Round one of the Club Championship was played on Sunday and the winners were as follows:
Overall – Robert Lyons net 68; Div 1 – Aaron Slater net 69; Div 2 – Tony Sweeney net 73.
Saturday’s singles stableford: 1st Tony Mc Donnell 42pts, 2nd Garry Dunne 41pts, 3rd Adam Fitzpatrick 41pts.
Last Friday’s open singles stableford: 1st Thomas Kennedy 39pts, 2nd Gerard Blaney 37pts, 3rd Kieran Sheridan 34pts.
Last Wednesday’s open singles stableford: 1st Darragh Darcy 42pts, 2nd Tony Sweeney 42pts, 3rd Donal Nolan 39pts.
Dundalk
Cathal O’Neill enjoyed his first major success when he won Eddie Rogers’ President’s Prize over the weekend of August 23 and 25.
Playing off 19, he produced an exceptional round in which he managed to keep a double bogey off his card and had nine pars and nine bogeys as he went out in 41 gross and came home in 40 gross for a nett score of 62. That was enough to give him a two-shot victory over the reigning Golfer of the Year Frank Byrne who shot a nett 64 off 13.
O’Neill parred the first, fourth, sixth and eighth on the way out to turn in 31 nett, and after pars at the 10th and 11th he had further pars at the 14th, 15th and 17th to come home in 31 nett and take overall victory.
Byrne, playing off 13, also produced a round with no double bogeys, as he shot a gross score of 77. His round included a birdie four at the 10th and a birdie three at the 18th as well as pars at the second, third, fifth, sixth, seventh and ninth as he went out in 33 nett. Pars at the 12th, 15th and 16th as well as those two birdies saw him come home in 31 nett.
Dean King (8) shot 67 nett to win Division 1 on countback from the President’s son, Brendan, while Padraig Fallon (16) also needed countback to win Division 2 after both he and Chris Connolly (13) shot 66 nett. Countback was also need in Division 3 where James Rogers (24) pipped Robert Lynch (19) after both had shot 65 nett.
Chris Clarke marked his 21st birthday by winning the gross prize with a level par 72, while Brian Crombie (24) won the Veterans’ prize with a 67 nett and that score also propelled him to the top of the Golfer of the Year standings with just one round to go.
Ben Walsh (8) shot 43 points to win the latest edition of the McKenna Man Open Singles Stableford last Wednesday. He got a great start with two birdies in the opening three holes and added another at the 14th. A double bogey five at the fifth and a bogey six at the 12th were the only blemishes on a card that saw him go out in 22 points and come home in 21.
Dean King (7) won his second Division 1 category in four days as he shot 42 points to take the low category, while Michael Flynn (12), having been pipped for overall victory on countback after also shooting 43 points, took Division 2. Tim Jewell (28) – with 37 points – won Division 3, while Joseph Laverty was the Gross winner with 38.
Congratulations to Caolan Rafferty who has been named on the Ireland team for the Eisenhower Trophy which will take place in October in Singapore. This will be Caolan’s first appearance in the competition and follows his recent selection as the reserve on the Great Britain & Ireland team for this week’s 2025 Walker Cup match against the USA in Cypress Point, California.
In addition to finishing runner-up in the South of Ireland Championship at the start of this month, Caolan was also part of the Ireland team which finished fourth at the European Amateur Team Championship in Killarney in July.
Making the Eisenhower Cup team means Caolan has now played on all international men’s teams that he is eligible for, which is a remarkable achievement.
Good luck to the Women’s Junior Cup team who go in search of a green pennant this weekend at the All-Ireland Finals in Tandragee.
August 23/24 Eddie Rogers’ Presidents Prize GoY 9 – Overall: Cathal O’Neill (19) 62, Frank P Byrne (13) 64. Division 1: Dean King (8) 67, Brendan Rogers (10) 67, Mark Cumiskey (10) 68. Division 2: Padraig Fallon (16) 66, Chris Connolly (13) 66, Cormac Malone (12) 68. Division 3: James Rogers (24) 65, Robert Lynch (19) 65, Charles Sheppard (24) 67. Gross: Chris Clarke 72. Veteran: Brian Crombie (24) 67
August 27 McKenna Man Open Singles Stableford – Overall: Ben Walsh (8) 43pts Division 1: Dean King (7) 42pts. Division 2: Michael Flynn (12) 43pts. Division 3: Timothy Jewell (28) 37pts. Gross Recognition: Joseph Laverty 38pts.
