Collinstown retain the Sean Coyne Memorial trophy

On Sunday last, we played the 2nd and concluding leg of the 2014 Sean Coyne Memorial in Gaeil Colmcille. Collinstown held a healthy 138 shot lead from the first leg so, although it was not a foregone conclusion, it was unlikely that the Kells club could pull back that deficit. The home club did however turn out in great numbers and to their credit they recorded some fantastic scores on the day.

The best of those scores came from Marty Reilly with an 86 nett which included an opening round of 9 under par. This score was well backed up by further sub 90 nett scores from Ted Tighe, John McInerney and Mick Connell. These scores certainly made the Collinstown players take notice.  When Monica McGovern added a 95 nett as the best ladies score – it was plain to be seen that Gaeil Colmcille was going to post a good number on the day. When the full 10 counting scores were totaled, Gaeil Colmcille  had taken 928 shots – only 6 less than the score Collinstown posted in their home leg a fortnight earlier.

So the gauntlet was thrown and the question was asked of the Collinstown players. The influx of young ex-Lough Owel players into the club this year though were more than up for the challenge. Couple that with the experience of the seasoned campaigners in Collinstown and the result was a very credible solid performance by the team on the day. Best of the Collinstown crew was Darren Reilly on 93 nett. This was closely followed by David Penrose on 94. Stephen Ruane and Maurice Middleton shot 95 and 97 respectively as the scores started grouping nicely. Further sub 100 rounds were recorded by Alan Hanlon, Michael Flynn, Damien Middleton, John McDonald and Declan Penrose to complete the 9 counting gents scores on the day. The best of our Ladies on the day was Mary Carroll with a nett of 106. This all totaled up to 978 which meant that the Kells club had pulled back 50 shots of the deficit. As was suspected though, the lead from the first leg was too much to overcome and Collinstown retained the trophy by a margin of 88 shots.

The home club did rather better though in the individual prizes category as they took home 6 of the eight prizes on offer including the two over-all prizes. Ted Tighe won the Gents over-all nett with a total of 180 whilst Monica McGovern won the Ladies over-all nett with a 205 total.

The Kells Ladies surpassed themselves with the selection of goodies on offer afterwards. Mick Connell spoke on behalf of the Kells club and stated how happy he was to be associated with the competition from its inception. Alan Hanlon accepted the trophy on behalf of Collinstown and commented on the camaraderie and friendships that have been formed between the two clubs over the years. He said that there is a fun and social side to Pitch and Putt that this competition especially, demonstrates and that its very important that, that aspect of the game is never lost.

Finally Michael Connell presented the cheque for 520 euro to the Diabetes society representative from the Meath branch. The Sean Coyne Memorial has always been played as a charity event with all proceeds going to the Diabetes society.

Click here for full Collinstown scores from the 2nd leg
Click here for full Gaeil Colmcille scores from the 2nd leg
Click here for the individual leader board over the two legs
Click here for the final scores and prize winners

For more photos of the presentation - visit our photo gallery

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