Jason O’Connor reports on last weekend’s Munster U16 Strokeplay and Inter-County events in Majestic where Kerry’s recent domination of the U16 scene continued in the southern province.

We start with the last matter to be decided last Saturday namely that of the Boys 15-15 title. After the first 18 holes it looked a mere formality that Deerpark’s Brian McCarthy would retain his title as on eight under par he had five shots to spare over his nearest challenge. However, a poor second round of one over par followed by his club and Kerry team-mate Ben Kelliher shooting four under par in the second round to match Brian on seven under meant that another nine holes would be needed following the Inter-County Scotch Foursomes.

That the two players played together in one of the Kerry Gold pairings made the situation all the stranger but Brian managed to come out on top after both players had managed to do their duty for the team. As well as hanging on to the title Brian has now achieved a county and provincial double for the year so far at Matchplay and Strokeplay level. Aidan Spence Murphy nearly joined the Killarney pair in the extra nine holes but he ended up on six under par after a good second 18 of five under par. It meant that he finished third for the second year in-a-row in the event.

Deerpark celebrated an individual double in the Boys Singles on the day as a second 18 of two under par gave Fionn McMonagle the 8-13 title with a tournament score of two over par one ahead of Fermoy’s Conor Ronan who finished on three over par. Aodhan O’Halloran gave Deerpark another medal on the day by finished third on four over par as completing the Individual honours Megan Ahern of Collins reversed the result of the Munster Girls Matchplay Final in Tipp Hills by defeating Sarah Ryan from the Tipp Town course. A second round of 61 was a big factor in Megan’s 14 shot victory in the end.

Both Megan and Aidan would win further medals in the Inter-County event but Kerry Gold were too good for everyone again in the Inter-County event winning the sixth straight staging of this event meaning the county remains unbeaten in this competition since 2017. With both Brian McCarthy and Ben Kelliher’s Best 18’s already registered they added a combined total of five over par from Listowel duo Ajay Barrett (team captain) and Jayden Chute to have a Singles total of seven under par nine clear of Tipperary Gold in second.

There was no real change after the Scotch Foursomes, Brian and Ben producing five under par together and Ajay and Jayden eight under as Kerry Gold finished the tournament on 20 under par. In total it was 12 clear of Tipperary’s Gold team on eight under as Charlie Taylor and Cillian O’Reilly produced a great score of eight under par for them in the Scotch Foursomes as Joe Franklin and Jack Duggan were the other members of this Tipperary side.

Cork made a welcome return to the U16 Inter-County scene last Saturday and there was a bronze medal for their Red Team of Aidan Spence Murphy, Megan Ahern, Conor Ronan and Alejandro Rea following a combined total of 341 with Aidan and Ronan producing five under par in the Scotch Foursomes. In total they were eight shots ahead of clear of the Kerry Green team which finished in fourth.

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