Dundalk Ladies
Last Wednesday’s 18-hole stableford was won by 21-handicapper Caroline Dunne with 38 points.
Eighteen-hole GoY stroke competition, sponsored by Tres Belle Blackrock and played on August 23 and 26: Div 1 winner Anne McArdle (22) 64, 2nd Niamh Maguire (23) 69, 3rd Olivia Cunningham (20) 69; Div 2 winner Marie McGuigan (30) 68, 2nd Joyce Burbage (25) 69, 3rd Gillian Murphy (32) 69; Div 3 winner Evelyn Fallon (36) 64, 2nd Mar Leavy (45) 68, 3rd Kate Smyth (40) 70. Nine-hole winner Margaret Gaughran (22) 34pts, 2nd Majella Cassidy (14) 35pts.
The 3T’s competition played on August 9 and 12 was kindly sponsored by the Blackrock Abbey Nursing Home in Blackrock. Anne McEntegart was the overall winner with a fabulous score of 46 points and she will represent Dundalk Golf Club with Lady Captain Sally McDonnell, Captain Gerry McDermott and the gents’ overall winner at Mount Juliet or the K Club.
Other results from the 3T’s competition: Div 1 winner Pauline Campbell (12) 41pts, 2nd Bernie Prendergast (24) 39pts, 3rd Brid Rocks (23) 39pts; Div 2 winner Gillian Murphy (32) 40pts, 2nd Teresa Matthews (32) 38pts, 3rd Deirdre Clarke (26) 37pts; Div 3 winner Anne McEntegart (40) 46pts, 2nd Shirley McDonnell (50) 43pts, 3rd Mary Thornton (41) 42pts. Nine-hole winner Catherine MacGuinness (18) 22pts, 2nd Maeve Ahern (12) 19pts.
Mannan Castle
Darren Dillon, who plays off 22, was the overall winner of the competition played the weekend before last with a brilliant 42 points.
Most of his hard work came on the back nine, where he shot a superb 24 points.
Division 1 was won by nine-handicapper Eoin Sherry with a score of 39 points. Two birdies helped Eoin win on the countback from Conor Farrelly (3).
Tony Donagher, who plays off 12, won Division 2 with a great score of 41 points. Tony played very solidly, and it’s brilliant to see him back in the winner’s enclosure again. Noel Sherlock (16) finished in second place with 40 points.
Division 3 was won by 20-handicapper David O’Connell with a great score of 41 points. The highlight of David’s round was a birdie two on the third hole. Paul Martin (18) finished second with 40 points.
Michael Martin (33) won Division 4 with a score of 40 points. A brilliant back nine of 22 points was good enough to win by one shot from the runner-up Liam Thornton, who plays off 23.
The Club Fourball Match Play final concluded last weekend., with Jason Hughes (0) and Eamon Ned Murphy (12) taking on Ciaran Marron (1) and Rory Lennon (3).
From the off, it was a par parade. The first three holes were all halved with pars from both teams.
Another par from Jason on the 4th put himself and Eamon 1 up.
The 5th hole, index 1, was another super half, with a 120-yard third shot stitched from Eamon for a tap-in par, to be followed by a Hail Mary shot from the ditch from Ciaran for another tap-in par.
Another par from Eamon put the boys 2 up after six holes.
The seventh hole was halved before Ciaran – with a birdie two on the 8th – brought the game back to 1 down. A par from Jason on the 9th put them back to 2 up and a bogey from Eamon was enough to take the 10th hole to go 3 up.
The fightback came when Ciaran parred the 11th and 12th holes to win both and bring the game back to 1 down.
The next two holes were ding dong as Jason and Eamon took the 13th and Rory and Ciaran claimed the 14th.
The highlight of the day was an eagle from Jason on the 15th to win the hole and go back to 2 up.
