Berehaven Golf Club going the extra miles in bid for first All-Ireland

Berehaven Golf Club after winning the Munster Final of the AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield, beating Shannon in the final in Killarney. Picture: Niall O'Shea

The six-hour drive from Castletownbere to Donegal Golf Club later this week will not matter one bit to Berehaven GC as they close in on a first All-Ireland title attempt with the AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield firmly in their sights.

The West Cork club, with a nine-hole home course and 200 members, are used to doing things the hard way and a 900-plus kilometre round trip to the AIG Cups and Shields – All-Ireland Finals is a small price to pay for a team that celebrated its first Munster pennant with a provincial finals win at Killarney earlier this month, defeating a strong Tramore team in the semis before knocking over Shannon in the final to set up a national semi this Saturday against Leinster big guns Carton House.

“We have the longest journey there could have been, we’re the furthest west so they couldn’t have picked any further away for us,” joked team captain Joe O’Neill.

“I said to the lads before the Munster final, we weren’t going to Killarney to make up the numbers and they went out with that attitude and proved the point so we’re going to try the same this time, that we’re not travelling all that way up there just to say we played there, we’re going to give it our best.”

From an area hard hit by Covid-19’s impact on tourism, the dreaded coronavirus has given Berehaven an unexpected boost in making its best golfers available for the first time, as O’Neill explained.

“This is probably the first year it’s been taken seriously, the commitment was there from the start which was important because down here in Beara we’re a big footballing area and with the whole Covid thing, it freed up a lot of lads to play golf.”

After that, it was all about gathering momentum.

“It was very hard at the beginning to see how things were going to go. The panel kind of came together in dribs and drabs but once we got a couple of wins under our belts, the possibility was there and once we got to the Munster semi-final it was clear that we meant business.

“I think the last time we had a pennant on the wall was the Country Clubs in ‘97 or something like that so this is the first time an actual prestigious Munster pennant has come into the club ever and everyone is over the moon with it.

“This year is our best chance of winning an All-Ireland, with the team we have so we’re not going to leave anything for granted.”