The team competition played on the last weekend before Christmas ended in victory for the quartet of JP Casey, John McKeever, Odhran Mac Shane and Laurence O’Hanlon.
Playing in bitterly cold conditions on Sunday morning they shot an impressive 72pts to win by three from Pearse Murphy, Mark Cumiskey, Andrew Cumiskey and Mark Soraghan.
JP Casey (6) was their anchor coming in to score on 10 of the 14 holes as they had six point returns from five holes and five point returns from six holes with the other three holes yielding four points each.
The format of the competition allowed each team to select their best drive on par four and par five holes and play from there with two scores to count. All players had to contribute a minimum of two drives and two teams who were initially in the top five were disqualified for not having two drives recorded against each player on the scorecard.
Saturday, December 21 and Sunday, December 22 – Men’s Team Spirits 14 Hole Competition - 1: J.P. Casey (6), John McKeever (12), Odhran Mac Shane (1), Laurence O’Hanlon (9) 72 pts. 2: Pearse Murphy (7), Mark Cumiskey (6), Andrew Cumiskey (9), Mark Soraghan (12) 69pts. 3: Ciaran Keenan (16), Cathal Connolly (12), Christy Ward (4), Carl Stewart (5) 68pts. 4: Dermot McKenna (9), Andrew Shekelton (8), Gearóid Ó Conluain (8), Brian Crombie (13) 67pts. 5: David Cairns (8), Kenneth Cairns (6), Brendan Tinnelly (10), Seamus Bailey (8) 66pts

Team Hazel have climbed into top position after week two of the Precision Cables Winter League. They now sit on 259pts and lead Team Ash by three points and Team Alder by seven points..

They scored 130pts in week two led by captain Sean Ward who contributed a fabulous 36pts with John McKeever delivering 34pts while John Paul Casey and David Cairns scored 30pts each,

​Team Ash, captained by Patsy Cole, were the biggest movers of the round with 132pts and moved into second place. Eamon McEneaney was their top scorer with 36pts followed by David Kelly with 34 pts with captain Patsy also contributing a fine 32 pts to the cause, Laurence Hanratty was their other scorer with 30pts.

Team Alder captained by Alan Uzell have dropped down to third place on 252pts followed by Brian Ward’s Team Hawthorn on 248pts in fourth place,.
With four rounds to be played in the New Year there is still a lot to play off as five teams are within 20pts of the leaders.

Precision Cables Winter League Leaderboard (after Round 2): 259 - Team Hazel (Capt Sean Ward) 129/130. 256 - Team Ash (Capt Patsy Cole ) 124/132. 252 - Team Alder (Capt Alan Uzell) 132/120. 248 - Team Hawthorn (Capt Brian Ward ) 130/118. 242 - Team Birch (Capt Sean Hession) 119/123. Team Willow (Capt Austin Shaw) 113/129. 236 - Team Oak (Capt Nigel Giff) 114/122. 232 - Team Cherry (Capt Colm Coburn ) 119/113. 229 - Team Rowan (Capt Tommy Renaghan) 117/112. 190 - Team Elm (Capt John McCann) 110/80.
ENDS

A stronger finish on the closing holes saw Eamon McEneaney, playing off a 12 handicap, emerge with the best overall score in the weekend Singles Stableford Competition played over 14 holes with the final four holes on the back nine not in play.
 
His 36 points saw him edge past Sean Ward (22) and Anthony McGuinness (19), who also both finished on 36 points, but just came up short on a countback.
 
After a solid start of three two points in a row on the opening holes, Eamonn, who won the 2024 Captain’s Prize, upped his game with back-to-back pars for three points at the par four fourth and par three fifth holes and added another brace of three pointers with pars at the par five seventh and par four eighth holes, boosting his front nine tally to 22 points.
 
He went on to par all of his remaining five holes on the back nine, accumulating four three pointers and a two pointer, to close out with 14 points and take the accolade as the winner of Division 2.
 
For Sean Ward, playing off a handicap of 22, it was a case of what might have been.
 
He showed real intent from the start, his solid brace of two pointers on the opening two holes was followed with back-to-back pars for three points at the fifth and sixth holes before finishing his opening nine in style with pars for four points at the par four eighth and par three ninth holes to reach the turn on 25 points.
 
He battled to maintain his high scoring momentum on the remaining five holes, recording four two points and one three points to finish out with 11 points. His overall total of 36 points won him the Division 4 honours.
 
Anthony McGuinness, playing off a 19 handicap, also finished on 36 points, but was just nudged out by Ward on a countback and had to settle for runner up in Division 4.
 
This was despite an impressive scoring streak on the front nine, recording three three pointers, interspersed with four two points, on the first seven holes before finishing with a flourish with par at the par four eighth and a birdie at the par three ninth holes, both for four points, to reach the turn on 25 points.
 
There was also a tight finish for the Division 1 honours, with Gerry Murray, playing off a six handicap, just edging it over Michael Gill (9) on a countback after both had finished on 31 points. Division 3 was won by David Kelly (13) with 34 points, one point ahead of Danny Gallagher (14) who was runner up.
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Saturday, 14 December and Sunday, 15 December - Singles Stableford - Division 1: Gerry Murray (6) 31pts, Michael Gill (9) 31pts. Division 2: Eamon McEneaney (12) 36pts, Cathal Connolly (9) 35pts. Division 3: David Kelly (13) 34pts, Daniel Gallagher (14) 33pts. Division 4: Sean Ward (22) 36pts, Anthony McGuinness (19) 36pts.

