Experienced Limerick and Muskerry march on
Two former winners of the South of Ireland Championship, Pat Murray and Justin Kehoe, and a beaten finalist, Michael O’Kelly, provided the backbone of the Limerick side as they came through the provincial finals of the Senior Cup at the expense of Tralee and Monkstown.
Muskerry’s hopes of regaining the AIG Barton Shield remain very much alive thanks to the efforts of Niall Gorey, Dave O’Donovan and Daniel Hallissey, all members of last year’s triumphant side, brilliantly supported by Shane Whooley. They defeated Youghal in the semi-finals before withstanding a brave challenge from Shannon in the decider. The most recent of Limerick’s four Irish Senior Cup pennants was achieved in 2002 (when O’Kelly was a member of the side) but they have been relatively quiet in the meantime.
However, the arrival of Justin Kehoe, the 1991 South of Ireland champion who played professionally for a few years before regaining his amateur status, has provided an extra string to their bow. They had a good semi-final win over a youthful Tralee side and were joined in the decider by Monkstown who edged out All-Ireland champions Tramore thanks largely to a 20th green win for Sean Desmond over Declan King.
This young Monkstown group needed an early confidence builder in the final and it was duly provided by Donal McDonnell who always held the advantage over Mike Reddan and finished the match off at the 14th. Eoghan Long provided Monkstown with another relatively easy point against Darragh Fitzgerald leaving Limerick with a mountain to climb. They managed to do so with Pat Murray and Justin Kehoe levelling the overall score against Nick Moore and Sean Desmond. O’Kelly went ahead of Shane Livesey at the 17th and got home on the 18th only after a couple of cars had to be moved from a temporary park to allow him to play his second after a wayward drive and he had to get down chip and five foot putt for the all-important point.
Niall Gorey, a former Irish international golfer, plays his championship these days out of Palmerstown Stud, but he has remained loyal to Muskerry who have good reason to be delighted at how his partnership with Dave O’Donovan continues to thrive. They got the reigning national champions off to the required start in the semi-final clash with Youghal, finishing 3 holes ahead of Conor Coyne and Eoghan McCarthy. And the club’s place in the decider was clinched by a two hole advantage in favour of Daniel Hallissey and Shane Whooley over Colin Donoghue and Darren O’Sullivan.
They were joined by Shannon whose combinations of Lewy Halpin and Jamie O’Shea and Edward Hickey and Jason O’Driscoll proved too strong for Ballybunion’s Senan Carroll and Frank Geary and David O’Driscoll and Ed Stack.
The Muskerry-Shannon final was a desperately close affair. The sides were level going through the halfway stage and the outcome remained very much in doubt until the par five 18th. Gory and O’Donovan birdied the hole to finish all square with Halpin and O’Shea leaving Muskerry in pole position. And victory was theirs when Hickey and O’Donnell, one down to Hallissey and Whooley, went out of bounds in a desperate attempt to equalise the overall score.
A youthful Douglas side came through in the Junior Cup, beating Limerick in yesterday morning’s semi-final and then ending Ballybunion’s hopes of a second pennant in four years with an exciting final victory by the odd match in five. Douglas won the most recent of their three national titles at Portrush in 1999 when Derek Byrne, the current team captain, was a member of the side.
Darren Hourihan got Douglas off to the ideal start with a big win over Frank Geary in the top match but there were several anxious moments before the remaining points were provided on the home green by Adam McSweeney and Barry O’Sullivan-Geaney against Brian Slattery and Ed Hayes.
Limerick (Senior Cup), Muskerry (Barton Shield). Douglas (Senior Cup), Ballybunion (Jimmy Bruen Shield) and Thurles (Pierce Purcell Shield) now go forward to represent Munster in the All-Ireland finals at Carton House on September 16-19.
