Dundalk Golf Notes: Martin McDonnell’s Team Kestrel secures Winter League title

Martin McDonnell’s Team Kestrel won the Precision Cables Winter League as they edged out Ray Pepper’s Team Falcon by two points after the six-round campaign.

Having edged in front after round five when they leap-frogged over John McEneaney’s long-time leaders, Team Raven, Team Kestrel managed to hang on and hold off the late charge from Team Falcon, a team who had been second from bottom after round one but top scored over three of the remaining five rounds.

Team Kestrel never produced the best weekly score over the six rounds, but they had three second best scores, a third best score and a fifth best score over the campaign as they finished with 733pts.

Patrick Curran and Eamon McEneaney were their most consistent contributors as they were among the four counting scores on each of the six rounds and delivered 188pts and 187pts respectively while Barry Grennan and Charlie Monahan came in on four of the rounds. The other members of McDonnell’s team were Patrick Cole and Lee Egan.

Grennan with 34pts was their leading scorer in the final round as Curran with 32pts, Colm Garvey with 28pts and McEneaney with 28pts delivered the 122pts that took them to victory.

Team Falcon came agonisingly close to an amazing comeback, but despite scoring 127pts in the final round, they came up two points short. Padraig Fallon with 36pts led the way with Ciaran Corbett 32pts, Conor Byrne 30pts and Seamus Bailey 29pts their other scorers.

With Team Raven only managing 118pts that allowed Falcon to move past them into second place and the long-time leaders had to settle for third place on 728pts, just five points off the winners.

For the second successive week Padraig Fallon shot the best score of the weekend, although he was matched on this occasion by 2021 Golfer of the Year Brian Crombie, who also shot 36pts over the 14 holes.

Playing off 13 Fallon produced back-to-back birdies at the ninth and tenth and also delivered three-point pars at the second, third, sixth, seventh, 12th and 13th holes as he showed that the previous week’s 42pts was no one-off.

Crombie, who was playing off 19, made full use of his shots with four-point pars on the third and eighth and three-point bogeys at the 4th, 7th and 11th. He also had three-point pars at the fifth, ninth, 10th and 13th.

Not surprisingly those excellent scores allowed Fallon and Crombie to claim top spots in their respective categories with Fallon winning Division 2 by two points from Barry Grennan (10), while Crombie also had two points to spare over Andrew Shekleton (17) in claiming Division 4.

Ciaran Traynor (4) with 32pts won Division 1 by one point from John Mulligan (8) while two rounds of countback were needed to separate Michael Hamilton (14) and George Rogers (16) in Division Three after both finished on 34pts.

The traditional Captain's Drive-In to mark the start of the new golfing season will take place this Sunday, February 12, at 1.30pm on the first tee.

The Juvenile Captains - Ben Cahill and Clara Egan - will hit their drives first before the incoming Captain, Noel Reid, and Lady Captain, Briege Reneghan, step up to hit their ceremonial shots.

All members are invited to attend the event which is always one of the highlights of the year.

Prior to the Drive-In there will be a 14 Hole Champagne Scramble Team competition with a shotgun start at 9am and following the Drive-In there is a 9-Hole Mixed Scotch Foursomes competition utilizing both the front and back nines with a shotgun start at 2.15pm.

Saturday, 28 January 2023 and Sunday, 29 January 2023 – Precision Cables Winter League 14-Hole Singles Stableford –Division 1: Ciaran Traynor (4) 32pts, John Mulligan (8) 31pts.

Division 2: Padraig Fallon (13) 36pts, Barry Grennan (10) 34pts. Division 3: Michael Hamilton (14) 34/23/15pts George Rogers (16) 34/23/14pts. Division 4: Brian Crombie (19) 36pts, Andrew Shekleton (17) 34pts.

Precision Cables Winter League Final Leaderboard (after Round 6): 733 – Team Kestrel (Martin McDonnell (C), Patrick Cole, Patrick Curran, Lee Egan, Colm Garvey, Barry Grennan, Martin McDonnell, Eamon McEneaney, Charles Monahan). 731 – Team Falon (Ray Pepper (C), Seamus Bailey, Gerard Carroll, Ciaran Corbett, Padraig Fallon, Daniel Gallagher, Aidan Gaughran). 728 – Team Raven (John McEneaney). 716 – Team Eagle (John McKeever). 715 – Team Osprey (Maurice Soraghan). 709 – Team Robin (Mickey Coburn). 702 – Team Sparrow (Gerry Daly). 693 – Team Harrier (Tommy Renaghan). 688 – Team Hawk (Austin Carroll). 681 – Team Owl (Colm Coburn).    

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DUNDALK LADIES

The Ladies Winter League, sponsored by Deluxe Bathrooms, has reached the halfway point, with three of the six weeks completed.

Week 3 produced some fine scoring over the 14-hole competition. The leading scorer was Catherine Duff, who carded a superb 33 points to win Division 2. A point further adrift was Marcella Uí Conluain, who won Division 3. Judy Mc Donough was the winner of Division 1 with 31 points.

Team Chapel Pass, with 349 points, hold a substantial lead at this stage. In second place is Team Hawks Nest with 328 points and Team Cooley View currently lie in third position with 322 points.

Saturday January 28 and Tuesday January 31 - Deuxe Bathrooms Spring League Week 3 - Division 1: Judy McDonough (20.4) 31pts, Bernie McCabe (15.8) 28pts, Jennifer Holland (16.4) 28pts.

Division 2: Catherine Duff (26.2) 33pts, Caroline Dunne (21.2) 28pts. Sally McDonnell (24.5) 27pts.

Division 3: Marcella Uí Conluain (40.8) 32pts, Joanne Lynch (38.7) 31pts, Sylvia McKenna (49.3) 29pts. 9-Hole Competition: Katherina Conneally Sloan 22pts, Una Connolly 20pts.