Junior winner Jim Gill; Intermediate winner John Donnelly and Senior winner Gerry Coyne, pictured at the Westmeath Pitch and Putt Matchplay in Rochfortbridge.

Gerry Coyne wins senior matchplay title

Damien Maher

Published: Wed 26 Apr 2023, 1:16 PM

Last updated: Wed 26 Apr 2023, 1:17 PM

Rochfortbridge Pitch and Putt notes

The Rochfortbridge Pitch and Putt Club held the Westmeath Matchplay in Rochfortbridge over the weekend of April 23 and we would like to congratulate all who took part. The county board had fantastic prizes on offer for the top three in each grade.

The final in the senior grade was contested by two great players from Lough Owel. Sean Dinnegan, who is a past Rochfortbridge Scratch Cup winner against Gerry Coyne who has been narrowly pipped in our scratch cup in the recent past. The two lads know each other very well and it was a case of who could get the job done on the day. They really went for it, displaying the quality we knew they both had. However, Gerry would overcome Sean's effort to take the title. The two lads put on an exhibition, but in matchplay there's always just one winner.

We had a lot of Rochfortbridge members in the junior grade. Namely Jim Gill, Mick Morrissey, Pat Maguire, Stephen Mulvin and Mick Lennon. All members made a great account of themselves in this grade.

It was Stephen Mulvin's first big tournament since joining our club and he performed very well, just missing out on a prize after being defeated in the third place play-off to another Rochfortbridge member, Mick Morrissey. In the junior final two Rochfortbridge men did battle, Jim Gill and Pat Maguire. Both men are on the cusp of the intermediate grade and are well accomplished in the club. Despite great play from Pat it was Jim who would remain cool to lift his second county title with some quality pitch and putt. We are delighted for all four men from the bridge for having done so well.

In the intermediate grade, we had many Rochfortbridge members also, namely Mick Gill, Fergal O'Connor, Mark Kelly, Mark Newman, Colm Yeates, Tom Metcalfe and Martin White. In the first round the only Rochfortbridge members to face each other was Colm Yeates and Tom Metcalfe. The lads played very well and it was Colm who came out on top after playing very steady with multiple chip ins and steady pitching to beat Tom. Colm would go on to win third place in the grade after beating Mick Gill.

Mick Gill from Rochfortbridge made his way to the semi-final by beating two Lough Owel members, Shane Kinahan and Ross Sweeney. Ross and Shane are great players and performed very well on the Saturday. However, the junior Rochfortbridge scratch cup winner was too hot to handle.

Mick reached the semi final where he met another Rochfortbridge member, Mark Kelly. Mark had tough matches against Lough Owels Dean Dinnegan, Rochfortbridge member Fergal O'Connor and Custume's Nathan Malone. Mark won convincingly against Dean and Fergal and played very well to beat Nathan 2 and 1. Despite great play from Mick Gill, Mark went through to the final after a 7 and 6 victory.

In the final Mark was up against John 'Dozzer" Donnelly from Lough Owel. Donnelly wasn't in the final for nothing either. He played fantastic stuff to get there, beating Martin White and Connor Mullins. Martin White has won multiple tournaments in Rochfortbridge and is very near the senior grade. John blitzed past the two lads to get to the final. The intermediate final between Mark and John was a rollercoaster with John taking an early lead going three up. Mark got it back so that he was one up. It was nip and tuck then all the way in. Some quality pitching from John was the difference, beating Mark with two cracking shots to 17 and 18.

John took the title on the 36th hole of the match. A great achievement for John and well done Mark for playing great stuff all weekend.

In the senior grade, we had no Rochfortbridge participants, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the quality of the seniors in the county. Collinstown's Jack Buckley was the holder after winning it out in Collinstown last year. His first match was against another Collinstown member, John Browne. Jack was fearless in his victory against the veteran. Jack would go on to defeat one of the favourites, Pat Malone from Custume, in the semi final to claim third place.

We would like to thank the county board for the prizes and congratulate all the winners. The winners are as follows:

Junior 3rd: Mick Morrissey (Rochfortbridge); Junior 2nd: Pat Maguire (Rochfortbridge); Junior 1st: Jim Gill (Rochfortbridge); Intermediate 3rd: Colm Yeates (Rochfortbridge); Intermediate 2nd Mark Kelly (Rochfortbridge); Intermediate 1st: John Donnelly (Lough Owel); Senior 3rd: Jack Buckley (Collinstown); Senior 2nd: Sean Dinnegan (Lough Owel); Senior 1st Gerry Coyne (Lough Owel).