Collinstown win the Sean Coyne Memorial

For the first time since 2009, Collinstown won the Sean Coyne Memorial Challenge with Gaeil Colmcille on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon last. Collinstown trailed by 48 shots going into their home leg but a tremendous turnout of 31 players gave the home club every chance of overturning the deficit. An early score of 103 from Liz Bloem was the spark needed to ignite the fightback. Ena Clinton added a very respectable 108  to that, which meant that the 2 counting ladies for Collinstown had won back 13 of the shots required. That left it up to 8 counting gents scores to peg back the other 35 shots.

George Carolan led the charge for the home team with a very respectable 98 which actually led the best nett of the day for a long time. Stephen Ruane then had a splendid 97 which included a second round 48 gross – the second best round of the day. Rene Bloem had the best gross total of the day which include a superb 47 second round. He finished on 100 nett. Kevin Farrell returned a counting 101 and became the only Collinstown player to count in both venues. But still it looked like we needed something better to catch the decent scores being returned from the Gaeil Colmcille team.

Next in though was the Middleton brothers. Maurice returned a superb 93 and Garry was close behind with a 97. Things were tightening up and the home team sensed that victory could be claimed if a couple more scores could be found. A yell of “Go on Scaller” from the course was very encouraging and also word spread that Stewie Tarleton was under par. The tension was building in the clubhouse and Gaeil Colmcille were startling to fear the worst. Mick Scally was then to return his card with his best ever round in competition – an incredible second round 51 gross gave him an 88 total. This was to win the best nett of the day by a country mile. At this stage there was only a toss of a coin between the 2 teams and all eyes waited patiently for Stewie Tarleton to sign and return his card. Again a superb second round 52 meant that Stewie returned a 95 nett. This was enough to confirm Collinstown as the victors for 2013 by a 12 shot margin.

The event was run as normal, as a charity event with the proceeds going to the diabetics society. Norman Dolan from the Westmeath branch was on hand to accept the proceeds and he was very thankful to both clubs in his speech. Mick Connell then congratulated Collinstown on their win and Michael Buckley said “Welcome Home” to the trophy which was met with a chorus of cheers from the home players. Michael Flynn, president of Collinstown Pitch and Putt club accepted the trophy on behalf of the club.

This was the 17th year of the competition which was set up to honour the memory of the late Sean Coyne who was a member of both clubs. The competition has gone from strength to strength over the years and no doubt it will be just as keenly contested once again in 2014.

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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