Damien Fleming’s Continued Success in Pitch & Putt
Damien Fleming from Deerpark has once again added to his impressive pitch & putt career, this time as a member of the Irish Men’s Pitch & Putt team that successfully retained the European Team Championship title. The event took place in Lucan, Dublin, and saw Ireland emerge victorious with a strong performance over the three days of competition.
As defending champions from the last event held in 2018, Ireland capitalized on their home advantage throughout the tournament. The initial strokeplay round, which determined the order of the nine national teams, saw Ireland finish 21 shots ahead of Great Britain. This placed them in a group with Switzerland and Galicia, where they secured convincing 6-0 wins in both matches. Fleming played a key role, defeating Giovanni Volentik of Switzerland 3&2 and David Rodriguez of Galicia 4&3 in his two matches.
These victories propelled Ireland into the Championship group alongside the other two group winners, Catalonia and Great Britain. In the Doubles match, Fleming partnered with Kieran Earls from Limerick to defeat the Catalan pair Marc Lloret and Alex Albinana 4&3. Fleming then went on to beat Lloret 4&3 in the Singles match, contributing to Ireland’s overall 8-1 win against the Catalans. A victory against Great Britain in Sunday morning’s game would secure the title for Ireland.
The final game was a flawless performance by Ireland, who won 9-0. Fleming and Earls combined again in the Doubles, securing a 2&1 win over Liam Malone and Steve Deeble. Fleming then defeated John Deeble 3&2 in the Singles to complete his successful tournament.
This win marks another milestone in Fleming’s career, following his Irish World Cup victory last autumn. It also comes 20 years after his Deerpark club-mate Derry McCarthy captained Ireland to victory in the same event in Holland.
Other Notable Achievements
In addition to the European Team Championship success, several other events took place across the region. Last Saturday at the Ardnacrusha Scratch Cup, Deerpark’s Eileen McCarthy (Gross) and Tralee’s Charlotte Blake (Nett) claimed the two Ladies prizes in the competition.
Closer to home, the County U16 Boys Strokeplay Championships were held in Tralee on Tuesday. The overall title required a nine-hole play-off after Deerpark’s Fionn McMonagle and Tralee’s Tommy Murray tied on 116. McMonagle emerged victorious by five shots in the extra holes, claiming the title from Murray. In the 13-15 section, Listowel dominated, with Ruairi Turbinski winning by four shots from his club-mate Mason Sheehy Elston on a score of 119.
The 8-12 section was won by Deerpark’s Aodhan O’Halloran on 118, with Joey Blake from the host club finishing second on 127.
The County Strokeplay event also confirmed the three Kerry teams that will represent the county in the Munster U16 Singles & Inter-County Championships in Crosshaven, Cork, this Saturday.
Gold team:
– Aodhan O’Halloran (Deerpark)
– Fionn McMonagle (Deerpark)
– Mason Sheehy Elston (Listowel)
– Thomas Keane (Listowel)
Green team:
– Fionn O’Callaghan (Deerpark)
– Tommy Daly (Listowel)
– Thomas O’Sullivan (Deerpark)
– Diarmuid Lyons (Listowel)
White team:
– Daniel Quinlan (Deerpark)
– Sean Stack (Listowel)
– Ruairi Turbinski (Listowel)
– Joey Blake (Tralee)
Upcoming Events
This Friday, the National Strokeplay Qualifiers will take place in Tralee. The event has been moved forward to avoid a clash with the All-Ireland Football Final on Sunday.
