2022 was a good year for Cork Clubs when it came to Inter-club competitions.
There were several wins for both ladies and mens teams with a total of 17 Munster pennants coming to Cork over the various campaigns that ran for six months of the season.
Although Munster is now split into East and West sections, Lee Valley finally made the breakthrough in the AIG Senior Cup. They progressed through East Munster with the highlight being a sudden death win over Douglas in the area semi-final. Darren Hourihan sealed the win for Lee Valley. That took them to Tramore to face the host club in the Munster East Final. This time it was Jason Galway’s turn to shine, he won on the 18th green to grab a first men’s pennant for Lee Valley.
The same day, Cork had a really impressive win over Cahir Park in the AIG Barton Shield.
Brian Kelleher and Ian O’Rourke led off for Cork with Morgan and Kein and Gary O’Flaherty making up the second pairing, and they combined for an eight-hole win over their opponents.
There was more good news for Douglas in Tramore that weekend, they saw off a challenge from Cork to win the Women’s Senior Cup. Sarah Byrne, Clodagh Coughlan and Aoife Ni Thuama all won on their way to claiming the title. While Douglas were successful in the senior cup, the same squad came up just short in the Senior Foursomes when Mallow beat them on a very tight 2-1 scoreline in Bandon.
Cork Golf Club traveled to Thurles in August with a fancied Men’s Junior Cup team and they came away with an impressive win over the hosts. The Women’s Junior Cup final also took place that weekend and Fota Island claimed a provincial win over Tramore.
East Cork had an incredibly successful 2022, winning four Munster pennants in a very exciting summer. Thurles was the venue for the first of the finals and East Cork had three teams competing in the finals. They won the Women’s Intermediate Cup and the Jimmy Bruen Shield but lost out in the Challenge Cup. Later in August, there were wins in the Fred Perry Trophy and the Revive Active Women’s Fourball as East Cork proved to be the dominant force in Munster Golf.
In addition to the four Munster titles, East Cork went on to claim three national titles in an incredible few weeks for the club. The national titles came in the Bruen, Intermediate Cup and Revive Active Fourball competitions. Needless to say there was a large traveling support for each of the national finals with the club celebrating each of the wins in style.
Mahon also claimed a win this year, they traveled to Youghal for the Mens Fourball, previously known as the Michael Cashman Cup. Mahon had beaten local rivals East Cork, Fota Island and Cork on their way to the regional final and their good form continued when David O’Mahony and Tom Hickey secured the win on the 18th green. Berehaven ensured there was a second win for the West Cork clubs, they won the Revive Active fourball Munster West final after beating Dooks, Waterville and Doneraile on their way to the final. In the final they had a 3-2 win over Adare Manor.
Although Clonakilty now has 12 holes on their course in Lisselan, they still qualify for the Munster Country Club competition. They traveled to Doneraile for the Munster finals and beat Raffeen Creek in their semi-final. The final against Ballyheigue went to sudden death with Martin Curran winning on the 19th. Doneraile also hosted the Flogas Irish Mixed Foursomes finals on the same weekend and Glengarriff won their Munster West final with a 4-1 win over Woodstock.
Kinsale got their name on the 2022 honors list too, they finally won a Fred Daly title after an impressive display of golf in Muskerry at the Munster finals. Sean Healy, Max Healy, Keith Walsh and Cuan Deasy all won with Louis Galvin called in as he was also leading.
The last win of the season went to Lee Valley and Kanturk. Both clubs won their provincial finals in the Golf Sixes competition and they had a great time at the national finals in October.
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