Congratulations to Adam Brown on becoming the new Junior Captain. Adam who is a low single figure handicapper has been a great member of the junior branch and is presently the holder of the Club Championship. He has played in all the junior teams over the years and really deserves his term of office. We wish him well and hope he has a successful and enjoyable year.
The first Junior Club Competitions will start on Tuesday 6th April with their Saturday Competitions starting on 10th April.
First Round of the Fred Daly Trophy has to be played before 26th April, full details of matches to follow.
TheDates for main Junior Competitions:
Sat 10th April – Austin Best Cup.
Sat 17th April – M. Donaghy Trophy.
Sat 24th April – Divot Cup.
Sat 1st May – John Weir Trophy.
Sat 8th May - Maginness Shield.
Sat 22nd May – McCluskey Cup.
Sat 29th May – Junior Cup.
Sat 12th June – W. Armstrong Cup.
Sat 19th June – Major T.D. Watt Cup.
Sat 3rd July – Summer League Round 1.
Tues 6th July – Summer League Round 2.
Sat 10th July – Summer League Round 3.
Tues 13th July – Summer League Round 4.
Sat 17th July – Summer League Round 5.
Tues 20th July - Summer League Round 6.
Tues 3rd Aug – Junior Masters Round 1.
Sat 7th Aug – Junior Masters Round 2.
Sat 14th Aug – Junior Cup.
Tues 17th Aug – Grove Farm Trophy.
Sat 21st Aug – Tom Johnston Trophy.
Tues 24th Aug – Junior President’s Day.
Tues 31st Aug – Vice Captain’s Cup.
Sat 4th Sept – Junior Captain’s Day.
The Fred Daly Team played the home match of the first round against Mayola Park Golf Club on Sunday 18th April, winning five matches out of the seven. This was a great result for our juniors and gives them a great chance of progressing after the away match on Sunday 25th April. Having progressed to the next round the boys will play Dungannon.
The Fred Daly Team played Dungannon in the first leg match on Friday 14th May. Tandragee played excellent golf and won all seven matches. Jamie Stothers and Adam Brown won their matches on the 17th, James Hewitt, Ross Dutton and Stefan Greenberg all won on the 16th hole. Jack McClean had to go to the first tie hole to win his match and Jordan Laverty won on the 12th. Dungannon have decided not to play the return leg so Tandragee progress into the third round.
This was a busy weekend for our juniors with the Ronan Rafferty Team also playing the return leg of the first round on Sunday 16th. Tandragee only got 6.5 points from a possible 20 at Edenmore last week so needed 14 points to win the match. The team was changed with the introduction of James Hewitt and Ross Dutton at number 1 & 2 respectively. The team proved their worth by winning the leg by 17.5 points to 2.5 giving an overall result of 24pts to 16. James Hewitt got 4 points, Ross Dutton won 3.5 points, Peter Cromie won 3 points, Luke Mehaffey 3.5 points and Aaron Latimer 3.5 points. What a fantastic turn around this was, they now play the winners of Killymoon and Dungannon in the next round.
The Fred Daly Team play Kilkeel in the next round of the competition. They play at home first on Saturday 5th June at 3pm and the away leg at Kilkeel on Saturday 12th June at 4pm. We all wish them well in their endeavours, it would be nice to see members turning up to support them both at Tandragee and Kilkeel.
This match was played at home on the 5th June with Tandragee having a great 7-0 win with Kilkeel conceeding the match without playing the return. Tandragee have only one more match against the winners of Warrenpoint and Balmoral to reach the semi-final for the second year in a row, we all wish them well in their next encounter.
The Major T.D. Watt Cup was played on Sat 19th June, results were;
1st Jamie Stothers with 40pts – 2nd Stefan Greenberg 39pts and 3rd Aaron Latimer on 38pts.
