The Short Game: The Island, who lost to Mullingar in the Bulmers Barton Shield Leinster final, made amends when they captured the Senior Cup title with a 3½-1½ win over Elm Park in the rain-delayed final at Royal Tara on Sunday.
After a 3-2 victory over Sutton on Saturday, the semi-final was abandoned in the afternoon when heavy rain made the course unplayable, and The Island had to wait till Sunday morning for their clash with Lucan, which they won 3-2.
David Rawluk gave The Island the first point in the final with a 2 and 1 win over Aidan Claffey. Eoin O'Sullivan beat Morgan Crowe 1 up and Robert McCarthy edged out Michael Turley 3 and 1 in the decider.
Declan Moran lost to Páraic Hogan 4 and 3 while Andrew Pitcher and Eoin O'Connor were called in.
In the Munster final of the Barton Shield at Castletroy, one of the top Tramore pairs was late getting to the first tee and under Rule 6 (3) was penalised one hole. Limerick, their opponents, sportingly conceded a six-foot putt for a half at the next hole, but despite this Tramore lost the final at the 19th.
The Limerick pair of Cian McNamara and Michael O'Kelly won their match by one hole. In the second match, Pat Murray and Michael O'Kelly had to go to the 19th where a 12-foot birdie putt gave them the match.
Cork won the Munster section of the Irish Senior Cup for the ninth time when they beat Nenagh by 3½ to 1½ matches.
In Ulster, Michael Sinclair, the former East and North of Ireland amateur champion and international, fired Knock into the All Ireland Senior Cup deciders for a first time when they beat Castlerock 3½-1½ in the final at Knock.
The 33-year-old Sinclair, who was part of Ulster's Interprovincial title-winning team at Ballyliffin last week, scored an impressive 6 and 4 win over Jonathan Todd.
McHugh wins Smyth
Des Smyth took time off from his Ryder Cup vice-captaincy duties to return to his alma mater, Laytown and Bettystown, last week to present the Des Smyth Trophy to the boys under-19 strokeplay champion, Tadhg McHugh, a four-handicapper who shot a gross 78 to win from Stephen Watson (81) and Robert Maxwell (83). In the Aspirants Trophy for the "up-and-coming" under-15s, the title went to Ciarán O'Brien (11) with an 82.
McCormack in epic
At 8.03am on the August bank holiday Monday, 15-year-old David McCormack, a seven-handicapper from Letterkenny, played the opening shot in the Barton Cup Trophy at Portsalon Golf Club.
The Barton Cup was first played in 1899 and is a unique, nine-hole matchplay event in that it is played over one day each year. This year's event attracted an entry of 44 and during the day 43 matches were played.
At 7pm McCormack teed off in the final, having won five matches. His opponent, who also won five matches, was Kerrykeel's Barry McGettigan, who had started his campaign at 9am. In an eagerly contested final, which finished over 12 hours after the start of play, McCormack hit the last shot when he holed a 12-footer for a 3 and 2 win in the marathon matchplay. The beaten semi-finalists were Portsalon's 1987 captain Donal McLoughlin and John McGettigan from Milford.
Knightsbrook special
The new Knightsbrook Resort in Trim, Co Meath, is making a special offer during Ryder Cup week. Golfers are invited to play this new 18-hole championship course, designed by Ryder Cup legend Christy O'Connor jnr, and then enjoy an Irish steak meal and watch all the build-up to the Ryder Cup and action from The K Club from the comfortable surroundings of the new Knightsbrook clubhouse, all for the exceptional value of just €€65 per person.
In addition, American visitors will be offered club and buggy hire at half price during Ryder Cup week.
"We have decided to celebrate what will be one of the great weeks in Irish sporting history by bucking the trend and actually lowering our prices for Ryder Cup week," said Gavin Hunt, director of golf at Knightsbrook. "You can play your own fourballs, foursomes or singles, and after your round enjoy a meal of prime Irish beef and topped off with a coffee Americano, all for the special concession Ryder Cup price of just €€65."
Knightsbrook Hotel & Golf Resort is situated just a 17-mile drive from The K Club. The golf course is already open for play, while the four-star hotel will be open just in time for the Ryder Cup.
Fingal finalists
Forrest Little, Beaverstown, Malahide and The Island have made the semi-finals of the Fingal Seniors League after five series of matches. Forrest Little topped section A with a 41-point total. Malahide finished on 33 after a 7-5 win over Westmanstown in their last match to clinch second place.
In a closely fought section B, Beaverstown had four points to spare over The Island, who collected a valuable point with a 6-6 draw with Balcarrick after Donabate went down 7-5 to Clontarf.
The semi-finals line-up is Forrest Little v The Island and Beaverstown v Malahide.
Athenry best in field
Athenry GAA club, Galway, landed the title of Connaught champions in the FBD All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge in Claremorris Golf Club, Co Mayo, last week. The team, represented by Jarlath Cloonan (15), Luke Glynn (13), Juno Barrett (10) and Colin Parr (16), put together a score of 83 points to win from Balla, Co Mayo, on 80.
Patrick McDonnell, son of the late Michael McDonnell, who won the challenge for Claremorris last year, ably represented Balla along with team-mates Thomas Walsh (2), Danny Roche (5), Derek Dempsey (6).
Balla pipped Turloughmore, team of the former Galway wing forward Martin Naughton, on a countback for second place.
Athenry will join St Brigid's of Dublin, Derrygonnelly Harps from Fermanagh and Dunhill from Waterford in the All-Ireland final at Faithlegg GC on September 9th and 10th.
Lakes home and dry
After the teams had been tied at 3½ points each after the opening leg of the McDonnell Cup final at Deer Park a couple of weeks ago, there was disappointment for the Howth-based club as they lost the decider on Sunday afternoon, going down to defending champions Hollywood Lakes. In the end Hollywood took full advantage of the home advantage they enjoyed in Sunday's second leg. They got the points on the board in the opening few matches before they eventually took the honours and retained their title by virtue of a 7½ to 4½ scoreline.
Countess countback
The Grange pairing of Nives Vaughan - who won the PGA Tankard in her club back in July with an impressive score of 42 points - and Marie Kilmurray had a close call at the All-Ireland final of the Countess of Granard Cup at Howth Golf Club last Monday week, securing victory only after a countback over the closing nine holes. They had fired 38 points, the same score as Mitchelstown's Catherine Kavanagh and Geraldine O'Donovan, but a better finish gave them the title.
These two were some way ahead of the rest of the competing pairings; third place was secured by Castlewarden's Pamela Saville and Moira McDonough with 35 points, beating the host club's Joan Burgess and Ann Coleman on countback, while the Gross winners were the Ballinasloe duo of Regina Power and Mary Barrett.
Hunter in trophies
Karina Hunter is the young girl golfer of the moment. This 16-year-old has had a great season, which started last winter when she had regular coaching in her club, Charleville, and then received under-18 Munster coaching from Fred Twomey in Blarney.
So good has been her form she has reduced her handicap from 32 to 22, having played in a host of Junior ILGU events over recent months, while she also had the honour of winning the Lady Captain's Prize in Doneraile, where she is a student member.
Last month she entered the O2-sponsored competition in Harbour Point and was the only girl to qualify for the final in The K Club. Forty-eight competed, and Karina finished in third place with 39 points and now goes to Germany on Monday next, August 28th, where she will tee off in an O2-sponsored 54-hole event.
