Youthful Tramore finally come of age
The scoreline did not necessarily reflect the closeness of this match, which went right down to the wire - John Mitchell’s 2 and 1 victory over Simon Gallivan eventually settling matters when they halved the 17th in a match which saw experience triumph over youth.
But it was the young guns on display here who provided the most excitement, with Tramore’s two teenagers, Stephen O’Rourke and Clancy Bowe, displaying the sort of flair which the club hope will ultimately provide All-Ireland glory in Shannon later this month.
And Killarney showed they too are not short of youthful talent courtesy of 19-year-old Graham Dunlea’s hard fought 2 and 1 win over the doughty Michael Burns.
But this was Tramore’s day and as team captain and club President Michael Bowe said afterwards, they had deliberately set out to allow their youngsters shine.
“We’ve put a lot of focus this year on the youngsters and they proved today that not only are they very talented players, but they are able to step up to the plate when the pressure is on.
“We’ve had successes in the past, but we’ve been hanging around Munster finals for a few years now without actually winning one, so we are absolutely delighted with this and we are looking forward to the All-Ireland finals in Shannon.”
Michael, who is also Clancy’s father, said it was important for the club to invest in the future and he was pleased the policy was paying dividends.
“We obviously have some very experienced players at our disposal, but we are thrilled with the manner our young players have come on.
“There are others there who were not available to us today and they too can play a part now that we’ve reached the finals,” he said.
“We have the personnel and we believe that we can go forward from this - having overcome a very talented Killarney side - and win more prizes.”
As a contest, this produced some excellent fare, but from Killarney’s point of view it will have been disappointing that they could only win one of the five games, with Dunlea coming out on top of Burns in the opening match.
Clancy Bowe levelled it with a fine 3 and 2 win over Kevin Lucey in the second match and it appeared that this was going to go right to the wire.
The third and fourth matches between Stephen O’Rourke and James Neill and John Mitchell and Simon Gallivan respectively were too close to call throughout, although the final match between Tramore’s Peter Power and Killarney team captain Paul Murphy was settled early in the Waterford-man’s favour, 4 and 3.
O’Rourke and Neill were at it hammer and tongs throughout, with quarter neither being asked for or given, and their match ended up honours even on the 18th.
As they were about to take the putts which would decide the outcome, they were called in because of events unfolding behind them.
The Mitchell-Gallivan match had been very tight throughout, with the young Kerryman showing a gritty determination to keep his more experienced rival in his sights.
This was very much illustrated by his par on the ninth when, having found water off the tee, he made a remarkable up-and-down to secure a half.
However, it was the shared honours on the 17th that settled it in Mitchell’s favour and the result secured the tie for Tramore and an All-Ireland appearance later in the month.
(Tramore names first): M Burns lost to G Dunlea 2&1; C Bowe beat K Lucey 3&2; S O’Rourke and J Neill C/I (half); J Mitchell beat S Gallivan 2&1; P Power beat P Murphy 4&3. Tramore win 3½-1½.
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