John Manning takes us through the significance of last weekend’s National U16 Matchplay results in Lakeside

 

Boys Championship

Brian McCarthy becomes the first winner from Deerpark club (and from Co Kerry) of the National Boys’ Matchplay championship. He ensures that he and his dad Derry are the first father and son to win the National Gents Matchplay Championship (Derry 2004) and the National Boys Matchplay Championship.  

Brian joins Joe Franklin as players to have finished third in the National Boys’ Strokeplay Championship and win the National Boys Matchplay Championship.  He is also the second player ever (following Evan Carry) to progress from Boys’ 10-13 Strokeplay winner to National Boys’ Matchplay Champion.

A Jay Barrett is the second player in history (after Mark Cadden) to win the National Boys’ Strokeplay Championship and finish runner-up in the National Boys Matchplay Championship.   A  Jay is also the first player from Listowel and from Co Kerry to finish runner-up in the National Boys Matchplay championship.

The Boys final was contested by two players from Co Kerry – a first for the Kingdom ever in any National Matchplay and the first U16 decider to feature two players from the same county since Glenn Towler (St Annes) and Kieran Mills (Collins) faced-off in the inaugural Championship final in 2016.

Nathan Cronin became the fourth winner of the All Ireland Juvenile Matchplay Championship Plate (after Aaron Roche, Jack Buckley and Adam O’Brien) to reach the semi-finals of the main Championship the following year.

Aidan Spence Murphy joins Cillian Courtney as a Munster Boys Matchplay Plate winner to subsequently reach the National Boys’ Matchplay semi-finals.

 

Boys Plate

Ronan Bennett became the third winner of the All Ireland Juvenile Matchplay Championship Plate to represent the Deerpark club (emulating Nathan Cronin and Eoin O’Riordan Looney). Deerpark is the first club to supply successive winners of the National Boys’ Matchplay Plate event as Ronan Bennett succeeds club-mate Nathan Cronin as Champion.

 

Billy Buckley narrowly failed to emulate his brother Jack Buckley who won the National Boys’ Matchplay Plate in 2018. Billy is the first winner of the Leinster Boys Matchplay Plate to be a runner-up in the National Boys’ Matchplay Plate event. He is the second to contest the final – Evan Carry won the National Plate in 2016 and was Leinster winner a year later.

Eoghan Morrissey is the fifth Leinster player in a row to lose the National Boys’ Matchplay Plate semi-final to the eventual champion (who represented a Munster club for the fifth successive year).

Daniel Leahy adds a semi-final performance in the National Boys’ Matchplay Plate to his National Inter-County bronze medal last year.

 

Girls

Molly O’Toole is the first member of Ryston and the first Co Kildare player to win the National Girls’ Matchplay Championship.

She ensured a Co Kildare presence in the semi-finals for the third year in succession. Molly reversed the Leinster Matchplay final result against Gemma Cuffe in the National semi-final.

Megan Ahern is the first player from Collins club and the first from Co Cork to contest the National Girls Matchplay final.

2022 Champion Sarah Cooney contested the National Girls’ Matchplay semi-finals for the third successive year.

Leinster Matchplay champion Gemma Cuffe meanwhile reached the National Girls’ Matchplay semi-finals for the third time in four years.

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