Last weekend’s Munster Matchplay Finals in Fermoy were a special one for Deerpark as club members Michael Cronin and Eileen McCarthy won both Intermediate titles at Mens and Womens level.
Cronin in particular won a pretty hard earned success as both his semi-final and final successes on Sunday went to sudden death playoff holes. In all it was a strong showing from Kerry in general as Eileen McCarthy won an all-Kerry final with Tralee’s Lisa O’Connor as a Kerry player reached the last eight of each of the five grades players from the county took part in last weekend. Damien Fleming reached the quarter-finals of the Senior Mens event before losing out to eventual winner Eoin Shannon from Cork as Tralee’s Michael Creagh was another quarter-finalist in the Intermediate Mens event.
At Junior level Deerpark’s David Harnett was defeated in the quarter-finals of the Mens event also with Tralee’s Charlotte Blake also reaching the last eight of the Junior Womens event. Returning to the two winners and Michael Cronin had to go to a 38th hole of play with Cork’s Ian Leech in the semi-finals as he faced Tipperary’s Sean McCormick in the decider. While there was little between the two players throughout Michael fought back from two down with four to play to force sudden death as a birdie at the first extra hole was enough to secure him victory. Michael is back playing the game competitively with a year as this was his best performance since finishing third at the National Intermediate Mens Strokeplay back in 2017.
For Eileen meanwhile, it was a tight affair between herself and Lisa O’Connor in the semi-finals before she won at the penultimate hole 2&1 as she has now won Munster Matchplay titles at both adult and juvenile level. This is Kerry’s third provincial win of the year taken with Tralee’s Jamie & Charlotte Blake’s victory in the Munster Mixed Scotch Foursomes last month in a good start to the season for Kerry. The County Board extends its congratulations to both Michael and Eileen on their victories last weekend.
This weekend sees the National Matchplay Qualifiers for the June Bank Holiday Weekend Finals. In a change of format this year Pitch & Putt Ireland are running regionalised qualifying events for the Senior Mens Finals with the Kerry Seniors heading to Larkspur park in Cashel. However due to his No 2 ranking in the Mens standings, Damien Fleming is an automatic qualifier for the finals in Rocklodge, Cork with the Top 8 guaranteed final spots this year.
The Intermediate and Junior Qualifiers remain at County level meanwhile as Deerpark plays host to Kerry’s event this weekend. Full details will be with clubs closer to this weekend.
