
Irish Seniors Team Captain Sean O’Leary
Sean O’Leary’s team had an amazing opening day today as Cork’s Tom Cleary shot a one over par 73 in the opening round of the European Senior Men’s Team Championship in Slovenia. Cleary is safely inside the top 20, but in an amazing day for Ireland, he’s the last of the six Irish golfers.
Arthur Pierse and Adrian Morrow both finished on -3 to lie one off the lead. Maurice Kelly and Jim Carvill are on -2 and Garth McGimpsey is in 9th place on -1. Tom Cleary is back on +1, tied for 17th place in a field of 114 golfers from 19 countries. Cleary had four birdies and five bogies in his opening round.
Ireland are hoping for a fourth consecutive title. Ireland completed a hat-trick in 2015 and have been the dominant force in Europe with five titles since the Championship began in 2006. After two rounds of stroke play qualifying, the top eight teams will enter Flight A and battle it out for the European title across three days of match play combat.


Neither James Sugrue or John Murphy managed to overcome Neil McKinstry’s lead in the Irish Youths yesterday although they both finished inside the top ten. Murphy was in second place, two shots off the lead going into the final round and Sugure was just one shot behind Murphy.

Kinsale’s John Murphy shot the low round of the day in Galway today to move into second place at the Irish Youths. Murphy shot a one under par 69 to see him finish on level par after 36 holes, and two off the lead held by Neil McKinstry. Murphy had plenty of colour on his card with four bogies and five birdies, but it was enough to jump him 10 spots up the leaderboard. Munster’s Robin Dawson also matched Murphy’s 69 and he’s one shot back on +1. Mallow’s James Sugrue is also within touch of the lead, he added a 73 to his opening 68 and is tied with Dawson on +1 in 4th place. Darragh O’Connor (Fota Island) added another 72 and he’s in 14th place, six shots off the lead. Cathal Butler (39th) is currently 10 shots off the lead and 