National Seniors Strokeplay & U-16 Matchplay Day One Report
Four Winners in McDonagh, Semi-Finals in Kilbeggan
2018 National Seniors Strokeplay
2018 National Under-16 Matchplay
Communications & Press Officer Jason O’Connor reports on the opening day of our double Championship weekend which saw husband and wife delight in McDonagh as the National U-16 Matchplay Championships in Kilbeggan reached the Final Four.
Seniors
WHAT Ann Sweeney started in the morning her husband Christy finished in the afternoon as the St Bridgets duo returned home as PJ & Catherine Bell National 0-55’s Junior Ladies and Gents Championships respectively. Ann got the ball rolling in the morning at McDonagh as rounds of 62 and 60 gave her a winning score of 122, one ahead of club-mate and former winner Dina Dillon on 123 as Dillon was left to rue her second round after opening with a round of 60.
Prosperous’ Marian McCormack made it a ‘1-2-3’ for Kildare by claiming third as rounds of 62 and 64 saw her just hold off her club-mate Monica McGrath and Castletown’s Noreen Myles on 127 to claim the bronze medal. Breda Boyle of Glenville meanwhile would claim the Nett Prize as she finished with a score of 97 off a handicap of 19. Christy’s win was by a stroke more than Ann as he fired a fine five under par total for his 36 holes. Christy along with Collins’ Nicky Byrne had both shot two under for their opening rounds but Christy improved his second round to three under to finish the tournament on five under par with Nicky eventually having to settle for third on level par after a second round of two over.
2016 winner and Dutch native Martin Verbeek would finish second for the second year in-a-row thanks to the best 18 hole round of five under in his second 18 to go with an opening two over for a tournament total of three under par. The Nett Prize went to Sean Crowe of McDonagh meanwhile as despite placing seventh with a score of 112, his handicap of 16 brought him to a score of 80 in winning the prize. The longest wait to crown a winner was in the Intermediate Ladies competition as both Mairead O’Toole of Poulaphouca and Rose Kelly of Ryston had to wait until after the men had finished in the afternoon to decide the outcome.
Both players had two over par for their 36 holes, Rose the only player in the grade to shoot an 18 hole round under par in a three under second 18 but it only brought her level with Mairead who had two 55 round totals. Mairead came out on top in the playoff to claim her second seniors title after a previous win at the top level as Frances Ryan had rounds of 56 and 55 in claiming third place on three over one ahead of Old County’s Pauline Balfe on four over. Margaret Forde of Riverdale placed sixth overall on 114 but her handicap of 10 and a better back 18 saw her claim the Nett prize with a score of 94.
The six player shootout for the Seniors Ladies title saw Rocklodge’s Mary Murray have rounds of 53 and 54 to win the grade with a score of one under par. That was two ahead of last year’s Intermediate grade winner Maree O’Toole of Shandon on 109 as Mary joined Mairead O’Toole in becoming both Senior & Intermediate grade winners of the 0-55’s. Margaret Hogan had rounds of 56 and 54 for a score of 110 and third place as Portmarnock’s Sheelagh Elmes claimed the Nett prize with 104.
U-16 Matchplay
AFTER seven rounds of action today in the Championship and six in the Plate we are down to the Semi-Finals in Kilbeggan with the meeting of the only two National Singles Champions amongst the field is the highlight of the Semi-Finals tomorrow. Inaugural winner of the Helen Persson Cup St Annes’ Glenn Towler will face reigning two time National Strokeplay winner Evan Carry of Castletown in the second Semi-Final tomorrow as last year’s winner of the Plate Competition Aaron Roche of St Stephens will play Munster Matchplay holder of Shea Fennell of Parteen.
Carry needed match difference (+11) to top his Group in the earlier Round Robin from Roche (+10) and Collinstown’s Jack Buckley (+3) after all three players tied on six points in their Group. Carry defeated St Patricks Dylan Hudson in a repeat of the Leinster Matchplay Final in the Last 16 2up while 2up was also the winning margin he had over Deerpark’s Jack McCarthy in the Quarter-Finals. Towler was very comfortable in reaching the Semi-Finals, winning all three of his matches in the Round Robin to top his Group while he had a 6&5 victory over Deerpark’s TJ O’Sullivan in the Last 16 before improving to a 6&4 victory over Padraig Carton from the host club in the Quarter-Finals.
