Limerick Golf Club Fred Daly Final Road   

The Road to the Irish Finals started Wednesday 22^nd when we paid a visit to Westport for a Practice round. A very beneficial visit, as Dara M shot 35pts for 17holes, Conor  39, Colin 37, Dara G 36pts – Chris and Owen did a lot of recon of the course. Saturday 25^th the Team assembled for the long road, back to Westport, duly arrived at the course for the practice rounds – all players getting to know the course again. Monday morning, the Lenister  Champions Greystones were our opponents, first up was Dara Madigan, playing Paul Dunne, an up and coming player, just picked for the Irish Under 16s Team. Not getting the best of starts, and found Paul unrelenting. After 9 holes Paul was 2 under and 5 up. The match finished on 12^th, not a good start for the team, however Darragh Garrahy was always in up in his match, with solid golf he finished his match on the 15^th. Colin also was in control of his Match and when he got up and down on the 17^th , another point was in the bag. Chris got ahead early on and kept it going all the way, finishing his match on the 16^th. Match 3 for limerick, the mr Matchplay, like Chris was up early and held on to the lead, he was 3 up with three to play, sitting in the middle of the green and as the crowd arrived back to witness Barry Davies from greystones shave the hole with his birdie attempt. Conor with two putts for the match, coolly rolled in the 15^th for birdie.  Paddy Spillane got off to a slow start, finding the greens a little tricky. 6 Down with 6 to play he ground out 5 wins to be standing on the 16^th when called in. Owen O Brien was having a close battle with Oliver Nolan, only a hole or two between them.

With our semi final finished early, the team relaxed and waited for the outcome of the other semi final, a very close affair, with it going down to the final match, a super up and down on the 18^th to Halve the hole, advanced the match to tie holes, and a result was achieved when Co. Sligo birdied the 2^nd Tie Hole.

3pm and the First Match of the Final got under way, Dara up against Rory Mc Namara. With the morning result still in his mind Dara got off to a poor start, and he was chasing the match, with an excellent birdie on 11 Dara was ensuring that the morning result was not going to be repeated, however he was unlucky on the 13^th and the match was over on the 14^th. Unlike the morning matchs Dara G and Colin were behind early, the kept battling away, with Dara been beaten 3/2 and Colin 5/4, Chris was up early and kept his lead all the way to the 16^th when he was called in. Conor was having a tough match, it was close until the back nine, however he kept fighting to be called in on the 15^th, to keep his record of been unbeaten in two years. Paddy’s game improved on the morning round however his opponent never relented, paddy kept the game alive and was called in on the 14^th. Alex Kennedy was called in for the afternoon, he was playing against the player, who had went to the 20^th in the morning. The match was close until they crossed the road, when Co. Sligo won a few holes and the Match was over on the 13^th. 

I would like to thank all the Players, including Paul Clancy and Shane Kennedy for all there hard work during the year. A special thanks to Mike Madigan, Brian Carroll, Liam Naughton, Nick Sinnott and Jack O Brien for all their help during the campaign. A big thank to the MAGS ( Helen and Deirdre ) and all the other Supporters that traveled to Sligo and all other Matches this year.

Peter English

Team Captain

JUNIORS:  06-04-07.  The Blue Riband of Irish Junior Golf is the Fred Daly Trophy and consequently every Junior Golfer in the club wants to be on The Team. To get on the Limerick Team you have to put in the work. To win you have to prepare. This panel of players have the ability to go all the way but it is on All-Ireland Final day we will know if they have put in the work, if they have prepared. The first outing for Limerick was today and it was against a strong Charleville team who put up a valiant performance but eventually succumbed to a competent Limerick Team playing on home territory. This, of course, was just the first step on a long and arduous road that will only yield success if the players are fully committed and prepared for each hurdle that they will face in the weeks ahead. I am sure that team Captain, Peter English, will see to it that they are well prepared for each outing and that he will strengthen this team if necessary from the panel of players that are available to him. The rest is up to the players.

Colin McNamara was at number one for Limerick and his was a ding-dong struggle with Shane Carey. The match changed hands a few times and Colin was one down through the fourteenth with no clear overall picture from the other six matches. Darragh Garrihy, at number two, was in control of his match against Donal Deady and won on the fourteenth, as did the ever-reliable Daragh Madigan against Shane Howard. Meanwhile Conor Carroll had a convincing 8/6 victory over Jake Sullivan to give three matches to Limerick. You might think the result was safe at that stage but then all of the remaining four matches were touch and go. Chris Hansom had a handful in Andrew Kelly and was having trouble getting the upper hand. With his match over Darragh Garrihy offered to caddy for Chris. He also brought him the immortal message “YOU ARE NEEDED” and Chris responded by winning fourteen, fifteen and sixteen to get the vital fourth win needed to secure the overall match. Meanwhile Colin had turned his match around and was all square playing seventeen, and looking like winning the hole, when he was called in. Shane Kennedy was playing in his first Fred Daly match and was two down to Niall McEvoy when he was called in with some very valuable experience under his belt. Paul Clancy was also playing in his first Fred Daly and was showing some real Clancy Grit with a one-hole lead against Brian Shea when called in. A satisfactory result, on the whole, but this team would benefit from a couple of serious matches to bring consistency and steel into their game.

Next on the agenda is the winners of  Shannon and Nenagh, two teams that will give the Lads a test, as the match is away, on a course that will need each player to be on top of their game.

Peter English

Team Captain