Unfortunately, it was not to be for any of the Kerry U16 Inter-County teams in their bid for a seventh straight Munster U16 Inter-County title as for the first time since 2016, the county did not finish in top spot in the event.
The ‘Gold Team’ of Aodhan O’Halloran, Fionn McMonagle, Thomas Keane and Tommy Daly fought hard to keep Kerry’s winning run since 2017 going but their combined total of seven over par was only good enough for third place behind the winning Cork ‘Red’ side and Tipperary ‘Blue’ who finished in second. The ‘Green’ and ‘White’ teams acquitted themselves well in a tricky Crosshaven course in Cork as there was some consolation in both Aodhan and Fionn finishing second and third in the Boys 8-12 category respectively with scores of one and two over par.
The County Board thanks ‘White’ team participants Ruairí Turbinski, Joey Blake, Sean Stack and James Gould for taking part last Saturday as well as the ‘Green’ team of Fionn O’Callaghan, Thomas O’Sullivan, Diarmuid Lyons and Daniel Quinlan. Our thanks to Sewells Pharmacy Killarney and Utility Trust for their continued support of the teams. Elsewhere the National Mens Strokeplay Qualifiers took place last Friday evening in Tralee with the places for the Finals in St Annes in Cork decided on the day.
Joining Tralee’s Jason O’Regan who is automatic this year as the 2024 Senior Runner-Up are Damien Fleming of Deerpark who shot 17 under par on the night, Darren Goodall (Tralee) 14 under, Jason Cregan 13 under, Michael Conway with -8, Jamie Blake -7 and Chris Gibney of Listowel who got the last spot on countback with -6.
The Intermediates were headed by Michael Creagh with eight under as his club-mate Tony Blake shot seven under. Deerpark’s Ger O’Connor was next on five under par followed by Tralee’s Padraig Hobbart on -4 with Deerpark’s Cillian Courtney and Listowel’s Bobby McCarron both shooting -3 as Reece Sugrue claimed the final spot here on countback with -2.
The Junior event also needed countback to decide the last two spots meaning all three grades needed a thrawl through the cards, Robbie Harnett of Deerpark and Gavin Dillane of Tralee (both +5) were successful in the countback as the two players ahead of them were Ajay Barrett of Listowel on +2 and Robbie O’Connor of Tralee on +3. Congratulations to all those who made it through.
This coming weekend our action takes place on the Bank Holiday Monday with the staging of the Paul O’Sullivan Memorial Scratch Cup in Tralee. A timesheet is in operation for the event and anyone interested in a tee-time is asked to contact 087 6403417 for further information.
