Two of Irish golf's rising teenage stars are set to play key roles in Shandon Park's quest for further glory in the final rounds of the Ulster section of the Irish Senior Cup at Lisburn on Friday. Michael Hoey, who captured the Irish Boys' title last week, and Robin Symes, the Leinster youths' champion, savoured inter-club success with the Belfast club last weekend when winning the Ulster Barton Shield Final at Massereene.
The club go in search of the prestige double when they take on Portstewart in the semi-final of the Senior Cup, with Royal Porrtrush and Scrabo meeting in the other match.
Meanwhile, Mark Campbell (Stackstown) and David Jones (City of Derry) have been selected on the British and Irish team which will take on the continent of Europe for the Jacques Leglise Trophy at Royal Aberdeen this weekend.
Despite winning the recent Home Internationals, Ireland has managed to get just two players on to the nine-man team, which also includes England's Justin Rose, who became the youngest Walker Cup player at Quaker Ridge earlier this month. The European side is led by Sergio Garcia, who won last week's British Boys' championship and last month led Spain to the European Team Championship at Portmarnock.
Beaverstown's Gary Cullen, a former Irish youths' international, used his power play to good effect in claiming the De Lacey Staunton Scratch Cup at Athlone on Sunday, beating a member of the famous O'Connor clan into second place in the process!
Cullen compiled two level par 71s for 142, giving him a three-shot winning margin over Nigel O'Connor, son of Christy junior. Although it was Cullen's first major win, he has provided glimpses of his potential on a number of occasions this season, most notably when shooting a 64 in the Waterford Scratch Cup and then finishing fifth in the Mullingar Scratch Cup recently.
And Bearna captain Tom Nolan made a successful raid in the Galway Senior Scratch Cup, sponsored by Staunton Sports, at the weekend. Nolan produced rounds of 60 and 69 for 139, three shots clear of former South of Ireland champion Peter Sheehan (Castletroy), David Dunne (Co Sligo), Rory Leonard (Banbridge) and John Kavanagh (Galway).
Portumna and Hazel Grove have booked their places in the All-Ireland finals of the ILGU Ulster Bank Ladies Fourball championship, which take place at Co Longford on October 4th. The Galway club beat Enniscrone 21/21/2 in the Western District Final at Tuam and will meet Hazel Grove, the winners of the Eastern District at Newlands yesterday. Hazel Grove beat Dundalk by a 21/21/2 margin. The Southern District finals take place at Castletroy next Monday, with the Midland finals at Enniscorthy on Tuesday and the Northern finals at Killymoon on Thursday week.
Details: Western Final (at Tuam): Portumna 21/2, Enniscrone 1/2 - S Corcoran, R Curley halved with R McGoldrick, M McNamara; C Lynch, K Lynch bt A Higgins, N Bowe 5 and 4; A Hynes, M Moloney bt I Basquill, A Moylett 1 up. Eastern Final (at Newlands): B Kelly, A Neill halved with M Sinton, R Curtis; E Roche, A O'Reilly bt S Coyle, N Murphy 6 and 5; A Hughes, B Keppel bt A McKenna, M Griffin 5 and 4.
No stopping them now? Edmondstown are odds-on favourites to claim their first ever GUI pennant when they carry an 8-1 lead into the second leg of the Metropolitan Trophy Final against opponents The Island at the The Island on Sunday.
The Tower Hotel Group - who will sponsor the first ever professional tournament to be held at Enniscrone on October 1st-3rd - have launched a new golfing promotion called "Tee Time in Ireland" which involves inclusive programmes based at their hotels in Killarney, Sligo, Waterford and Temple Bar.
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