AIG Inter-Club

Clonakilty chase first AIG All-Ireland glory

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Clonakilty Golf Club celebrate their AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield quarter-final victory at Mannan Castle

Since opening in 1994, Clonakilty Golf Club has undergone many changes, but this weekend could mark the beginning of its most exciting chapter yet as Liam Dennehy and his side chase a history-making performance at the AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield All-Ireland Finals in Mannan Castle.

Having hosted the quarter-finals of both the AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield and Women’s Minor Foursomes in August, Mannan Castle now welcomes eight teams from across the island, with semi-finals taking place on Friday, before the All-Ireland deciders on Saturday.

Formerly known as Lisselan Golf Club, Clonakilty has evolved from a six-hole layout to its current 14, with planning recently approved to extend Continue reading →

Douglas Double Up in AIG Senior Cup

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Barry O’Connell leads the celebrations after holing the putt that won the AIG Men’s Senior Cup for Doulgas
Credit ©INPHO/Tom Maher

There were incredible scenes in Douglas Golf Club on Sunday as the club pulled off an improbable double, winning the AIG Women’s and Men’s Senior Cups.  While both teams fielded strong sides, even one win was unlikely after the first nine holes with both teams trailing their opponents.

The drama unfolded slowly at first when the Douglas ladies staged a comeback when they were up against it.  Áine Donegan and Chloe Ryan won the first two points for opponents Lahinch to ensure they were well in the fight.  Shannon Burke continued her 100% record with another impressive 5&4 win to put a point on the board for the home team and Karen O’Neill Continue reading →

Busy 2024 Ahead for Golfers

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Douglas will host the final stages of the AIG Senior Cup in June

It might be early January but many amateur golfers will be planning their calendars for the year ahead.  The Golf Ireland 2024 championship calendar kicks off inMarch but the first event to take place in Cork will be the Cork Women’s Scratch Cup on the 27th April. A week later the Munster Men’s Open takes place in Cork on its now traditional May bank holiday weekend date.  Later in May Kinsale will host the Munster Men’s Seniors.  Muskerry will host the Munster Boys and Munster Girls in early July with a close qualifier for boys taking place in the same venue a week earlier.

One the national calendar, the South of Ireland retains its place in calendar in late July and Lahinch will be looking forward to the Palmer Cup which it also hosts earlier in July.  The West of Ireland takes place in Sligo over Easter and six weeks later it will host the Flogas Irish Amateur Open.  The Women’s Irish Open takes place in Woodbrook in June.  Roscommon will host the Women’s and Girls Irish Close while the Men’s Irish Close takes place in Dun Laoghaire in mid August.

Changes to the structure of the inter-club competitions were announced in November and Golf Ireland recently revealed the dates and venues for the final stages of the national and new regional competitions.  Douglas and Kanturk will host the last 16 stages for the AIG Senior Cup, that takes place in late June.  Bandon and Youghal will host the Munster Boys inter-club qualifiers also in June while Cork will be a busy place a few weeks later.  They will host the later stage of the regional matches of the Senior Foursomes, Minor Foursomes, Jimmy Bruen and the Fred Perry Trophy.  The AIG Barton Shield finals will take place in Fota Island in late July.  Fota Island will also host the Munster Inter-Club Women’s trophy that weekend.

Monkstown hosted both regional and national events last year and this year they will host the Fred Daly and Continue reading →

2024 Inter-Club entries now open

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Monkstown Boys Foursomes team pictured with Pat O’Keeffe after winning Munster East title.
Picture: Niall O’Shea

Entries are now open for the 2024 Inter-Club competitions at All-Ireland and Regional level, after Golf Ireland unveiled the biggest set of changes following a three-year review of the programme.  The 2024 programme includes a number of competitions that will remain largely as they were, as well as new competitions that will take the place of others previously organised at All-Ireland level.  A new Mixed Four-Ball competition at All-Ireland level will be inaugurated, aimed at players currently not participating in the Irish Mixed Foursomes.

