Mary O'Neill wins National Ladies Junior Strokeplay Championship

Mary O’Neill captures Junior All-Ireland Title

 

Mary O'Neill bouyant after her birdie on the 18th

After months of meticulous preparation, the National Strokeplay Championships got underway on Saturday July 10th at Cunnigar. Everything was in place for the most important weekend in the club’s 20 year history. The course was in perfect condition, the clubhouse was immaculate, the competitors were gathered…..and the heavens opened. Despite looking like a scene from ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ the course was deemed playable, and play commenced at 9am.

In the Junior Section, after 2 gruelling rounds in driving rain, there was great anticipation in the clubhouse as Cunnigar provided four of the six players in the final 18. Corinne Mcgee (Cunnigar) posted a superb 59 to be clubhouse leader on + 29 and it was up to the final pairing of Mary O’Neill (Cunnigar) and Jacinta Nugent (Tipperary Hills) to displace her. With a final round of 62 Mary O’Neill was a comprehensive winner on a score of +25 while her playing partner Jacinta Nugent had to be content with 3rd place. Breda O’Donnell and Stella Kinsella also played fantastic pitch and putt to finish in the top 6.

In the Intermediate section, Donna Cockwell was the sole Cunnigar representative. After 36 holes, in wet and windy conditions, only seven shots separated the top ten players. Donna was lying in third place, and it was all to play for going into the play-off. Conditions did not improve and bearing this in mind the scores returned were excellent. Martha O Brien (Lakeside) had a fine 58 to be clubhouse leader on +16 with six players still on the course. In the end however the first three camefrom this grouping with Bernie Somers (Cloghogue, Co Down) winning on +12, Donna Cockwell (Cunnigar) was runner up on +14 on the final 18 and KathleenCarton (Kilbeggan) was third.

It was a fantastic achievement to have three of our competitors achieving National honours both for themselves and for the club. Congratulations to all!

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Senior

On Sunday July 11th, it was the turn of the Senior Ladies. The sun was shining and, despite all the rain the previous day, the course looked resplendent. Everyone watched in admiration as the best Ladies players battled for the coveted National Strokeplay title. In the end Geraldine Ward (Portmarnock) claimed the honours and also brought her haul of National Senior titles to 14.

Final Results

Result Junior:

1st Mary O’Neill (Cunnigar) +25
2nd Corinne McGee (Cunnigar) +29
3rd Jacinta Nugent (Tipperary Hills) +31

Result Intermediate:

1st Bernie Somers (Cloghogue) +12
2nd Donna Cockwell (Cunnigar) +14 (on final 18)
3rd Kathleen Carton (Kilbeggan) +14

Result Senior

1st Geraldine Ward (Portmarnock) -15
2nd Tracey McGrath (Erry) -5
3rd Margaret Hogan (Tullamore) -4,

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All in all, our hosting of these National Championships was an overwhelming success. It would be impossible to mention all the people who made this possible. Suffice it to say that we can take collective pride in what we achieved over the past 6 months. The club will benefit from our efforts for years to come.

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