Sophie Moynihan from Tralee reached the final of the National U-16 Matchplay Championships in Kildare on Sunday
Sophie Moynihan from Tralee Pitch & Putt Club receiving her prize after finishing as runner-up in last weekend’s National Girls Matchplay Championship in St Bridgets, Co Kildare. Also included in photo are Pitch & Putt Ireland Youth Officer Liam Leahy and President Mark Keohane.
After the success in Tralee the previous weekend at the Munster Inter-counties, there were two more noteworthy achievements last weekend, with Deerpark’s Damien Fleming earning a call-up to the Irish World Cup squad, while Tralee’s Sophie Moynihan returned a runner-up performance at the National Girls Matchplay Championships.
Fleming will travel with the Irish Pitch & Putt team as their official substitute for the first World Cup in the sport since 2016 next month at the El Vendrell course, Tarragona, Catalonia in Spain between October 11 and 13. Fleming earned the honour by means of third place finish at the deciding Irish Team Trial which took place over 54 holes at the St Patricks course in Enniscorthy last Saturday.
After shooting 10 under par for his first 36 holes, he shot nine under par for his last 18 holes to put him in contention on 19 under par. A hole-in-one on the last hole by Louth’s Padraic Sarsfield denied him an outright place on the team in finishing on 20 under par with Kildare’s Ian Dillon finishing top of the trials on 26 under par.
National Men’s Strokeplay champion Kieran Earls received the wildcard selection for Pitch & Putt Ireland’s National Executive for the third spot on the team but Pitch & Putt Ireland have decided to take a sub with them for this event with Fleming chosen on the basis of last Saturday’s performance. Congratulations to Damien on his first selection for all in Kerry Pitch & Putt.
Meanwhile, last weekend also saw the National U16 Matchplay Championships take place in St Bridgets, Kilcullen, Co Kildare. While Deerpark’s Brian McCarthy’s defence ended at the first hurdle and Listowel duo Ajay Barrett and Jayden Chute were defeated at the quarter-final stage in the Boys Championship event, Tralee’s Sophie Moynihan made it through to Sunday (semi-final stage) in the girls event in her first competition in the sport in nearly two years. Moynihan had come through the round robin on Saturday where her opponent was Molly O’Toole from Kildare who recently won the National Girls Strokeplay title.
Moynihan triumphed in a battle that went to the final hole before she won at the last hole 1 up to reach this final for a second time. She faced Munster Matchplay holder Sarah Ryan from Tipperary in the decider but lost out by 5&4 in the finish.
This weekend the Kerry Men’s team head to Bagenalstown in Carlow for the National Inter-County Championship and they will be joined this year by a Kerry ladies team. Ending an absence of over 20 years by the county by this event, Charlotte Blake, Eileen McCarthy, Lisa and Catriona O’Connor will be hoping to compete for the Nett prize on the weekend.
The Men’s team of Damien Fleming, Jason Cregan, Jason O’Regan, Michael Conway, Darren Goodall, Jamie Blake and Gavin Carroll bid to build on their second place finish at the Munster event in Tralee.