Team Ash in command in Winter League

Patsy Cole’s Team Ash have opened up a 25 point lead going into the final round of the Precision Cables Winter League.
They produced an excellent team score of 127pts in round five with Billy Cairn’s continuing his fine form as he contributed 35pts to the team’s cause. Eamon McEneaney (31pts), Dennis Cunningham (31pts) and Conor Byrne (30pts) were the other scorers for the leaders.
Team Ash have 648pts and are well ahead of second place Team Alder who lead the chasing pack with 623pts. Their captain, Alan Uzell, led from the front in Round 5 with a personal score of 35pts and was backed up by Stephen Murphy (32pts), David Corrigan (31pts) and Ultan Gaughran (29pts) as they scored 127pts.
Just one point separates Team Ash from third place Team Hazel. Sean Ward’s team shot 127pts over the weekend with Michael Noone their top scorer with 32pts.
Brian Ward’s Team Hawthorn put themselves in the mix for a runners-up spot with a magnificent 137pts to close the gap to 12pts on second place Team Alder.  Seamus Bailey and Pascal Keenan led their charge with 35pts each while Barry Cunningham (34pts) and Johannes Steenvoorden (33pts) were the other contributors to what was the best score of the weekend.
Unless we witness a complete catastrophe, Team Ash look odds on to win the league but expect a good battle for second place between Team’s Alder and Team Hazel with Team Hawthorn having an outside chance if they reproduce their round five form on the final weekend.
Because of impact caused by Storm Éowyn, the routing for the weekend 14 hole competition was changed with players playing holes one and two, followed by 13 through 18 and then 10 to 12 before finishing with seven, eight and nine.
The new direction certainly didn’t affect the scoring with Peter O’Brien (18) top scoring with 38pts to win Division 3 by one point from Brendan Reilly (14).  His round included a birdie four at the 10th and pars at the first, seventh, ninth, 11th, 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th.
Division 1 was even closer as Mark Cumiskey (9) and Billy Cairns (4) finished on 35pts and it took three rounds of countback before they were separated with Cumiskey taking the category honours.
In Division 2 Ben Walsh (13) shot 37pts to take the honours by two points from Seamus Bailey (11) while in Division 4 Ciaran Corbett (17) needed countback to edge out Caoimhin O’Callaghan (21) after both tied on 35pts.
Precision Cables Winter League Leaderboard (after five rounds): 648 - Team Ash (Capt Patsy Cole ) 124/132/134/131/127.  623 - Team Alder (Capt Alan Uzell) 132/120/120/124/127. 622 - Team Hazel (Capt Sean Ward) 129/130/109/132/122. 611 - Team Hawthorn (Capt Brian Ward ) 130/118/101/125/137.  607 - Team Cherry (Capt Colm Coburn ) 119/113/115/132/128. 600 - Team Birch (Capt Sean Hession) 119/123/121/124/113. 595 - Team Willow (Capt Austin Shaw) 113/129/115/127/111. 587 - Team Rowan (Capt Tommy Renaghan) 117/112/116/121/121. 585 - Team Oak (Capt Nigel Giff) 114/122/104/121/124. 495 - Team Elm (Capt John McCann) 110/80/109/115/81.
Saturday, February 1 and Sunday, February 2 - Precision Cables Winter League Week Five 14 Hole Singles Stableford – Division 1: Mark Cumiskey (9) 35/23/14/3pts, Billy Cairns (4) 35/23/14/7/2pts. Division 2: Ben Walsh (13) 37pts, Seamus Bailey (11) 35pts. Division 3: Peter O'Brien (18 ) 38pts, Brendan Reilly (14) 37pts. Division 4: Ciaran Corbett (17) 35/24pts, Caoimhín O'Callaghan (21) 35/22pts.