There were scenes of joy last week in Donabate as Lee Valley claimed the Girls Inter-Club national title. Golfers Heather O’Gorman, Clodagh O’Sullivan and Jessica Power combined to help their side finish on top. Lee Valley were back in the All-Ireland final after coming up short in Warrenpoint last year and finished three points ahead of Roganstown to claim a national pennant.
Lee Valley Captain Roisin Murray, said it was a huge boost for a young group who showed their potential on the big stage again. “It was definitely worth the long trip up, we are delighted, over the moon,” said Murray. “The girls have been playing really well all year so we came up, did the practice round, they really enjoyed it and they went out this morning and we just said ‘try your best’.
“When the scores came in they were just the right scores, it was brilliant. We were watching the whole time and when our first girl came in, she told us she had 39 points and we were like, ‘holy God…’
“We weren’t expecting that at all and we were just so delighted. We got a bit of momentum, we heard the next score and it just went up and up from there.”
In the Boys’ Foursomes, Cork defeated Laytown & Bettystown to set up a final against Bray in the afternoon, but Cork came up just short of the win. It was the Leinster outfit who came out on top to make history for the club. Ultan Moran and Tiernan Ryan had a 4-hole win and despite a narrow defeat for Tom Hannon and Oran Barrett, the Leinster outfit claimed the priceless silverware.
The national finals continue, with local action getting underway today.
Today the first day of the AIG All-Ireland Inter-Club Finals got underway at Douglas Golf Club.
Champions will be crowned in the AIG Men’s Senior Cup, AIG Women’s Senior Cup, AIG Women’s Senior Foursomes and AIG Men’s Barton Shield this week in Cork. Cork are in Senior Foursomes action this morning and face old adversaries Royal County Down. If they get through they will face the winners of Royal Tara and Galway this afternoon.
Muskerry take on Warrenpoint in the Barton Shield this morning and will face the winners of Co Louth/Roscommon if they can beat the Ulster side. The Senior Foursomes and Barton Shield finals are scheduled for Friday.
On Saturday, the home club will have two teams in action with the Men and Women involved in the AIG Senior Cups. The Men are out first and face Knock from Belfast. The women are out at lunchtime and also face a Belfast side, they take on Belvoir Park.
With 40 matches scheduled for Saturday, the semi-finals and finals will take place on Sunday. It promises to be a busy four days, with a total of 105 matches between the 21 clubs taking place across the four competitions. The action got underway yesterday with practice rounds being held for the Senior Foursomes and Barton Shield.
Douglas ladies will be hoping that Shannon Burke’s rich form will continue for another week.
The Connacht native, who has been playing for Douglas for the past two years, claimed her fourth title of 2025 in Rosslare last weekend when she won the Irish Mid-Am Championship.
Burke began her final round with ground to make up as she teed off two shots behind defending champion Aideen Walsh. That deficit quickly disappeared when Walsh ran into trouble at the par-three third, carding a seven to hand Burke the advantage, which she duly capitalised on.
The Mayo native went on to reel off seven birdies across her round and, despite a determined fightback from Walsh, she held her nerve to hole the winning birdie putt on the 18th and secure her first Irish Mid-Amateur title.
“Absolutely thrilled, had a great battle out there with Aideen so happy to come out on the right side,” said Burke. “I had actually said to myself if I could get to five under for the day, eight under total, I knew it would give me a decent chance.
“I stuck to the game plan, hit it really well so happy enough. Anytime you win something you haven’t won before it’s really satisfying.”
