Dublin’s Anderson wins Munster Strokeplay

By Niall O’Shea

The Munster Strokeplay took place in Cork Golf Club over the weekend and all 75 golfers were challenged by both the weather and the course.  A new name was added to the trophy as Royal Dublin’s Barry Anderson won the title by a single stroke.  Although the weather was a disappointment to both golfers and spectators, the course was very well received by all the competitors.  The perfect fairways and slick greens provided Ireland’s top amateurs with a challenge, as did the punishing rough.  At the halfway point of the 72 hole competition, Dundalk’s Aaron Grant.  Local hopes rested with Cork John Hickey who was just one shot off the lead.   Mark Shanahan, Dave O’Donovan and Eoghan Murphy were all in the hunt and Gary O’Flaherty was also in touching distance although he was six shots back.  Holder Kieran McCarthy missed the cut, a 79 followed by an 82 saw him finish five shots outside the cut mark. Continue reading →

1 Barry Anderson  72 74 72 71 289
2 Gary O’Flaherty  75 74 67 75 291
3 Richard Knightly  73 73 72 73 291
4 James Fox  74 70 76 73 293
5 John Hickey  72 72 75 74 293
6 Keith Crowley  76 76 76 68 296
7 Chris Carroll  77 75 74 71 297
8 Simon Bryan  76 74 76 71 297
9 Mark Shanahan  70 78 76 73 297
10 Dave O’Donovan  75 73 72 77 297
11 Daniel Holland  76 70 72 79 297
12 Jeff Hopkins  73 72 78 74 297
13 Pat Murray  74 73 75 76 298
14 Ronan Mullarney  76 79 77 67 299
15 Niall Gorey  81 73 73 72 299
16 Darragh Coghlan  78 76 73 72 299
17 Eanna Griffin  78 76 72 73 299
18 Rowan Lester  77 73 74 75 299
19 Marc Nolan  73 76 76 74 299
20 Aaron Grant  72 71 82 74 299
21 Alan Thomas  73 78 75 74 300
22 Pat Lyons  77 73 74 76 300
23 Sean Barry  78 77 78 68 301
24 Stephen Healy  77 76 75 73 301
25 James O’Mahony  73 78 75 75 301
26 Eoghan Murphy  71 74 82 74 301
27 Emmet Leahy  75 79 76 72 302
28 Ian O’Flynn  80 74 75 73 302
29 Stephen Walsh  77 72 76 78 303
30 Mark Collins  83 72 73 76 304
31 John Greene  79 76 79 72 306
32 Brian Kelleher  74 75 79 78 306
33 Cathal Butler  77 75 75 80 307
34 Ronan Twomey  78 75 77 78 308
35 Evan Farrell  77 78 75 78 308
36 Colum Kenny  73 81 77 80 311
37 Kieran Lynch  77 76 78 80 311
38 Shane Whooley  78 77 83 79 317
39 Shane McGlynn  75 77 79 — 231
40 Shane Hogan  70 82 — — 152
41 Andrew McCormack  81 75 — — 156
42 Paul O’Hara  80 76 — — 156
43 Stephen Loftus  75 81 — — 156
43 David McCarthy  78 78 — — 156
45 Fergal Deasy  82 75 — — 157
46 Conor Coyne  80 78 — — 158
46 Eoghan Long  79 79 — — 158
48 Niall McGlynn  78 81 — — 159
48 Declan McInerney  80 79 — — 159
50 Eoghan O’Donnell  80 80 — — 160
51 Gavin O’Connor  82 78 — — 160
52 Thomas Fay  81 79 — — 160
53 Ben Best  77 83 — — 160
53 Daniel Brennan  83 77 — — 160
55 Edwin Hannon  83 78 — — 161
56 Kieran McCarthy  79 82 — — 161
56 Mark Richards  82 79 — — 161
58 Alan Harrington  82 80 — — 162
59 David McMahon  81 82 — — 163
60 Tristan O’Rourke  85 79 — — 164
60 Darren O’Sullivan  86 78 — — 164
62 Darragh Burke  83 83 — — 166
62 Darragh Hogan  81 85 — — 166
64 Ian Spillane  81 — — — 81
65 Patrick Neville  83 — — — 83
66 Sean Poucher  86 — — — 86
– Tom Cleary  79 NR — —  NR
– Barry Daly  78 NR — —  NR
– Bill McCormack  87 NR — —  NR
– Anthony McDaid  77 NR — —  NR
– Sean McSweeney  76 NR — —  NR
– Patrick Neville  — NR — —  NR
– Paul O’Connor  82 NR — —  NR
– Jonathan O’Sullivan  74 NR — —  NR
– Ruairi Kennelly  79 — — — 79  DQ

Shanahan Takes First Title of 2014

By Niall O’Shea

Castlemartyr’s Mark Shanahan won the opening event of the new season when he captured the Top Golfer Fota Senior Scratch Cup on Sunday.  Shanahan shot a two under par 69 to lead a field of over 110 golfers.  Fota’s Sean Barry was second with a 70, Barry was the only other golfer to shoot a sub-par round.  Castlemartyr had two golfers in the top three, John O’Brien fresh from his attempt to gain access to the European Seniors Tour was third with two over par 73.  Eoghan Murphy, Ciaran McKenna and Brian Kelleher were among the golfers to finish on 74.  This was Shanahan’s first win in Fota but it was his third win in a Top Golfer competition.  The Waterford man, currently playing off +2 won previous events at Dromoland in 2012 and Bunclody in 2013.  The Top Golfer tour is now in its fifth year and this season, all event winners will go forward to the series final in Portmarnock.  The tour is comprised of junior and senior scratch cups throughout the country.  The next visit to Cork happens in May when the Lee Valley Junior Scratch Cup takes place.  The last Cork event takes place in Cork Golf Club (Junior Scratch Cup) in July.

Bernard Rohan from East Cork won last week’s Irish Open Pro-Am qualifier in Fota.  Rohan will be joined in the series final by Cillian Moloney (Fota) and Michael O’Donoghue (Gold Coast), the top three scored 40 points.  The qualifier continues every Wednesday until the end of April, with the top three finalists winning a place in the Irish Open Pro-Am.  Mallow Golf Club tasted international success last week as their Fred Daly team won the prestigious Home Nations Trophy.  Playing against teams from Ireland, England Wales and Scotland, they made it through to the final where they played Belvoir Park.  A 6-0 victory followed that saw the progressive North Cork club take the title for the first time.

Next Saturday will see Muskerry host their first major event of the season when they stage the Senior Scratch Cup.  The competition will be played over 36 holes with the draw for partners and starting holes has been made and will be available tomorrow.  The competition starts at 8.30am on Saturday.  The qualifiers for the Ford Muskerry Junior Scratch Trophy will take on the 4^th & 5^th of April, the time sheet is now opens next week and it’s likely the popular competition will be fully booked.  The qualifiers will go on compete in Munster’s toughest matchplay competition over the Easter weekend as the 64 hopefuls will be whittled down over six challenging rounds.  Anyone interested in a competitive practice round should consider the open singles in Muskerry on Sunday, entry is €25 and there are still some places on the timesheet.