There was plenty of Cork interest in the Connolly Motors West of Ireland last weekend with several local golfers in action.  This year the West returned to the traditional 36/64 format but it was preceded on Wednesday by a qualifier with 17 spots in the field available.  Fermoy’s Eoghan McCarthy was one of the golfers to make it through the qualifier, he shot an impressive one under par 70 to lead the field.  Unfortunately for McCarthy, a wrist injury prevented from teeing it up on Friday.  Ryan Lyons from Douglas also made it through the qualifier to earn a place in the championship. Conor Og Maddigan, Jack O’Flynn and Gavin Sloane missed out.

That left eight Cork golfers in the field for Friday, but by Monday morning there were just two left from the field of 120 golfers.  Just David Howard and Joe O’Neill made it through the first four rounds and unfortunately neither made it past the fifth round. The Douglas pair of Peter O’Keeffe and James Walsh both made the cut but lost in the first round as did Fermoy’s Dean O’Riordan.

Fota’s David Howard has a good history of playing golf on Easter Sunday, five years agon he won his final two matches to claim the Muskerry Junior Scratch Trophy.  And after qualifying he faced a tough test in the matchplay.  Howard was up against the Spanish Seniors champion Joe Lyons, and it was the veteran who had the better start when he ended up three up after nine holes.  Crucially Howard won four holes on the back nine, and a half on the 18^th meant the match was headed for the 19^th.  Both players parred the 19^th, but Howard’s par on the 20^th was enough to send him through to the second round.  The Fota Island member was back on the first tee on Sunday afternoon.  He faced Mark Cadden and it was the Roganstown member who won the first hole.  Howard balanced the card on the second and was one up at the turn.  He held onto that advantage and was two up with two to play when he won the 17^th and advanced to the last 16.  Unfortunately that was the end of Howard’s journey, losing to Evan Farrell on Monday morning.

Howard was happy overall with his performance in the first event of the year.  “It was a good week overall, a lot of positives to take for the first one of the year so happy with it.  I was playing pretty good coming up to it, I went up to Laytown and Bettystown the week before and played decent up there” said David.  “I shot 69 in the final round so was that kind of confidence boost going into the West, playing my first round with a card in the hand in a while so I was happy enough going into it.”

“Last year was my first time playing in the West so this time I kind of had a good gauge of the place.  I just walked the course on Thursday and played four holes on Thursday evening just to get engaged and feel for the place.  It’s a really challenging course especially the final six holes.”  The approach paid dividends as Howard recorded his best championship finish.

Berehaven’s Joe O’Neill also had a good run in Co Sligo.  He made the top 64 after finishing on +10 for his 36 holes.  He had a very impressive 72 on the opening day to lie in the top twenty and although he had an 80 in the second round, he still qualified with two shots to spare.

In the first round he had an impressive 5&3 win over Ross Nelson, thanks in part to a blistering start.  O’Neill won the first four holes and despite losing a few on the front nine, he wrapped up the match on the 15^th.

The Berehaven man who featured in the South last year was up against Thomas Abom, with his opponent playing the better golf on the front nine.  O’Neill was two down at the turn but he won the next three holes to take a lead in the match for the first time.  He held that lead and closed out the match on the 17^th.

On Monday morning he faced Paul Coughlan and the match was a tight affair with never more than one hole separating the pair.  O’Neill had the lead on the 18^th tee but at bogey on the last meant they were onto the 19^th.  The next two holes were halved but Coughlan’s birdie on the 21^st (3^rd) meant his West adventure was over.