Cork golfers had some impressive performances at the South of Ireland last week with ten golfers making the cut.  Dean O’Riordan, Joe O’Neill and Robert Walsh all made it through on the cut mark of +6 while Mel Deasy was one better on +5.

Peter O’Keeffe was just one off the leading qualifier on -5 and Morgan Cain was the only other Cork player under par on -2.  Former South Champion Sean Desmond went safely through on +1 with James Walsh continuing his good run of form to finish in the top 20.  Munster Strokeplay winner Jason Law also made with through on +3 as did Charleville’s Jordan Boles.

It was the strongest Strokeplay performance from Cork golfers for many years, but after two rounds of matchplay there was just three Cork golfers left.  Boles made it to the last 16 thanks to wins over Senan Carroll and Gary Collins, but he lost out in the third round to Gerard Dunne.  Joe O’Neill also had two wins, he beat Gavin O’Neill in the first round and 2021 finalist Alan Fahy in the second round.  He came up against Peter O’Keeffe in the round of 16 and lost out on the 14^th.  The next major event for many golfers will be the Mullingar Scratch Trophy in two weeks time.  Morgan Cain will be missing from the field as he’ll be on the way to US to start his first college semester.  Cain will be joining the golf team at Tusculum University.  He follows in the footsteps of Bandon’s Mark Healy who graduated from Tusculum last year but join the Pioneers as a coach at the start of last season.

Gallery: South of Ireland 2023