Ring of Kerry Results.
27th February 3 Club Comp over 18 holes
1st Joe Harrington 28pts, 2nd Derek Hillier 26pts, 3rd Pat O’Dwyer 26 pts.
17th and 18th February 12-Hole 2 Person Scramble
1st Joe Harrington (21) & Toby Steadman(2) 36.4
2nd Jay Steadman (9) and Toby Steadman (2) 40.8
3rd John (21) & Paul (6) 0’Connor 41.6.
Kenmare Golf Club Results
Ladies Results
Sunday 18th February12 hole Stableford Sponsor Margaret Collins
Winner Delia Long (26) 25 pts.
Sunday 25th February 15 hole Stableford Sponsor Angela Cronin
1st Anne Clifford (28) 28pts 2nd. Margaret Hanley (18) 25pts
Men’s Results
Sunday 25th February 2-Man Scramble
Sponsor Sean Daly Killarney.
1st. Tim Twomey and Sean Finn 41.5 nett.
2nd. Padraig O’Shea and Dave O’Dwyer (Jnr.) 42 nett. (OCB)
3rd. Donal Cronin and Pat Kiely 42 nett.
Sunday February 18th 2 Open 15-Hole Single
1st. Dave Burke (10) 37pts. 2nd. Paudie Kelleher (20) 34pts.
3rd. Gerald O’Dwyer (12) 33pts.
Special Olympics Golf in Kenmare, with Mike Murphy, local Special Olympics Golf Organiser and Laochra Chiarraí recipient.
Q. Hi Mike, thanks for giving me the time for a chat. The Kenmare News ran a story last month on you and Anne receiving a Laochra Chiarrai award on behalf of the Special Olympics Clubs of Kerry, and we have had a few questions what it was about, so hopefully you don’t mind us asking you? How did this all start, and what’s going on with Special Olympics Golf in Kenmare?
The 5 Special Olympics Clubs in Kerry, jointly received the Laochra Chiarrai Award. It was to be presented in Dublin on Friday last but was cancelled owing to Storm Emma. It will now be presented on April 27th.
A. After the 2003 World Special Olympics games in Ireland – the first outside the US, where Eunice Kennedy Shriver started it, the bug took off around Ireland and Kenmare. Our own son Michael was involved, and started playing in Harbour Point in Cork. In 2007, The Kenmare GC captains, at the time – John Sheppard and Ann Kelly-Murphy helped start this off in Kenmare. We have 9 athletes, with great success through the years, and great fun. Michael S. Murphy has represented Ireland on three occasions. Our most successful athlete Michael O’Leary has competed in multiple events, with the highlight being the World games in Athens where he collected the silver medal.
Four players – Michael O’Leary, Fiona Riney, Orla Murphy and Ken Browne are competing on the 14th to 17th of June this year in Dublin in the Ireland games. There are 14 sports in these games, and the golf is on in St Margarets GC in Swords.
Q. Any big competitions coming up?
A. As well as the Ireland Games in June, on Monday 14th May the West Munster skills competition is on in Kenmare with 80-90 athletes taking part. We’re indebted to Kenmare GC and their volunteers with help for this competition.
Q. How do people join in?
A. Athletes come and join when they hear about us, we’re quite happy to take on athletes when they want to join. Just come along and ask at Kenmare GC. We’re open to all gofers with a learning disability over the age of 8. We meet every Saturday at the moment and will move to Friday evenings for the summer months.
Q. I presume there’s a lot of volunteering involved in this – who’s on your team?
At the moment, we have regular volunteers John Sheppard, Steve Rowe, Honor Fitzgerald, Peter Cronin, Mary Brosnan, Coley Keating Jim Brosnan, Rita O’Brien, Anne and Mike Murphy as well as various parents and other supporters during the year. We also have a big supporting staff for events like our skills competition on the 14th of May. Having said this, we’re very keen to take on new volunteers – any help would be greatly appreciated. Various athletes are at different levels, and compete at different games and skills so multiple coaches are needed.
Thanks Mike – keep up the great work and best of luck in the competitions in May and June.
