Monkstown’s Sean Desmond made a successful return from injury today when he won the Douglas Senior Scratch Cup.  Desmond suffered ankle ligament damage earlier this month and that kept him off the course for three weeks.  Douglas was his first competitive outing and this morning he shot a solid level par 72.  The first year UCC student was two shots off the lead after the first round when his Senior Cup partner Eoghan Long led the field with a 70.  It was a packed leaderboard with over 20 golfers within four shots of the lead. Desmond started fast the second round and he was three under through 10 holes.  He gave two shots back thought on the 12th and the 16th.  A birdie on the 17th however proved to be the difference and he went on to win by one shot.

“It’s my first scratch cup win and absolutely delighted to get one, especially in a big competition like Douglas” said a happy Desmond who was equally happy with the way he played.  “I played very solidly.  I hit the ball well in general, and hit a lot of greens. I put myself in the right spots most of the time except for a few holes where I made some very sloppy bogeys.  But overall I struck the ball well, I putted nicely and got a few nice up and downs when I needed them.”

Ward Wins in Cobh, Cobh Senior & Junior Scratch Cups

Holder Andrew McCormack had mounted a strong defence to his title, after shooting a 73 in the morning he also posted a 70 in the afternoon and he finished in second place one shot behind Desmond.  Eoghan Long added a 74 to his morning 70 to take 3rd place which is another strong result from the Monkstown golfer.  Fourth place went to David O’Donovan (71/74) who is also on a good run of form, while a home win eluded Peter O’Keeffe again this year.  The Irish Open Champion shot rounds of 71/75 to take 5th place, Peter also won the PJ O’Hea Cup for best Douglas member.  Best Nett went to Michael O’Connell (143) with Seamus Stack and Eoghan Goggin taking the other nett prizes.  Ben Murray and Cathal Butler won the 18 holes prizes.

The event was again sponsored by Kieran Canty Financial Services and it’s the fourth different winner in the four years he has been sponsoring the event.