In convincing fashion, the Kerry Junior Mens team brought another National title back to Kerry Pitch & Putt last Sunday as they won their Challenge Match with Louth for the winners of this year’s graded provincial inter-counties in Munster and Leinster at Ryston in Newbridge, Co Kildare.
Only losing two of the nine matches with the Wee County, Kerry won five out of the six Singles matches that occurred following an early 2-1 lead in the doubles. The combination of Castleisland’s Daniel Broderick Jnr and Tralee’s Mark Lucey got a successful day going with a 5&3 victory in the first Scotch Foursomes game before Deerpark’s Brian Moloney and Tralee’s John O’Regan won their match 2&1. Tralee’s Michael Creagh and Deerpark’s Fintan Martin lost their match 4&3 but it was to be only one of two blemishes on the day.
Daniel Broderick got the Singles run going with a 4&3 victory in his match, Michael Creagh won 2&1 and this was followed by an 8&7 win for Tralee’s John O’Regan in his encounter which meant that Kerry could not be caught at that stage. Mark O’Regan won his match at the last hole 1up while there was a 2&1 victory for Fintan Martin in his game with Brian Moloney losing his match at the last hole. This made it a 7-2 victory to the Kerry Juniors overall and the win was the 11th National A Inter-County success for a Kerry Pitch & Putt side to go with the eight U16 titles and the Senior Mens (1986) and Ladies (1995) successes in the past.
Well done to the six players along with sub Mark O’Regan (Tralee) and team manager Christy O’Mahony for all their effort and play this year. It has a great reward to show for it. Meanwhile the National Inter-Club Qualifying also took place last Sunday at two venues in Tipperary, Riverdale in Nenagh and Tipperary Hills in Tipp Town. Five teams from Kerry, three from Tralee and two from Deerpark, were entered as the No 1 named teams from both clubs managed to reach next month’s finals.
At Riverdale Deerpark 1 topped the list of five qualifiers from that venue with a magnificent score of 41 under par for their day. Damien Fleming, John McGrath, Gearóid Cronin, James Fleming, Mark O’Shea and Nathan Cronin were 18 under combined after their Scotch Foursomes rounds before they brought in 23 under par combined in the Singles to finish on their 41 under total as they had nine shots to spare over their nearest challengers. Meanwhile Tralee 1 finished on four under par at Tipperary Hills to qualify from that course as their team consisted of Jason O’Regan, Jason Cregan, Keith O’Brien, John O’Regan, Mark Lucey and Mark O’Regan. Both teams will be part of the 10 sides who will battle it out for the national title at the end of October.
This weekend meanwhile sees the rearranged Listowel Scratch Cup take place on Saturday. Further details are available from the club themselves and on their Facebook page. We encourage all players in the county to do their best to support this event.
The Kerry Junior Mens Pitch & Putt team pictured after their victory in the National Junior Mens Inter-County Challenge at the Ryston course in Newbridge Co Kildare last Sunday which they won after defeating Louth in the final. Pictured L to R: Daniel Broderick Jnr, Brian Moloney, John O'Regan, Christy O'Mahony (Team Manager), Mark O'Regan, Mark Lucey, Michael Creagh and Fintan Martin.
