Aidan Mulligan leads qualifiers

Over the weekend there was a massive turnout of members for the Captain"s (Mr. Damien Daly) prize qualifying round.The response was a direct tribute to the captain Damien and his massive contribution to the branch and club in general. Over the weekend Damien was on hand to greet every competitor and listen attentively to all the hard luck stories from those who did not make the cut.One competitor missed the qualifying mark on a tie break, having taken an eight on the last, whereas another chap started with a twelve only to be pipped for a matchplay spot. The playing conditions could best be described as indifferent after the prolonged rainfall over the past fortnight, and to say the course was playing its full length would be understating the situation; we were nearly in Mrs. Gilsenan"s kitchen on seventeen; anyway it was the Captain"s day and conditions were the same for everyone.When the three hundred or so scores were returned only one player had broken seventy nett. The very popular achiever of sixty nine was Aidan (Mugs) Mulligan. Two finished on the seventy mark, John Dromey, back to his best and the ever consistent Sean Nulty. Seventy ones were returned by Brian Thornton and Jack Cooney, while seventy twos were handed in by Kevin Mulvee and Ted Eighan. The matchplay draw threw up some very interesting pairings and as always should hold the interest of all. The full draw will be posted on the web site, and updated as the matches progress. The first round must be completed by Saturday next, May 9 and the thirty six hole final is scheduled for Friday, May 29.Qualifying round results:Best Nett: - Aidan Mulligan (26) 69; second: - Sean Nulty (13) 70; third: - John Dromey (6) 70; best gross: - Ted Eighan (4) 76; fourth nett: - Jack Cooney (16) 71; Seniors:- John Hand (16) 74.Long HandicapThe men"s long handicap season kicked off last Thursday, with the event over fifteen holes kindly sponsored by our Vice Captain Mr. Liam Conlon, there was a fine turn out and as normal the scoring was excellent. The popular winners were Gerry Caffrey (18) with 35 points, Dave Farrelly (16) with 33 and Noel Gibney (18) on 32 points. More of the same this week, when last week"s prizes will be presented.Men"s SeniorsThe last couple of Tuesdays were tough going with the under foot conditions making us feel our age, however the numbers turned out. On the 21st scoring averages were good but, nobody managed to top the excellent return of inform Men"s Captain, Damien Daly. He pipped Frank McKeon for top spot. Frank in turn had the better of Pat Curran. Pat continues to show top form and has been among the prizewinners on four occasions in the last two months. Conor Quinlan made a welcome return to the podium by capturing the super seniors" prize.With the conditions prevailing on Tuesday, April 28, the day"s competition was reduced to 9 holes. There was very keen competition between the 44 competitors with some excellent returns. The winner was Michael Duffy with a superb 23 points. He was followed closely by Seamus Casey on 21 points. Ned Timlin secured third spot on 19 points. Pat Curran maintained his winning form of late by taking the super senior prize. Next Tuesday, May 12 will see our final weekly outing until after the summer break. On Sept 1st our friends from Strandhill will visit us at home for the first of our annual outings. In the meantime, on May 19 we will make our trip to Lough Erne Golf Resort.Garda Prize on Sunday nextThe attraction for the gents on Sunday next is the annual competition for the prizes generously sponsored by the Garda members, both retired and active and lads you will be glad to know we will be returning to the stableford format.Ladies BranchChamarie were the kind sponsors of last Wednesday"s competition. The day played out beneath a thick covering of cloud producing various degrees of mist and pouring rain. But the ladies are a hardy lot and even the most challenging conditions failed to deter a sizeable group from turning up to see if it was going to be "their day".As it happened, the day belonged to Regina Healy. She carded a highly respectable score of 37 points to take the top spot. Dorothy O"Keeffe and Joanne Killian both scored 34 points with Dorothy"s proving the better of the two on the count back. Consolation for Joanne was that she shot three birdies in her round and will be looking to increase her tally on "the birdie tree" as the season progresses. Lucy Tormey bagged the gross with 23 points.The Miele Fourball team has been announced and will take on their counterparts from Moate on Saturday next. Best wishes to all involved.ResultsLadies Singles: 18 holes stableford1st: R. Healy (16) 37 pts; 2nd D. O"Keeffe (14) 34 pts; Gross: L. Tormey (7) 23pts; 3rd J. Killian (15) 34 pts.