Three players - Peter Cunningham, Frank Byrne and John Mulligan - returned the best scores in the Singles Stableford competition held on December 8.
All three returned excellent cards of 35pts which earned Cunningham and Byrne top spot in Divisions 3 and 2 respectively while Mulligan took the runner-up in Division 2 after losing out to Byrne on countback.
The 14 hole competition did not include the third or fourth holes on the front nine and the 15th and 16th on the back nine.
Playing off 14 Cunningham had four-point birdie twos at the ninth and 13th and had five three point pars which came at fifth, sixth, 11th, 12th and 17th as he went through the front seven holes in 17pts and the back seven in 18pts for his 35pts.
His score beat Byrne and Mulligan on countback and he took Division 3 by one point from Danny Gallagher (14).
Byrne, the recently crowned 2024 Golfer of the Year, was off nine and opened up with a three-point par and four-point birdie on the first two holes. Three three-point pars followed at the seventh, eighth and ninth as he completed the opening seven holes in 19pts. His back seven was bookended by three-point pars at the 10th and 18th and in between were five solid two-pointers as came home in 16pts.
Mulligan, playing off nine, took the runners-up spot in Division 2 losing out by one point on countback to Byrne. His 35pts included three birdies which yielded three points at the sixth and 14th and four points at the 18th. He also had three point pars at the first, second, seventh, eighth and 10th.
Turlach King (9) took Division One on countback from Peter Durnin (30) after both shot 32pts while Colm Garvey (16) with 34pts won Division 4 by one point from Ciaran Corbett (17).
The aftermath of Storm Darragh, which saw a tree blocking Birch’s Lanes at the entrance to the Golf Club on the Saturday morning, meant that the second round of the Precision Cables Winter League had to be postponed.
Sunday, 8 December - Singles Stableford - Division 1: Turlach King (9) 32/21pts, Peter Durnin (3) 32/20pts. Division 2: Frank P Byrne (9) 35/22pts, John Mulligan (9) 35/21pts. Division 3: Peter Cunningham (14) 35/24pts, Daniel Gallagher (14) 34pts. Division 4:Colm Garvey (16) 34pts, Ciaran Corbett (17) 33pts.

The Precision Cables Winter League kicked off with some excellent scoring which resulted with Captain Alan Uzell’s Team Alder taking a slender lead two point lead in to Round 2.
 
David Corrigan and Derek Teather were their top scorers both contributing 34 pts to team score while  team captain Alan Uzell had 33pts and Ultan Gaughran with 31pts was their fourth and final scorer.
 
Team Hawthorn captained by Brian Ward are lying two points behind. Tony Ryan was their top scorer with a tremendous 35pts resulting in an overall team score of 130pts with three other players – Seamus Bailey, Paschal Keenan and Conor Murray - also contributing 30pts plus to the cause,
 
Team Hazel captained by Sean Ward are third on 129pts. Sean himself scored 34pts and was only bettered by teammate John McKeever with an excellent 35pts.
 
John was top individual scorer in week one of the Winter League with only Gearoid Ó Conluain from Team Birch matching his 35pts over the weekend.
 
While week one saw a big turnout of players, Team Alder were the only one of the ten teams to have all eight players playing so the other captains need to make sure their teams have maximum participation in each round.
 
A spectacular start with birdie threes on the first two holes for back-to-back four
pointers set Ben Walsh, playing off a 13 handicap, on his way to bringing in the joint best score, with 38 points, in the weekend Singles Stableford competition which was played in tandem with the Precision Cables Winter League over 14 holes with the four closing holes not in play.
 
With no overall prize, Ben, for the second week running, claimed the honours as the winner of Division 2 and shared the best score of the day with Brian Crombie, playing off a 20 handicap who also finished on 38 points.
 
Ben built on his impressive start and continued with a streak of solid points scoring
with straight pars at the par four fourth, par five sixth and par three ninth holes, all for
three pointers, while also tagging on three two pointers to finish the opening nine
holes with 25 points.
 
On his closing five holes he accumulated four three points in a row with pars from the 10th to the 13th holes and, while only securing one point on the final fourteenth hole, he finished the closing five holes with 13 points.
 
Brian Crombie had a faltering start with three points after two holes and but he quickly recovered and set off on a scoring spree, parring the index one par four fourth, par five seventh and par four eighth holes, all for four points, adding three pointers at the fourth, fifth and ninth holes, to complete the nine holes on 26 points.
 
He struggled to maintain his high scoring momentum on his final five holes, a brace of three points and three two pointers, brought his back five to a conclusion with 12 points and his overall 38 points saw him win Division 4.
 
Competition was also very tight for the Division 1 honours with Graeme Smith (4),
thanks to a better closing five holes score, just edging past Mark Cumiskey (9), after
both finished on 34 points.
 
In Division 3 the spoils went to Alan Uzell (15) with 33 points, his better closing five holes taking him past John McKenna (17) who also finished on 33 points.
 
Saturday, 30 November and Sunday, 1 December - Singles Stableford - Division 1: Graeme Smith (4) 34/23/16 pts, Mark Cumiskey (9) 34/23/15pts. Division 2: Ben Walsh (13) 38pts, Andrew Shekleton (12) 37pts. Division 3: Alan Uzell (15) 33/23pts, John McKenna (17) 33/21pts. Division 4: Brian Crombie (20) 38pts,
David Corrigan (28) 34pts.
 
Precision Cables Winter League Standings after Round 1: 132pts - Team Alder (Capt Alan Uzell). 130pts - Team Hawthorn (Capt Brian Ward ). 129pts - Team Hazel (Capt Sean Ward). 124pts - Team Ash (Capt Patsy Cole ). 119pts - Team Birch (Capt Sean Hession), Team Cherry (Capt Colm Coburn ). 117 - Team Rowan (Capt Tommy Renaghan). 114 Team Oak (Capt Nigel Giff). 113 -  Team Willow (Capt Austin Shaw). 110 - Team Elm (Capt John McCann).