Shea Fennell topped his group on points difference from Deerpark’s Fintan Martin before emerging from a marathon Last 16 encounter with his predecessor as Munster Matchplay winner Cian Murphy of St Annes at the fourth playoff hole. He managed to defeat Munster Plate winner Cillian Courtney inside the regulation 18 holes in the Quarter-Finals though with a 2&1 win. Aaron Roche got the better of the player who topped Courtney’s Group, Kilbeggan’s Eanna Rabbitte, in the Last 16 4&2 before getting the better of another player from the host club in Conor Mullins by 3&2 to set-up the Semi-Final encounter with Fennell.
The Plate Semi-Finals meanwhile will see the last Westmeath player left after today, Collinstown’s Jack Buckley take on Munster Strokeplay winner Patrick Mitchell from Parteen in the first Semi-Final. Buckley defeated Tullamore’s Coleby Clear in the Quarter-Finals by 4&3 as Mitchell got the better of Deerpark’s Robbie Harnett by 3&2. Mitchell’s soon-to-be Irish team-mate Luke Murphy of Seapoint is in the other Semi-Final meanwhile as he defeated Deerpark’s Erin Moloney by 3&2 in the Quarter-Finals. His Semi-Final opponent Liam McGrath also defeated a Deerpark player in Jack O’Sullivan in his last eight match by a similar score of 3&2, the third Plate Quarter-Final to be won by that score!
As well as tomorrow’s Semi-Finals in the two Boys grades we also have a Girls Final between Eimear and Maebh Ahern to look forward to.
Click on the Seniors Scoreboard for the full scores from the grades in McDonagh while click on the U-16 Matchplay bracket for details of the Knockout Stages as the complete Group Stands and Match Results are blogged below.
2018 National U-16 Boys Matchplay Round Robin
Final Standings
Group 1
1st Eanna Rabbitte (Kilbeggan) 7pts C
2nd Cillian Courtney (Deerpark) 6pts C
3rd Erin Moloney (Deerpark) 3pts (+3) P
4th Noah Sexton (Deerpark) 3pts (-5)
5th Adam Power (Old County) 1pt
Group 2
1st Evan Carry (Castletown) 6pts (+11) C
2nd Aaron Roche (St Stephens) 6pts (+10) C
3rd Jack Buckley (Collinstown) 6pts (+3) P
4th Nathan Cronin (Deerpark) 2pts
5th Brian Bray (Collinstown) 0pts
Group 3
1st Conor Mullins (Kilbeggan) 6pts (HtoH) C
2nd Padraig Carton (Kilbeggan) 6pts (+9) C
3rd Patrick Mitchell (Parteen) 6pts (+6) P
4th Brian McCarthy (Deerpark) 2pts
5th Joey McCarthy (Deerpark) 0pts
Group 4
1st Luke Devlin (Glenville) 8pts C
2nd TJ O’Sullivan (Deerpark) 5pts C
3rd Colby Clear (Tullamore) 4pts P
4th Eoin Murphy (Seapoint) 3pts
5th Cathal Kelly (Deerpark) 0pts
Group 5
1st Shea Fennell (Parteen) 6pts (+9) C
2nd Fintan Martin (Deerpark) 6pts (+7) C
3rd Liam McGrath (Douglas) 5pts P
4th Eoin O’Riordan Looney (Deerpark) 3pts
5th Oisin Mulryne (Seapoint) 0pts
Group 6
1st Jack Mullins (Kilbeggan) 8pts
2nd Cian Murphy (St Annes) 6pts
3rd Jack O’Sullivan (Deerpark) 4pts
4th Alex O’Callaghan (Deerpark) 2pts
5th Tom Cronin (Deerpark) 0pts
Group 7
1st Jack McCarthy (Deerpark) 7pts (+10) C
2nd Dylan Hudson (St Patricks) 7pts (+7) C
3rd Luke Murphy (Seapoint) 4pts P
4th Dara O’Shea (Deerpark) 2pts
5th Alex Keegan (Lucan) 0pts
Group 8
1st Glenn Towler (St Annes) 6 pts C
2nd Ryan Neeson (Deerpark) 4 pts C
3rd Robbie Harnett (Deerpark) 2pts P
4th David O’Sullivan Jnr 0pts
Round Five Results
Cillian Courtney & Noah Sexton A/S
Eanna Rabbitte bt Erin Moloney 2up
Evan Carry bt Brian Bray 5&4
Aaron Roche bt Nathan Cronin 6&5
