Mannan Castle Golf Club notes

Mannan Castle Men

A busy weekend in Mannan, which saw the GUI quarter finals take place on a wet Saturday. Our members played on Sunday in challenging conditions, which showed in some of the scoring.

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Our overall winner on Sunday was Jason Donnelly with a superb score of 42pts. Jason played the par 3s very well, which is key in Mannan returning 16pts for the 6 holes.

Paul McVeigh won Division 1 with a score of 37pts. Three birdies on the back nine were just enough for Paul to win by one shot. Runner-up was Shane Corr with 36pts.

Division 2 was won by Luke McGeown with a score of 36pts. Luke shot 18pts on his back nine to win on the countback. Stephen Aherne finished in second place with 36pts.

Joe Quigley won Division 3 with a brilliant score of 41pts. Joe played in probably the most difficult conditions, having to battle the wind and rain on Sunday afternoon. Runner-up was Val Donaghue with 35pts.

Division 4 was won by Daniel Kingham with a score of 37pts. A strong finish from Daniel was enough to win by one shot. Tommy Hoey finished in second place with 36pts.

Sunday, 31 August - Weekend Singles Stableford - Overall Winner: Jason Donnelly (PH.22) – 42pts. Division 1: 1st - Paul McVeigh (PH.9) – 37pts, 2nd - Shane Corr (PH.3) - 36pts c/b.

Division 2: 1st - Luke McGeown (PH.12) - 36pts c/b, 2nd - Stephen Aherne (PH.14) – 36pts. Division 3: 1st - Joe Quigley (PH.22) – 41pts, 2nd - Val Donaghue (PH.18) – 35pts. Division 4: 1st - Daniel Kingham (PH.26) – 37pts, 2nd - Tommy Hoey (PH.24) – 36pts.

Sunday, 31st August - Golfer of the Year Standings - 1st - Darren Campbell - 92 points, 2nd - Paul Martin - 84 points, 3rd - Oliver Clune - 70 points, 4th - Noel Sherlock - 66 points.

Men’s Singles Matchplay Final - James Hand vs Eamon Ned Murphy. James got off to a flyer in the worst of the wind and rain, going 4 up through the first four holes.

A tap-in par after a deft chip on the 3rd, followed by a highlight chip-in birdie on the 4th to pile on the pressure early.

The pair traded blows as the weather settled, and Eamonn got up to pace with the match, eventually winning the 6th, 8th, and 9th to finish the front 9 with James 1 up.

A great up and down for par on the 10th put James back to 2 up before Eamonn took the 11th to claw the deficit back to 1 hole. A 3 for James on the 12th, followed by a half, ensured he maintained the 2-hole lead as the men crossed the road.

A par on the 14th for Eamonn, followed by a win on the 15th, brought the match all square for the first time since it began. As the rain bucketed down, Eamonn took the 16th and 17th to win the match and the singles match play title for 2025.

Congratulations to Eamonn, who also won the doubles Matchplay with his partner Jason Hughes only a week ago, a superb achievement.

Mannan Castle Seniors

Mannan Castle Seniors had a tremendous day of golf on the occasion of Senior Captain Graeme Woodcock's prize day. Sixty senior golfers did battle for the honour of winning the top award, and it was fiercely contested.

At the end of the day, the final tally showed that Sean Harvey (PH23) was the clear winner with a magnificent 28 points for the 10 holes. He recorded four pars and a birdie. His card contained two 4-point and five 3-point holes.

The battle for the minor placings couldn't have been closer. Three players finished with 23 points. Timmy Kelly (PH34) edged out Liam Morrissey (PH14) and Dick Bourke (PH13) on countback to take second place. Liam took third place while Dick won category 1.

Joe Mullen (PH23) took category 2 with 21 points, and Bernard Crawley (PH33) was the winner of category 3 with 22 points.

During the presentation, Senior Captain Graeme thanked everyone for their support during his time as captain and looked forward to the continued success of the Seniors Club.

Tuesday, 2nd September 2025 - Senior Captain Graeme Woodcocks Prize 10 Hole Competition - 1st: Sean Harvey (23) 28pts, 2nd: Timmy Kelly (34) 23pts c/b, 3rd: Liam Morrissey (14) 23pts.

Category 1: Dick Bourke (13) 23pts, Category 2: Joe Mullen (23) 21pts, Category 3: Bernard Crawley (33) 22pts, Past Captain's Prize: Jimmy McMahon, Nearest the Pin: Paul Finn, Longest Drive: Con Hanneffy.

Mannan Castle Ladies

The course got a good soaking before this week's competition, but the brave souls who took to the fairways weren't hampered by the rain; the course held up, a big thanks to our greenkeeping staff and volunteers who have done amazing work over the past few years on drainage.

Playing red or yellow tees, it makes no difference to Marie Finnegan, making it two wins out of two weeks. Choosing yellow this week, Marie capitalised on the back nine, winning the section with 38 points.

Playing off the red, Marie McKeown had nine three-pointers on the back nine alone to complete the Division 2 winning total of 41 points.

Wednesday, 3rd September 2025 - Women's 18 Hole Stableford sponsored by GoLo Insurance - Division 1: Marie Finnegan (14) 38 pts, Division 2: Marie McKeown (26) 41 pts.

Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to this week's kind sponsor, GoLo Insurance Brokers, 48 Main Street, Carrickmacross https://golo.ie/

Friday 26th, 27th and 28th September - Upcoming Open Club Classic – 3 Days - A reminder to everyone to book a tee time in our Club Classic, Champagne Scramble. All funds raised from this Open competition will go back into the course.

We are still looking for a few tee box sponsors. If you would like to sponsor a tee box, please contact the clubhouse or a committee member. Call 042 966 3308 to sponsor a team, a tee box, etc.