County & Munster titles for Riverdale
Riverdale regained the county team title with a 6 ½ to 5 ½ win over the holders Larkspur in a closely fought encounter that went right down to the final match in Templemore with the Lakeside course in excellent condition.
The match commenced with the doubles and Riverdale started off in great fashion with Brian Cahill & Joseph Danagher in great form to grab the first point for Riverdale. The second game saw Larkspur level as Jimmy O'Neill & Darren McGrath had a one hole victory over Stephen Shoer & Oisin Ryan. In the third game, Conor Cleary & Paul Shoer snr put Riverdale back ahead with they defeated Gerry O'Connor & Robert Harris. Riverdale's lead was extended when Aaron Hogan & Sean Minogue turned around their game to win 2&1 and leave Riverdale ahead 3-1 entering the singles.
Riverdale needed 3 ½ points from the singles for victory. In the top match, Brian Cahill again led the way with a 5&4 victory over David White. When Stephen Shoer defeated Darren McGrath 8&6 it looked good for Riverdale. Larkspur, however, were not going to give up easily. Larkspur won the next three matches with two on the 18th to make it 5&4 with James Cleary, Jimmy O'Neill and Robert Harris all winning. Celly Ryan made it five-all with a 5&4 victory.
With two games remaining on the course it was all to play for. The turning point came in the second last match as All Ireland junior champion Gerry O'Connor was three ahead with four to play against Conor Cleary. Conor, however, turned the game around and gained a vital half point to leave it still level.
The last match saw Sean Minogue face Paddy McGrath. Minogue was behind early on but had levelled matters after ten holes. A good run on the back 9 saw him take control and eventually win 4&2 and with that point the county title was Riverdale's.
County Board Chairperson Liam Leahy presented the County Shield to captain Stephen Shoer. Stephen thanked everybody involved including the subs Peter Dunning and Paul Shoer jnr and the selectors Noel Clarke and Ger Tuite under manager Robert Ryan, for all their efforts throughout the competition.
Irish Open: The 2024 Irish Open takes place this weekend at Ryston in Newbridge. Riverdale will be represented by Stephen Shoer, Brian Cahill and Paul Cooney and we wish all three players the very best of luck.
Munster Strokeplay titles for Shoer and Forde: The Munster Strokeplay Championships took place last weekend at Ardnacrusha. It was a great weekend for Riverdale with two titles coming back to Nenagh.
On Saturday, the Gents intermediate championship and the Ladies championships took place. Liz Forde, with rounds of 60 and 59, was the winner of the Ladies Intermediate championship by two shots with fellow Tipperary player Frances Ryan from Lakeside in second place.
In the Ladies senior grade, Margaret Hennessy finished in third place with rounds of 59 and 61. In the gents intermediate grade Dean Counrtney finished in tenth place which included a fine last round of 51.
On Sunday, it was the turn of the Gents senior and junior grade. The junior grade saw Ger Tuite finishing in sixth place.
The final event of the weekend was the Gents senior. After 36 holes, Stephen Shoer was in second place with a score of 92, 16 under par. Most of the top players in the country were in this competition but in the final round, Stephen with another fine eight under par round, finished on 24 under par to grab him the title from fellow Tipperary player Stephen O'Reilly in second place and Damien Fleming of Deerpark, Killarney in third.
This was another great achievement by Stephen and as well as winning the Munster championship it puts him back to number 1 in the national rankings.
Well done to Liz and Stephen on their great wins and to Margaret on her bronze medal and also to all the Riverdale players who qualified for the final round in their grade.