Patrick Mitchell bt Joey McCarthy 6&5
Conor Mullins bt Padraig Carton 2up
Eoin Murphy bt Cathal Kelly 7&5
Luke Devlin bt TJ O’Sullivan 7&6
Fintan Martin bt Shea Fennell 1up
Liam McGrath bt Eoin O’Riordan Looney 4&2
Jack Mullins bt Jack O’Sullivan 6&5
Cian Murphy beat Alex O’Callaghan 6&4
Dylan Hudson bt Dara O’Shea 4&3
Luke Murphy bt Alex Keegan 4&3
Round Four Results
Cillian Courtney bt Adam Power 6&4
Erin Moloney & Noah Sexton A/S
Jack Buckley beat Evan Carry 2&1
Aaron Roche bt Brian Bray 2up
Patrick Mitchell bt Brian McCarthy 4&2
Padraig Carton bt Joey McCarthy 1up
Coleby Clear & Eoin Murphy A/S
Luke Devlin bt Cathal Kelly 2&1
Shea Fennell bt Oisín Mulryne 7&6
Liam McGrath & Fintan Martin A/S
Jack Mullins bt Tom Cronin 4&3
Cian Murphy bt Jack O’Sullivan 2up
Dylan Hudson & Jack McCarthy A/S
Luke Murphy beat Dara O’Shea 5&4
Glenn Towler bt David O’Sullivan Jnr 9&8
Ryan Neeson bt Robbie Harnett 1up
Round Three Results
Erin Moloney bt Adam Power 4&3
Eanna Rabbitte bt Noah Sexton 6&5
Aaron Roche bt Jack Buckley 5&3
Nathan Cronin bt Brian Bray 2&1
Padraig Carton bt Brian McCarthy 5&4
Conor Mullins bt Joey McCarthy 3&2
Luke Devlin bt Coleby Clear 5&3
TJ O’Sullivan bt Cathal Kelly 3&2
Liam McGrath by Oisin Mulryne 5&4
Fintan Martin & Eoin O’Riordan Looney A/S
Cian Murphy bt Tom Cronin 7&6
Jack O’Sullivan by Alex O’Callaghan 2&1
Jack McCarthy bt Luke Murphy 1up
Dara O’Shea bt Alex Keegan 5&3
Round Two Results
Cillian Courtney & Eanna Rabbitte A/S
Noah Sexton & Adam Power A/S
Evan Carry bt Nathan Cronin 6&5
Jack Buckley bt Brian Bray 4&3
Patrick Mitchell bt Conor Mullins 1up
Brian McCarthy bt Joey McCarthy 5&4
TJ O’Sullivan bt Eoin Murphy 2&1
Coleby Clear bt Cathal Kelly 4&2
Shea Fennell bt Eoin O’Riordan Looney 2&1
Fintan Martin bt Oisín Mulryne 6&5
Jack Mullins bt Alex O’Callaghan 1up
Jack O’Sullivan bt Tom Cronin 2&1
Dylan Hudson bt Alex Keegan 2&1
Jack McCarthy bt Dara O’Shea 7&6
Glenn Towler bt Ryan Neeson 8&6
Robbie Harnett bt David O’Sullivan 5&3
Round One Results
Cillian Courtney bt Erin Moloney 2&1
Eanna Rabbitte bt Adam Power 2up
Evan Carry bt Aaron Roche 2&1
Jack Buckley bt Nathan Cronin 1up
Padraig Carton bt Patrick Mitchell 5&4
Conor Mullins bt Brian McCarthy 6&5
Luke Devlin bt Eoin Murphy 2&1
TJ O’Sullivan & Coleby Clear A/S
Shea Fennell bt Liam McGrath 1up
Eoin O’Riordan Looney bt Oisín Mulryne 3&2
Jack Mullins bt Cian Murphy 2&1
Alex O’Callaghan bt Tom Cronin 3&2
Dylan Hudson bt Luke Murphy 1up
Jack McCarthy bt Alex Keegan 2&1
Glenn Towler bt Robbie Harnett 4&3
Ryan Neeson bt David O’Sullivan 7&5
All Round Robin Matches via ‘Shotgun Start’
Two Points for a match win, One Point if match is tied after 18 holes
Top Two in each Group advance to the Championship Last 16
Third Place Finisher in each Group Qualifies for Plate Quarter-Finals
In event of a tie for position on points match difference will be the first tie-breaker, followed by ‘Head-to-Head’ result and thirdly total number of holes won.
Knockout Matches from 1st Tee following completion of Round Robin.
Times of Play
Round Robin
9.15am
10.30am
11.45am
1.30pm
2.45pm
Knockout
4pm Championship Last 16 followed by Plate Quarter-Finals and Championship Quarter-Finals (circa 5.30pm) All matches over 18 Holes.
Semi-Finals & Finals of Championship and Plate Competitions on Sunday over 36 Holes each round.
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