Pitch & Putt IrelandProvincial Schools finals report 2024
Last Friday’s Provincial Secondary Schools Competitions saw both winners come from the second session of play. Jason O’Connor reports on how it all panned out in both Lucan (Leinster) and Fermoy (Munster).
Leinster
After a second place finish last year in Rochfortbridge, Castlepollard Community College went one better last Friday in Lucan as they had a combined total of five under par to win by 10 shots from St Marys Drogheda.
Tadhg Burns starred for the victors in shooting rounds of four and six under par for a score of 10 under par as Billy Buckley came with five under par and Callum Burns 10 over par in coming to their total of 319. St Marys Drogheda had led after the first session on 329 with Sean Donnelly shooting two under, Cian Monaghan two over and Harry Leonard five over in their total.
Patrician Secondary School from Kildare were also in the first session in finishing third as Conor Crudden shot six under par, Donnacha Lally five over par and Devon Whelan eight over par in their seven over par total of 331. Last year’s winning school in the province Ardscoil Ciaran Naofa of Offaly had to settle for fourth this year as last year’s Irish U16 Internationals Peadar O’Toole and Jack McShane saw their respective teams from St Kevins (Kildare) and St Kierans (Kilkenny) finish fifth and sixth respectively.
Presentation De La Salle A (346), Mercy Kilbeggan A (360) and Ashbourne Community School (362) A were the other three teams to book their place in the National Finals in Hillview as the Girls prize on the day was won by the Holy Family B School of Eabha O' Connor, Molly O'Toole and Tara Jane Donovan on 410.
Munster
It was quite the performance by St Brendans College Killarney overall in the Munster Schools event in Fermoy as five of their seven entered teams managed to qualify for the National Finals from the second session.
Two teams from the school finished first and second in winning the competition for the school for a fifth time as their B team got the better of their A team in the final standings as Irish U16 Internationals Brian McCarthy (one under) and Nathan Cronin (two over) combined with Ben Kelliher (one over) for their winning score of 326.
That was 10 clear of former winners Fintan Martin (four under), Robbie Harnett (nine over) and Ronan Bennett (seven over) in shooting their second place score of 336. High School Clonmel featuring another Irish U16 International Joe Franklin prevented a clean sweep of the podium for the Killarney school as they finished on 341 with Joe shooting three under par and his team-mates Jack Duggan and Ciaran O’Reilly both shooting 10 over par.
They ensured themselves of home advantage in Hillview for the National Finals as despite a score of seven under par from Noah Sexton, he along with his team-mates Mark Carroll and Shay O’Meara on St Brendans D had to settle for fourth place on 346. The Killarney Schools E and F teams also managed to make it through to Hillview as the St Michaels Listowel A team featuring another Irish International in Ajay Barrett made it six Kerry teams for the field of 18 in the National Finals.
Cork Schools St Francis College Rochestown and St Colmans Fermoy A were the other two schools to qualify from the event for Hillview, both being the only two schools from the first session to advance.
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