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We had two inter-club competitions taking place, the Barton Shield and Jimmy Bruen, on Sunday, June 12 th . It turned out to be joy and disappointment for our teams as the Barton Shield team won and The Jimmy Bruen team was defeated. Below is a brief summary of both matches.
Barton Shield vs Co Longford:
The Barton Shield format is two foursome matches, one played at home and one played away. Matches to be played over 18 holes with aggregate score determining the winner.
Our home pairing were Mark Whelan and Vinny Keogh. They continued their great form from the previous match, when they won 7 up, and quickly established a 3 up lead after 4 holes. They turned 4 up after 9 and were playing magnificent golf. A great birdie on the 14 th hole gave them a 7 up lead and they finished out the match with a 6 up victory. Our away pairing, Kevin Robinson and Conor Galvin made the long trip to Co Longford. The match was very tight over the first nine holes with our lads holding a 1 up lead. Match was all square after 10. Then Kevin and Conor went on a birdie blitz, three in a row, to go 3 up. They finished out the match 5 up. A great Castlewarden win (11 up).
Next up, in the quarter final, is a meeting with Rosslare, to be played by June 26 th .
Jimmy Bruen Shield:
This foursomes match was against Palmerstown House, with 3 home and 2 away matches.
Our junior pairing of Eoghan Light and Jake Quinn were first out and it was nip and tuck all the way. There was never more than 1 hole in it for the first 10 holes. Match was all square playing 13 and Palmerstown missed a short putt to lose 13, only to level the match after 14. Our lads regained the lead with a superb up and down on 15 to go one up again. Back came Palmerstown who had a great par on 16 to level the match. Our lads missed the green on 17 after Palmerstown found the green with their tee shot and lost the hole. Unfortunately Eoghan and Jake could not find a win on 18 to bring the match into extra holes and conceded the hole to lose the match, 2 down. A great effort by our junior pairing and they will learn a lot from this match.
Conor Dunne and Shea Phelan were out in match 2 and again it was nip and tuck over the first nine holes, our lads turning 1 down. However, Shea hit a wonderful tee shot on 10 to 2 feet for a conceded eagle to bring the match all square. Undoubtedly, the shot of the day! Palmerstown were undaunted and won 3 of the next 5 holes to be dormie 3. When Palmerstown went out of bounds with their second shot on 16 we had a lifeline but a great chip from the back of 17 by Palmerstown closed out the match with a 2 and 1 victory to Palmerstown.
Last up at home were our seasoned campaigners, Keith White and Dave McDonagh. Playing some very good golf and holing some great putts Keith and Dave were 4 up at the turn. Despite losing 12 and 13 they were always in control of this match and closed it out for victory on the 17 th , recording a 3 and 1 win.
First away pairing was Sean Dunne and Damien Birmingham. Finding themselves 2 down after 3 they closed the gap to the minimum after 6. But they were unable to erase the deficit, falling 3 down after 9, got one back after 10 but eventually lost the match on the 17 th hole.
Our final pairing, away from home, was Gavin Devereux and our super sub, Paul Whelan, who answered a late call due to Damien Brennan’s unavoidable unavailability. After being 2 down early on in the match Gavin and Paul fought back to go 1 up after 11 and increased this lead to 2 up after 14. They held this 2 up lead going down 17 when the match was called in.
A very close match overall and hard luck to the Jimmy Bruen team. Thank you to the members who came out to support the teams on Sunday.
The following is the schedule for the next matches for our inter-club teams:
Wednesday, June 15 th , @ 4.30 pm Senior Cup Q/Final vs Tullamore
Saturday, June 25 th , @ 3.30 pm Metro vs Edmonstown
Sunday, June 26 th , @ 2.30 pm Barton Shield Q/Final vs Rosslare.
All support is greatly appreciated by the teams.
Des O’Neill (Captain)
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Following the long absence due to Covid of an official Prize giving night we finally got to get together and award the following prizes in person
Winter League sponsored by Briege McShane
Tom Martin sponsored day
Singles sponsored by Terry Beirne
PGA Tankard
Prize giving took place on Tuesday night 7th June. It was great to see a busy clubhouse for the occasion. Ladies enjoyed the get together and there was lots of catching up to be done. Congratulations to all those who collected prizes on the night and of course sincere thanks to our valued sponsors. All sponsorship is very much appreciated and welcomed by the Ladies Committee and members. You can sponsor a prize individually or as a group. If you wish to do so please contact Lady Captain Siobhán.
Get into Golf
The final night of Ladies Get into Golf took place on Thursday 2nd June. We had a 3 hole scramble and prizes were awarded for First and Second place. The ladies showed true golfing spirit and didn't let the Irish weather get in the way of a good night. A total of 30 ladies took part and many have now taken up GIG membership for 2022. Please welcome our new members and assist where possible. Sincere thanks to Ann Marie Pryal who is the co-ordinator of this very valued initiative.
Inter Club
Our Junior Foursomes, Intermediate and Challenge Cup teams are still going strong. Upcoming matches are as follows:
Junior Foursomes V Royal Curragh Tuesday 14th June 3.30
Intermediate V Gowran Park Saturday 18th June 3.18 home / 1.04 away
Challenge V Mount Juliet Sunday 19th June 3.30
Please support where possible. We are now into Round 3 which is a great achievement for players, caddies and managers.
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The strong, cool wind that both teams had to contend with on Saturday, June 4 th , blew our Pierce Purcell team off course as they bowed out of the competition with a loss to Portlaoise. The Portlaoise team manager indicated that it was very difficult for any team to come away from Portlaoise with any points in inter-club competitions due to the course layout with local knowledge being a distinct advantage. And so it proved for our two away pairings, Paul Birchall & Mark Corcoran and John Beirne & Gavin Condon as they both suffered defeat. This meant that we had to win our three home matches to advance in the competition. Our first pairing of Keith Barnes and Richie Quinn started brightly and turned 2 up after 9, which went to 3 up after 10. They were odds on to win 11 and establish a 4 hole lead when the opposition holed a monster putt from off the back of the 11 th green for an unlikely win. Momentum, which is key in these matches, went to Portlaoise and they won 12 to be only 1 down playing 14. Meanwhile, our second pairing of Niall Galvin & Aaron Devereux had a very tough start losing the first three holes. While they kept battling away manfully they could never close the gap to less than 2. Turning 3 down they lost the 10 th and Portlaoise closed out the match on the 13 th . Our final pairing of Dave McDonagh & Pat McGrath turned an early 1 hole deficit into a 2 up lead after 9. Portlaoise battled back and were 1 up playing 13 when the match was called in.
In truth it was a comprehensive victory to Portlaoise and we wish them best of luck in the competition.
A big thank you to managers Keith White and Luke Minogue for all their hard work in managing the team. Well done to the Pierce Purcell panel for all their efforts. A positive note to take from this year’s competition is the number of players who represented Castlewarden for the first time in inter club competitions. I know, from speaking with them, that they thoroughly enjoyed the experience and will be back next year for another bite of the cherry.
We have two matches upcoming next Sunday, The Barton Shield, vs Co. Longford, with 1 home match @ 2.30pm and the Jimmy Bruen, vs Palmerstown House with 3 home matches starting @ 3.30 pm. Hope to see as many supporters as possible lining the fairways to support the teams.
Des O’Neill (Captain)