Mannan Castle Golf Notes: Club hosts major event for Syria/Turkey earthquake fund

The penultimate weekend of the spring league saw mixed weather conditions over both days. Luckily, the course held up well.

Division 1 was won on the count back, with Mark Lambe taking first place with a great score of 30pts. Mark’s round consisted of five birdies and a bogey, holding off the challenge of Fionnan Cassidy who also had 30 pts.

Pat McDonnell was victorious in division 2 with a score of 30pts, beating Vice Captain Fergal Brady by one shot. The highlight of Pat’s round was his two on the 3rd hole, and from that point on he done very little wrong for the rest of his round.

The best score of the weekend came in Division 3 with Sean Finnegan shooting a brilliant 33pts. He started his round with three pars and finished it strongly with two pars. Mickey Burns must count himself unlucky, having shot an also brilliant score of 32pts. He was two over for his final eight holes.

Spring League Week 7 Stableford 13 Holes 18/19th March: Div 1 - Mark Lambe (PH.0) - 30pts, Div 2 - Pat McDonnell (PH.15) - 31pts, Div 3 - Sean Finnegan (PH.24) - 33pts.

Dundalk Golf Notes: Sylvia McKenna and Martina Byrne takes the spoils in Breffni Shield

MANNAN CASTLE SENIORS

The improved weather conditions recently were reflected in the better scoring in the Mannan Castle Seniors 10-hole competition.

Seniors Captain Tommy Duffy was very much to the fore and an error free card gave him a one-shot victory over a group of players on 24 points.

In category 1 Fergal Brady was out on his own with 24 points, which included five pars and a birdie. A slip up on the 17th proved costly to his hopes of an overall win.

In category 2 three players finished level on 24 points. A superior back five holes gave Tom Fox a one point cushion on countback over Gerry Corbally and Jim Hanratty.

Tuesday 21st March (Full handicap): Overall: Tommy Duffy (25) 25pts, Category 1: Fergal Brady (15) 24pts, Category 2: Tom Fox (25) 24pts c/b.

Just a reminder to all seniors that Senior Captain Tommy Duffy's Drive In will take place on Tuesday 4th April. A draw will take place at 10am for the 3-man scramble with a shotgun start after Tommy drives off. A meal will follow the golf with presentations and plenty of craic.

MANNAN CASTLE LADIES

A very successful fundraising competition for the Syria/Turkey earthquake fund was hosted by the Arnmore Alliance in Mannan Castle on Monday last 20th March. Everyone enjoyed the fun, with fine weather and the good course conditions.

Thank you to Mannan Castle for the use of the course, free of charge. Thanks also to ‘Social Dancing’ for sponsoring this competition, aptly called the Waltz, where 26 teams took part. The winners of the beautiful prizes, purchased in the Turkish Shop in Dundalk, were from Ardee Golf Club.

The competition brought in a sum of €786. Proceeds of a raffle were €655, and many significant donations on the day, added over €465 to the fund. A further €500 was kindly donated by the Senior Men in Mannan Castle from their competition fund. This brought the total fund to €2500.

The success of the event was due in no small measure to the work of many of our members, as well as all the clubs who came and supported the competition.

We are grateful to Denise McGuinness for her beautiful painting of The Road to Mannan Castle in Autumn and to our President Deanna MacGuinness and Frances Byrne for their handmade quilts/wallhanging.

Thanks also goes out to O’Gorman’s Supervalu for their hamper and to Tara Gartlan for their lovely designer chocolates, along with everyone who supplied the many great prizes for the raffle.

We also wish to acknowledge all those who helped out in any way on the day, especially Margaret Carroll who stayed the whole day to help. The food by our award winning the Castle Bar and Restaurant was delicious, so we are grateful to Tommy, Amy and all their staff.

Monday March 20th Turkey Syria Waltz: 1st Irene Brennan, Helen Mullen & Rita Duff (Ardee Golf Club) 79 points, 2nd Joyce Burbage and Maura Coyle (Dundalk) with member Siobhan Hand 73pts, 3rd: Claire Thomas, Margaret Sheridan & C. McIntyre (Cavan GC) 71pts.

Congratulations to all the winners. President Deanna told us how the People of Turkey helped Ireland during the famine in 1847. All the work for this project was coordinated by Alliance Captain Gill Rouiller, who will soon present the funds raised (€2,500) to the appeal fund.