Pitch & Putt IrelandNational Youth Strokeplay Championship Facts & Figures
A look at the results in Killarney last Saturday
John Manning explains more to us about last Saturday events in Deerpark
Girls
Sarah Cooney is the first player representing a Co. Louth club to retain the National Girls’ Strokeplay championship. Sarah becomes the 12th multiple winner in the history of the championship (and one of eleven players to hold two titles. Bernadette Coffey won three).
She is the eighth player in history to be champion in successive years. She also continues the recent Leinster domination of the National Girls’ Strokeplay Championship – Sarah’s win is the eighth in the last eight stagings of the championship by a representative of the eastern province.
Sarah become the second player in history (after Lucan’s Eimear Ahern) to win the National Girls’ Strokeplay championship and the National Girls’ Matchplay championship in the same year.
Sophie Moynihan emulated her sister Ella Moynihan who was previously runner-up in the National Girls’ Strokeplay championship. Ella and Sophie form the secondset of sisters (after the Byrnes, Margaret, Marian and Chrissie) to achieve a runners-placing in the National Girls Strokeplay Championship.
Sophie and Ella emulate Margaret and Marian who previously finished runner-up in successive years – in 1989 and in 1990 respectively.
Sarah Ryan (Tipperary Hills) is the first Co. Tipperary player to achieve a podium finish in the Girls’ championship since Sive Shelley was runner-up at Tipperary Hills in 2015. She is the first Tipperary Hills member ever to achieve a podium finish in the National Girls’ Strokeplay championship.
118 has now been the Girls’ Strokeplay championship winning aggregate (or forced a play-off for the title) six times.
Boys
Listowel’s A Jay Barrett is the fifth Co. Kerry winner of the National Boy’s Strokeplay – emulating Tralee’s Aidan Walsh and Ronan Walsh as well as Deerpark’s Creagh Courtney and Conor McCarthy. A Jay Barrett is the first Kerry winner since Conor was victorious at Pfizer in 2013.
A Jay is also the first Listowel player in history to achieve a podium finish in the National Boys’ Strokeplay championship.
Adam O’Brien is the first player from the Lakeside club in Templemoreto finish runner-up in the National Boys’ Strokeplay Championship. He is the second player in history (after Robbie Harnett last year) to finish runner-up in the National Boys’ Strokeplay championship and lose a National Boys’ Matchplay semi-final in the same year.
Brian McCarthy makes it four players who have won the Boys’ 10-13 award and also win a bronze medal in the National Boys’ Strokeplay Championship. Cillian Courtney, Graham Donohoe and Kevin Metcalfe are the others. His father Derry also finished third at Catholic Institute in 1987 but it was not a medal winning finish at the time.
Jack McShane is the first player since Evan Carry in 2014 to win the National Boys’ Strokeplay Best U13 award in the having also won that category in the same year’s Leinster Strokeplay. Jack also joins Evan as a Leinster Juvenile Matchplay champion who has won the National Boys’ Strokeplay Best U13 category. Jack is the first player to achieve that in a single year.
Jack McShane is the first Gowran and Kilkenny player ever to achieve a podium finish in the National Boys’ Strokeplay Championship.
100 has now been the Boys’ Strokeplay championship winning score on three occasions. Those three occasions have all come in the last eight years. 110 is the highest runner-up score in National Boys Strokeplay Championship history.
A Jay Barrett’s ten stroke winning margin is the biggest ever in the history of the National Boys’ Strokeplay Championship.
Inter-County
It will be become easier if the current format persists but A Jay Barrett is the 13th National Boys Strokeplay champion to help his county to an Inter-County win in the same year. Mark Somers, Alan Moore, Kieran Kearney, Michael O’Connell, Brian Webster, Damien Rafferty, Cathal Foley, Brian Allen, John O’Rourke, Chris O’Sullivan, Brian Maloney and Charlie Morrissey are the others.
Kerry move on to seven Tommy Murphy Cup wins, consolidating the Kingdom’s third place on the all-time Roll of Honour.
Not surprisingly, given the change in format, Kerry’s score of 310 is the lowest winning aggregate in the history of the National Juvenile Inter-County championship.
Brian McCarthy follows his dad Derry in being a National U16 Inter-County winner with Kerry. Derry was on Kerry’s first ever winning side in Tipp Hills back in 1986.
Tipperary finished second in the National Juvenile Inter-County championship for the first time since 2003 and for the fifth time in all.
Following the introduction of the multiple team format, Kerry is the first county to achieve two podium finishes by its teams in the same year.
Kerry is the first county to win three titles in a row since Cork (2008-10). Kerry is the only county apart from Cork to achieve three-in-a-row.
U20
Jack Buckley is the first Co. Westmeath winner of the National U20 Strokeplay championship.
Jack becomes the first former winner of the National Boys’ Matchplay Plate event to go on and claim the U20 title. He is also the first provincial U16 Matchplay kingpin to go on and win the National U20 Strokeplay championship (Cian Morrison was Munster runner-up in 2014).
Cian Murphy joins Evan Carry as previous podium finishers from the U16 Strokeplay championship to also feature amongst the prize winners at the National Under 20 Strokeplay championship.
David Murray is the first player in history to finish third in the National U20 Strokeplay championship having also been third in that year’s Provincial Intermediate Strokeplay championship. (Sean Clerkin was Provincial Intermediate Strokeplay champion in 2019)
It is now Leinster two, Munster two in terms of National U20 Strokeplay championship winners.
The second and third place finishers in the National U20 Strokeplay championship both represented Cork clubs for the second time in the four stagings.
Jack Buckley’s winning margin of one stroke is the lowest in National U20 Strokeplay championship history. The two stroke spread between first and third place is the lowest in National U20 Strokeplay championship history.
Third place in the National U20 Strokeplay championship was decided on the Back 18 tiebreaker for the second time ever.
Latest National News
| National Coach Stephen Enneguess - upcoming sessions |
| UPDATED NEC Announcement 16.04.2024 |
| Provincial Ladies Matchplay |
| Munster Ladies social day |
| County/Regional Matchplays |