St Brendan's College Killarney win national pitch and putt title for fourth year in a row
The trio produced a combined score of seven under par comprising 11 under for Brian, three under for Nathan and seven over for Ronan for a total of 317. That was three ahead of another famous GAA nursery, St Kierans College in Kilkenny, while St Francis College, Rochestown were third on countback.
The Sem have won this event every year since it resumed in 2022 with three different teams in those four years as the win puts them at the top of the roll of honour for the event ahead of Davis College Mallow with three wins.
Completing the day for the Killarney school was the fact their other two teams that qualified for the national finals finished in the Top 12.
Meanwhile, Tuesday of last week last saw the Tim Scannell Memorial Inter-Club Matchplay final take place in Tralee between the club's 1 and 2 named sides.
Tralee 2 were dominant, winning the first six games of the nine game match between doubles and singles play. In the Doubles Mike Conway & Pa Byrne defeated Eamon Sheehy & Mark Lucey 4&3 with Darren Goodall & Michael Creagh defeating Reece Sugrue & Mark O'Regan 2&1.
The remaining doubles match between Roger Guthrie & Alan O'Connor against Gavin Carroll & Charlotte Blake went to the last hole which Roger & Alan won 1up.
Wins for Pa Byrne (2&1), Darren Goodall (2&1) and Mike Conway (1up) over Charlotte Blake, David Hobbert and Gavin Carroll confirmed Tralee 2 as official winners of the final as the game between Michael Creagh and Reece Sugrue was deemed a draw when level after 18 holes.
Tralee 1 prevented further defeats for themselves in the final two Singles games as Eamon Sheehy beat Tony Blake 2&1 and Jason Cregan recorded a 4&3 victory over Roger Guthrie for a final scoreline of 6.5-2.5.
The Tralee 2 win ended on a slightly sombre note with the death of Jason O'Regan's father John 'Chizzy' from Marian Park in Tralee.
The National Matchplay takes place this weekend in Offaly. Twenty-one Kerry players will take place in four of the five events across the three days.
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The first match in the Senior Men's first round is a cracker as Deerpark's Damien Fleming will face the man he defeated in the 2021 Final to win his third National Matchplay title, defending champion Ray Murphy of Cork. Both players share 10 titles overall between them (seven for Murphy) as the tone for the weekend will be very much set by this match.
The Intermediate Men's event features an all Kerry round 1 match between Tralee's Roger Guthrie and Deerpark's Connie O'Sullivan Jnr.
National Matchplay Championships (Kerry matches)
Senior Men Round 1
Damien Fleming (Deerpark) v Ray Murphy (St Annes)
Jason Cregan (Tralee) v Michael Connolly (Tullamore)
Keith O'Brien (Tralee) v Stephen Murray (Old County)
Tony Blake (Tralee) v Brian Doyle (Ferbane)
Gavin Carroll (Tralee) v Kyle Kennedy (Hillview)
John McGrath (Deerpark) v Darren Keogh (Ryston)
Darren Goodall (Tralee) v Adam McGreal (Old County)
Intermediate Men Round 1
Gearoid Cronin (Deerpark) v Niall Seery (Cill na Mona)
Ger Guerin (Listowel) v Morty Ahern (Collins)
James Fleming (Deerpark) v Ian Leech (St Annes)
Roger Guthrie (Tralee) v Con O'Sullivan Jnr (Deerpark)
Ger O'Connor (Deerpark) v John O'Keeffe (Custume)
Junior Men Round 1
Gerry Lee (Deerpark) v PJ Ryan (Ardnacrusha)
Reece Sugrue (Tralee) v William Fitzgerald (Fermoy)
Alan O'Connor (Tralee) v Gary O'Neill (Riverdale)
Ladies Nett Preliminary Round
Jean O'Shea (Deerpark) v Liz Forde (Riverdale)
Lisa O'Connor (Tralee) v Linda Flanagan (Erry)
Ladies Nett Round 1
Charlotte Blake (Tralee) v Laura Fogarty (Athgarvan)
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The 42
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