Jason O’Connor reports
After the sad death of Listowel’s Kevin McCarron the previous week it was fitting that the Pitch & Putt Community would gather in Listowel for the first adult event since his burial in hosting the Munster Mens Strokeplay Qualifiers.
There had been a great send off for Kevin at his funeral from both club and county and it was great to see his brother Declan near the top of the list of Mens Senior Qualifiers on the day. Deerpark’s Damien Fleming led the field with 18 under par which included a very impressive round of 11 under in his second 18. Jason O’Regan was next on 15 under par followed by Declan McCarron with a score of 13 under par. Jamie Blake of Tralee had 12 under par in qualifying as both his club-mate Darren Goodall and Listowel’s Chris Gibney both shot 10 under par.
Next were two players from Castleisland in the form of James Dignan and Aidan O’Connor with nine and eight under par respectively as the final spot was claimed by Tralee’s Gavin Carroll on seven under. There are also seven Intermediates joining Tralee’s Michael Creagh (County Champion) in that grade with Ger Guerin from the host club leading the way on nine under par as both Deerpark’s Connie O’Sullivan Jnr and John Fitzgerald (Castleisland) were next on six under.
Reece Sugrue from Tralee took the next spot with three under par as Deerpark’s Ger O’Connor was next on two under par. Mark Lucey of Tralee was next on one under par with Dan Broderick Jnr claiming the final spot on level par. The Junior Mens meanwhile had four spots on offer with both Alan O’Connor of Tralee and John Heffernan of Listowel leading the way here on one under as Paddy Murphy of Deerpark (one over) and Gerry Lee of Tralee (two over) claimed the other two spots.
All those qualified will join Kerry’s Ladies entrants for the Finals in Collins in Cork on the weekend of July 13th as the other event last weekend saw the U16 season get going with the Munster U16 Matchplay taking place in Riverdale in Nenagh. While a Kerry player made the Boys Cup Final for the fourth year in succession unfortunately Deerpark’s Fionn McMonagle fell to a 5&4 victory over Tipperary Hills’ Charlie Taylor in the Final. Club-mate Aodhan O’Halloran was defeated in the quarter-finals of the same event as the Plate event saw another Deerpark player in Daniel Quinlan reach the last eight of that event also.
The weekend sees the first U16 Inter-County Team Trial in Listowel on Saturday morning as the National O55’s Strokeplay Finals in Riverdale take place this weekend also. Best Wishes to the Kerry finals in the Intermediate (Deerpark trio Connie O’Sullivan, Gearóid Cronin and Ger Casey) and Junior (Castleisland’s John Clifton and Deerpark’s Paddy Murphy) Mens events.
