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.
After two convincing wins in the quarter-final and semi-final, hopes were high that Cork would lift the ILGU Irish Senior Cup today. And for a while it looked like a probability as Cork had the upper hand over Kilkenny. The final between Cork and Kilkenny was a very fluid affair, with the balance shifting on almost every hole. Kilkenny had a slight edge around the turn but Cork reversed the trend and were up in three matches and all square to lead 3.5-1.5 early in the back nine. The momentum shifted yet again though and this time Kilkenny didn’t let go. By the time the result was called in Kilkenny’s favour, Rachel Thompson was the only Cork player to win. That said, it didn’t reflect 
Cathal Butler is the last Cork golfer left in the Irish Close at Ballyliffin, winning both of his matches today. The Irish international and Munster Strokeplay winner beat Jonathan Yates 3&2 this morning and followed that with a 19th hole win over John Cleary. Butler faces Jake Whelan in the second match tomorrow morning and is off at 8.09am.
Munster Boys winner John Murphy was named on the Irish team that will compete in the Boys Home Internationals next week. Murphy is one of two Munster players named on a strong side that features the winners of the Irish Boys, Leinster Boys and Munster Boys events. Andrew Mulhall from Waterford Castle is the other Munster golfers to be named on the team of 11. Murphy is currently in action in the Ulster Boys Open at Bangor Golf Club. Murphy shot an opening 75 in testing conditions and is well inside the cut mark going into day two. Shane Galvin (Fota Island) and Adam Walsh (Mallow) are also in action.
Cork Golf News 