next. After their scotch total of 22 under they would add a further 17 under to that after the singles seeing them to a grand total of 39 under. With only Meath and Dublin left on the course and both know what they needed to deliver. Meath were one shot better than Dublin after the scotch, 18 under and 17 under respectively and both team would produce brilliant single performances. It would however in the end but the defending champions Dublin who would edge a thrilling battle with Meath and Louth and take the title by a single shot on a grand total of 40 under. The team of Gary Healy, Stephen Murray, Keith Redmond, George McGreal, Chris Gallagher and JR Crangle returned a brilliant singles total of 23 under which included an 8 under round from Chris Gallagher, best round on the day. Despite a singles total of 21 under from Meath they would fall agonisingly short but would end up with the runners up spot following a county back with Louth. A thrilling championship which came down to the very last putt of the day. Congratulation to Dublin will enter the Nationals with high hopes of further success.
An excellent weekend of championships and congratulation to the teams from Dublin (Senior Gents & Ladies), Kildare and Westmeath on their victories.
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