The match was by no means over as Rory stitched a flop shot from over the bunker for a tap-in par and a win to continue the match to the 17th. Rory hit his shot of the day to six feet and was unlucky not to birdie the hole.
It was all or nothing for Rory and Ciaran going up the last 1 down. The boys had to attack, and unfortunately it wasn’t enough after Eamon and Jason hit the green in two and had a couple of putts to win the hole.
Congratulations to Jason and Eamon on the great win, and commiserations to Rory and Ciaran.
The Mannan Castle seniors weekly competition, played on Tuesday last week, provided the usual friendly but close rivalry.
Played over nine holes Peter Burns (13) led the field home with an excellent 23 points to claim his first overall win. He started well before a little hiccup on hole 13 threatened to stop him. But he recovered quickly and scored 15 points for his final five holes, including a great four points on 15.
In Category 1 a countback was needed to separate Oliver Fox (7) and Senior Captain Graeme Woodcock (8), each returning 20 points. In the end Oliver’s par, par finish proved decisive.
A countback was also required in Category 2 where Richard Rountree (12) and Sean Harvey (12) had 20 points. Once again it was the last two holes which decided the outcome, with Richard’s par on the penultimate hole edging out Sean.
Liam Kenny (13) had no such concerns in Category 3 where his 22 points was comfortably the best score. Liam had a couple of blips on his card but each time bounced back immediately. Four-point scores on holes 15 and 18 were the highlights of his round.
On Saturday last Mannan hosted the Golf Ireland All-Ireland quarter-finals,
A huge thanks to all the member volunteers who helped make this event run smoothly over the two days.
Thanks to Golf Ireland, Order of Malta Dundalk, our PGA Professional Chris Blackmore, chef Navin, bar staff and our neighbours who were very understanding of this All-Ireland event taking place.
Everyone was very complimentary regarding the course, especially how well it coped with the heavy rain. Thanks to our head greenskeeper John Mc Bride and the course staff and the Mannan ‘Gangers’ (member volunteers who work with our greenkeeping staff). Also, thanks to Patsy Campell for the use of his field for additional car parking.
A huge thanks to our member volunteers who helped with everything from traffic control, score reporting, giving directions, ball spotting, taking photos, liaising with Golf Ireland, cleaning tables, serving food, sweeping, mopping floors and much more!
Mannan Ladies
There was intense competition for the final women’s major of the year, Chris Blackmore’s Professional’s Prize.
Saving her best for last, 11-handicapper Marie Finnegan was the final player out on the course, accompanied only by a marker, but she finished head and shoulders above the rest, parring eight of the back nine in a performance worthy of the win with 67 nett.
Ali Ellis, who plays off 19, had the next best score at the weekend, with another excellent back nine making up much of her 70 nett for a clear second place.
Only five points separated the next 10 places. Best of the rest was Frances Molloy (32) who is playing her best this summer. Her 72 nett claimed third place on countback.
The Gross prize went to the in-form 19-handicapper Jo Morris, who finished on 72 nett.
Many thanks to Club Professional Chris Blackmore for the generous prize sponsorship.
Lady Captain Angela Evers’ Day Away last Thursday was an outstanding success. In all, 44 ladies took to the fairways of Greenore Golf Club and a big thanks to Greenore Golf Club/Greenore ladies who made us very welcome. Considering the forecast was for a horrible day, somehow most managed to get their round in relatively dry and the sun even tried to come out.
A great day was had by all. Thanks to the restaurant staff for the delicious food and congratulations to all the winners, who were presented with beautiful prizes.
A big thanks to Lady Captain Angela Evers who arranged a wonderful day, with the results as follows: 1st Deanna MacGuinness 39pts, 2nd Louise Hanratty 38pts, 3rd Geraldine Finnegan 36pts ocb, 4th Lady Captain Angela Evers 36pts , 5th Imelda Hanratty 35pts ocb. Front 9 Maureen Crawley 19pts ocb, Back 9 Brianan Kingham 20pts ocb.
Seapoint Ladies
Last Thursday’s nine-hole stableford sweep competition was won by 15-handicapper Niamh Moore with 25 points. Well done!
In the 18-hole stableford competition played the weekend before last, victory went to 39-handicapper Mary Carr who achieved a whopping score of 42 points.
