Kerry has put in a good showing at the National Gents Strokeplay qualifiers in Newmarket.
Jason O'Connor reports
A busy weekend of adult and underage action was once again dominated by a certain Damien Fleming from Deerpark as only a week before the defence of his National Mens Matchplay title, he claimed another Scratch Cup in Cork before securing his place at the National Strokeplay finals.
After winning two in two days in Cork on the August Bank Holiday weekend, Damien added the Rocklodge Scratch Cup to his collection with another score of 21 under par for a 1 stroke win on Saturday. On Sunday in Newmarket he claimed the first of the seniors spots for Kerry in the National Strokeplay Qualifiers in Newmarket with a score of 12 under par. That was two ahead of County Board chairman James Dignan on 10 under as Alan Hobbart of Tralee shot the same score. The final spot saw Tralee’s Jason Cregan beat Deerpark’s John McGrath on countback after both shot eight under par.
Jason’s qualification was maybe most poignant as it came only one short week after the sad passing of his mother Christina but we were all delighted to see Jason decide to take part last Sunday. In the Intermediate section, County Intermediate Strokeplay holder Michael Conway led the way on six under par, four clear of Deerpark’s Lorcan Martin on two under par. Tralee’s Keith O’Brien and Deerpark’s James Fleming were next on one under par respectively as the final three spots were claimed by players on level par namely Willie John Buckley of Newmarket and Castleisland’s Timmy Looney and John Fitzgerald.
The Junior grade saw 10 players make it through to the finals as Tralee’s Pa Fitzgibbon led the way on five under par, three clear of both Castleisland’s Noel Lee and Tralee’s Brian Moynihan. Sean Prendiville of Castleisland was the other Junior under par with one under as another Castleisland member Paudie Looney and Listowel’s Jake Shine both shot one over par. Other players to qualify included Newmarket duo Con Buckley and Billy Daly along with Castleisland’s Tadhg Walsh and Deerpark’s Hugh O’Sullivan.
All 21 players will go forward to the national finals in Collins, Cork on Saturday September 19th (Juniors) and the following weekend of the 26th/27th for the Intermediates and Seniors.
U-16 Matchplay
Saturday saw the County U16 Matchplay Championships take place in Tralee as the major honours went to both Listowel and the Tralee clubs. Round Robin Groups were used in the early stages giving all entrants at least two matches on the day as in the U16 Boys Championships, Listowel’s Bobby McCarron along with Deerpark’s Robbie Harnett, Fintan Martin and TJ O’Sullivan advanced from the groups to the semi-finals.
Bobby defeated TJ in the semi-finals 2&1 as Fintan was a 3&2 winner over Robbie in the other semi-final. Bobby was in the final for the second year-in-a-row as he went into an early 3up lead over Fintan. Fintan fought back to trail by one coming towards the end as it went to the last hole between the pair. Fintan eventually conceded to Bobby to allow him to win 2up as he was presented with the new Cup by his father and Kerry U16 Officer Kevin afterwards.
The U16 Plate meanwhile saw all four semi-finalists from Deerpark as Ryan Neeson defeated Jake Downing 1up on the last with Noah Sexton defeating Eoghan Crowley to the second playoff hole in the other semi-final. Ryan was always in control of the final though winning well by 6&5. The Boys U13 Championship final saw Listowel’s Jayden Chute and Deerpark’s Brian McCarthy meet for the second time in the day after Brian had won the earlier Round Robin meeting. Brian led again until a late comeback by Jayden saw him turn the tide and win the match on the final hole to make it a Boys Championship double on the day for Listowel.
The Girls Championship meanwhile saw Tralee sisters Ella and Sophie Moynihan meet again in the final after both beat Claire McMahon to reach the final. Ella repeated an earlier win over Sophie but it was a closer match this time as Ella won by 3&2 three weeks after getting to the final of the National Girls Matchplay Championship.
This weekend sees Damien Fleming finally get to defend his National Matchplay title in Larkspur Park in Cashel, Co Tipperary as he along with four other Kerry and indeed Tralee players compete in the delayed 2020 Championships. As is the custom Damien will begin the Mens event as defending champion, playing Anthony Culhane of Tipperary Hills in the first round.
Three of the other four Kerry players are in the same quarter of the draw as Alan Hobbart plays Collinstown’s Darren Reilly while Jason O’Regan plays in the following match against McBride’s Sean Goggin. Michael Conway faces Eoin Mithen from Loughlinstown in Dublin as Darren Goodall is in the top half of the draw too taking on Lucan’s Chris Gallagher. All matches are over 18 holes to the quarter-final stages making shocks and surprises all the more likely.
Tralee’s Lisa O’Connor also takes part in the Ladies Nett event next Saturday as the women head to Hillview in Clonmel for Day 1 before going to Larkspur for the concluding stages on Sunday. She plays Suzanne Reilly from the Oldcastle club in Meath in Round 1.
The County Board wishes all six players the best of luck in both venues this weekend.