The Fred Daly Team played their quater final first leg against Balmoral on Friday 2nd July. They achieved a good result winning five matches from seven. They travel to Balmoral to play the return fixture on Sunday 18th July. First out was Jamie Stothers who was beaten on the 17th but played excellent golf covering the 17 holes in one under par, but was beaten by a player on form. Junior Captain Adam Brown was out in second spot and won his match on the last hole. The third James Hewitt won his match comfortably on the sixteenth hole. Ross Dutton was beaten on the eighteenth hole but put up a great fight winning the 17th hole with a birdie to square the match with one hole to play. Unfortunately he was unable to get his par and the Balmoral player won the match. The final three players all won their matches, Jack McClean winning on the 15th hole, Stefan Greenberg winning on the 17th and Jordan Laverty winning on the 15th. We wish them luck in the return on the 18th.
The Ronan Rafferty team secured seventeen and a half points from twenty in the first leg of the tie which was played last week. The team travelled to Portadown on Sunday 4th July needing only 3 points to win the tie. The team was changed with Jack McClean, Jordan Laverty and Christopher Fearon coming into the side, and the three boys helped secure the overall win. Jack and Jordan both claimed a half point after 9 holes and Chris Fearon along with Aaron Latimer secured one point each after 9 holes to give the team the three points required to progress into the semi-final stage of the competition.
Fred Daly Quarter Finals.
Balmoral was the venue for the second leg of the quarter finals of the Fred Daly tournament. The first leg result was five matches to two in favour of Tandragee, so it was always going to be a tight return match. Balmoral defeated Tandragee in the final last year so the Tandragee team were looking for revenge. The first match out was Jamie Stothers who looked like being beaten with three holes to play as he was two down but he halved the next two holes and with a birdie at the last he claimed a half match. James Hewitt was next and was also looking like loseing as he was four down with five to play, but won the next four holes to go up the last all square. They both had pars at the eighteenth which gave Tandragee another half match. Jack McClean halved his match after being two down with four to play. Jordan Laverty, Stefan Greenberg and James Armstrong lost their matches which meant that Tandragee needed a win from Luke Mehaffey. He was all square playing the eighteenth, he hit a good drive and left his approach short of the green but a good chip and two putts was enough to win the hole and give Tandragee the result they were looking for. They now play the winners of Banbridge and Donaghadee in the semi-finals on the 8th August at Knock Golf Club.
The Fred Daly Team have won the Ulster Section of the Fred Daly trophy and are now heading to Dungarvan Golf Club in Waterford for the All Ireland Finals. The semi-final and final of the tournament were played at Knock Golf Club on Sunday 8th August with Tandragee playing Donaghadee in the morning and Portrush and Belvoir Park playing in the second semi-final. The Tandragee team were too strong for Donaghadee with the first four players winning their matches, Jamie Stothers on won on the 18th, Adam Brown won on the 15th, James Hewitt won on the 14th and Ross Dutton won on the 15th. The remaining two matches were in strong positions when they were called in.
In the second semi-final Portrush beat Belvoir Park to set up the final with Tandragee. The match was very close with Jamie Stothers beating Ulster Interprovincial player Jamie Richardson on the 18th. Adam Brown lost his match on the 14th. The next to win was Ross Dutton finishing on the 17th and Jack McClean also winning on the 17th. That gave Tandragee three matches so one more would do to claim victory. James Hewitt was one down with two to play and had a fantastic eagle on the 17th to go down the last all square. Both players had pars on the 18th and headed for the 1st tee to play tie holes. James successfully hit the green in two and a par was enough to win and make Tandragee Ulster Champions.
The moment of victory.
Prize giving.
Team with their prizes.
This was a fantastic achievment by the boys but credit must also go to their coach Dympna who would also like to thank all those who turned up to support the team.
The team travelled to Dungarvan Golf Club to play in the All Ireland Finals on Tuesday 17th August. In their semi-final they were drawn to play Athenry Golf Club, unfortunately losing by the narrowest of margins winning 3 matches out of 4 with Athenry going on to become All Ireland Champions.
This was a fantastic effort by our juniors and even though they were beaten they are still Ulster Champions and All Ireland bronze winners, no one can take that away.
The Team arriving for their match.
Ross Dutton preparing to tee off.
Junior Captain Adam Brown during his round.
A few of the large number Tandragee supporters.
Dympna saying a few words about her team and all who supported them after the boys recieved their bronze awards.
This has to be one of the best junior teams our Club has ever produced, they have done themselves and the Club proud and deserve all the credit due to them