Since 2021, Golf Ireland has continued with all of the legacy competitions from the ILGU and GUI,  but they had committed to a review which has led to changes for 2024.  As a result of the review, there will be 12 All-Ireland inter-club competitions (five for men, five for women and two mixed), in addition to a Continue reading →

No joy for Cork clubs at inter-club finals

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The final weekend of AIG Inter-Club All-Ireland finals took place in Westport over the week with five competitions down for decision.  It was the third weekend of events and it saw Cork clubs still looking for their first green pennant of the 2023 campaign.  Quarter-finals had taken place already in these events, and that meant the there were just two Cork teams in action from the five competitions.  Lee Valley had qualified from Munster East in the Women’s Minor Cup, the Cork club have a good record in the ladies cups events and they saw off the challenge from Rockmount in the semi-final on Thursday.  Impressive wins for Emma O’Halloran, Dinah O’Mahony and Joesphine Martin saw them through to the final on Continue reading →

Fota win Barton Shield

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Sean Barry and John Doyle sheltering from the rain during the AIG Barton Shield in Dungarvan.
Picture: Niall O’Shea

Fota Island captured their first Golf Ireland pennant in Dungarvan at the weekend, they came through four matches to win the Munster East Area Final.  The Cork side had an impressive win over Macroom on Saturday morning, and they had a similar win over hosts Dungarvan in the afternoon.  Going with the pairings of Sean Barry & John Doyle and Keith Crowley & David Howard they came through the first two matches to reach the semi-finals.

Gallery: AIG Barton Shield 2023, Munster East

With John Doyle unavailable due Continue reading →

Jim Long elected Golf Ireland President

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Jim Long pictured with Monkstown members after he was elected President of Golf Ireland

Monkstown’s Jim Long was last weekend appointed the new Golf Ireland President at the 2023 AGM.  Long has served in many different roles in golf’s administration, and his succession as President follows two decades of work at local and national level.  Jim served as Honorary Secretary for the Munster Branch until he moved to the position of Chairman in 2017 where he served for three years.  With the incorporation of Golf Ireland, Jim served as the Chairman of the Munster Regional Executive before being elected as Golf Ireland President Elect in 2022.

As well as his involvement as an Continue reading →

2022 Inter-Club Plans

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Inter-Club events are again set to be a key centre-point of the Golf Ireland calendar and a recently issued guidance document spells out some of the key features of the 2023 events.  One change in Munster will see the split of home and away matches be removed and instead one team will have the home advantage for all matches.  In 2020 a home and away arrangement was put in place, this was brought about due to the shortened season due to covid, and the need to move away from the traditional weekend events due to course availability.  This was continued last year with all matches including the area finals being split on a home and away basis.  Club surveys carried out last November saw almost two thirds of respondents in Munster favouring all matches being played at one venue.  Munster was the Continue reading →

Full Schedule for Golf Ireland

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Munster Stroke Play winner Peter O’Keeffe receiving the Cork Scratch Cup from Margaret Keane, Lady President Cork Golf Club. Also included are Vincent Twohig President and Bob Savage Captain Cork Golf Club.
Picture: Niall O’Shea

For the first time in three years, the championship golf season is back to normal.  Restrictions in 2020 and 2021 meant that Golf Ireland, and previously the ILGU and GUI ran a reduced calendar with championships not starting until the second half of the year.  Thankfully the possibility of closing courses over the early months of the year is very unlikely, allowing clubs and the national governing body to plan for a full season.  This has given the new governing body their first opportunity to plan for a complete season and the 2020 schedule will see increased opportunities for men, women, boys and girls to compete together in National Championships.  Ireland’s best Senior golfers will converge on Thurles GC in May to play in the Irish Senior Men’s & Women’s Amateur Close Championships.  The event will see Karl Bornemann from Douglas defend his title in the mens event.  For the first time ever, the best boys and girls Continue reading →