By SHAY KEENAN
McCarthy among favourites to claim Irish Girl's trophy
A NEW name will be written on this year’s Lancome Irish Girls’ Trophy, which gets under way at Castletroy Golf Club from tomorrow through to Friday.
Laura McCarthy (Muskerry), a member of the Irish Girls’ European Team Championship winning team, will be one of the favourites to land the title. The 2008 champion, Leona Maguire (Slieve Russell), is unavailable to defend her title due to a hectic schedule over the coming weeks.
Also absent from the field of 72 competitors for the same reasons is the Irish Women’s Close and Strokeplay champion Lisa Maguire (Slieve Russell), while a third member of the Irish Girls team, Stephanie Meadow (Royal Portrush), is also unavailable to compete as she returns to the United States where she is now based, to attempt to qualify for the US Open Girls’ Championship.
However, this year’s championship promises to be an exciting affair with those looking to capture the trophy for the first time including the in-form Emma O’Driscoll (Ballybunion), who has won both the Connacht Women’s and Girls’ Championships, while Munster Girls’ champion Patrice Delaney (Birr) and Ulster Girls’ champion Tara Gribben (Warrenpoint) will also be hopeful.
Other hopefuls in the field include Sarah Louise Winter (Carnalea), Sarah Helly (Enniscrone) and Carla Reynolds (Seapoint).
Claremorris Connacht kings again
CLAREMORRIS powered to victory once again in the FBD GAA All-Ireland Challenge Connacht final at Roscommon Golf Club.
Captained by Martin Higgins, the Mayo outfit held their nerve to see off the challenge of the local team from St Dominic’s in another tight finish.
Claremorris’ impressive total of 81 points was enough to clinch the title and featured excellent performances from Higgins and Des Griffith, posting a score of 43 points. Ger Noone and Mick Conway’s solid round which brought in 38 points was enough to see them home by a point.
St Dominic’s pushed the seasoned Mayo quartet all the way, with Cathal Doherty and Kevin Rodgers bringing in 42 points to add to the earlier score of 38 points by Ed Miley and Neil Dolan.
Third place went to Loughrea with a score of 79 points, while Turloughmore posted a score of 77 to finish in fourth.
Claremorris now join Munster champions Clonoulty-Rossmore of Tipperary and Leinster Champions St Jude’s of Dublin in the 10th FBD GAA Golf Challenge All-Ireland final at Faithlegg in September.
The Ulster champions will be decided in the coming weeks.
81 pts: Claremorris (Mayo), 80: St Dominics (Roscommon), 79: Loughrea (Galway) and 77: Turloughmore (Galway).
O'Driscoll's hot streak continues
EMMA O’DRISCOLL’S tremendous run of success in recent weeks continued on Thursday when she became the new Leinster Girls’ Champion at Naas.
The Ballybunion player won a tight final, just edging Laura Grant on the 19th hole.
It had been a memorable week for the Kerry player as in the semi-finals she had beaten Patrice Delaney from Birr 5 and 3, recording a hole in one at the third hole on her way to victory. Delaney had been the victor a couple of weeks earlier when they met in the Munster Girls’ Championship final at Killarney at the end of June.
O’Driscoll has already won both the Connacht Women’s and Junior Championship titles this season. She finished second in the qualifying, shooting a 77 to finish one shot behind Carla Reynolds (Seapoint), before defeating Daryl Conroy (Lisburn) and Julie Coyne (Youghal) in the opening two rounds of matchplay.
Grange to host Alliance opener
THE Leinster Alliance will commence its 2009-2010 season with the staging of The Irish Times Shield at Grange GC on Sunday, August 16th.
This team of four from each club event has been played since 1926 and is one of the most sought-after trophies in the Leinster Alliance calendar.
The Alliance season continues with outings to Carton House on September 13th, Dún Laoghaire on October 18th and Moyvalley on November 8th.
The timesheet is open with Michael Neay at 01-2827297 Monday-Saturday from 9am-5pm.
Kelly inaugural seniors' winner
MAURICE KELLY (left) from the Killeen won the inaugural Irish Seniors Amateur Close Championship, sponsored by Tourism Malaysia, when he shot a final round of three-over-par 75 for a 54 total of 223 at Roscommon Golf Club last week.
Kelly, who has been a member of Ireland’s successful European and Home Internationals Seniors teams for the past two years, carded rounds of 75, 73 and 75 to finish one shot clear of team-mate Hugh Smyth from the Mourne club, who finished runner-up on a countback from Birr’s Billy Donlon and Tony Hayes from The K Club.
Smyth, eight shots off the pace after two rounds, stormed through the field with a final round best of the tournament 70 to claim second place as Hayes, the leader after the first and second rounds, slipped back with a 78
Kelly covered the opening nine holes in one-under-par and held a commanding three-shot lead at the turn. However, a bogey on the 13th gave hope to the chasing pack and back to back dropped shots on the 16th and 17th saw the Killeen man’s playing partner Donlon draw level.
However, a bogey on the final hole was enough to see Kelly become the first winner of the Irish Seniors Close title.
Dillons take father and son at Castle
AFTER a week of high-quality golf the Dillons, James from the South County Club and Marc from the host club, won the Castle Father and Son Matchplay competition, sponsored by Cocoon Childcare, in this, the 49th staging of the event.
In an exciting final which went to the final hole the Dillons won by one hole from Kenneth and Cathal Greene from Delgany GC.
This year some 500 golfers, representing 82 clubs, participated in the qualifying rounds with the top 64 making the matchplay.
In the semi-finals the Greenes beat Patrick (Slade Valley) and David Carroll (Grange) 2 and 1, while the Dillons got home by the same score over Vincent and Ross Buggy from Newlands.
The Donnellys – Joseph and Declan from Slade Valley – led the qualifiers with a net score of 68 with the McAuliffes, William and Ben the leading Castle pair on 72. The leading gross score of the qualifiers was 76 by Paul and James Hanby of Castle.
