All the news from around the county's golf clubs

There are few who will take advantage of the good weather like Donegal's golfers!

Expect plenty of sun-block, peaked caps and some fine scoring over the coming days.

Here's a round up of what's been happening lately in Donegal:

PORTSALON

On Saturday, 27th May, Portsalon members will contest for the first of the 2017 golfing majors as Andy Boland will hold his President's Day. The time sheet for the event is open and is filling up fast. The Captain Martin Blaney and the members of Portsalon Golf Club wish Andy success on his big day.
Members and visitors should note that the course is booked for the Donegal Links Classic which is scheduled to run over three days 29th 30th and 31st May .
We are delighted to announce a Junior Golf initiative commencing in June in conjunction with the Confederation of Golf in Ireland. There will be weekly lessons with a PGA Professional along with weekly junior competitions. Why not come along on June 1st and enjoy the fun.
For more information, or to book places on the programme contact: Eamonn on 086 089 1438 or Clare on 086 392 4515.
Results: The winner of the Applegreen sponsored open staged on Saturday was  Patrick McFadden (16) 40 points, Runner-up: Donal Callaghan Snr (14) 35 points BOT, Gross: Conor Connolly (4) 31 points, Third: Michael McLaughlin (25) 35 points BOT.
On Sunday the winner of the members competition was James Comiskey (19) 41 points, Runner-up: Mark Howard (12) 36 points BOT, Gross: Cathal Canning (6) 29 points, Third: Paddy McGroarty (12) 36 point.
Events: On Saturday, 27th May it’s Andy Boland’s Presidents Day. and Sunday 28th a members competition and on Wednesday 31st it’s an open gents competition.
Team News: It was yet another a busy weekend for Portsalon teams. The Ulster Cup team entertained Bangor in the return leg of the Ulster Cup. Having obtained three matches in the away leg the home team emerged victorious and will now meet Kilkeel in the next round.
In the Mixed-foursomes qualifying which was staged at Dunfanaghy Golf Course, the Portsalon team qualified in third place and will now play City Of Derry.

Gaoth Dobhair
Bhain Sean Sweeney chomortas Cassidy Chemist Bunbeg ag an deireadh seachtaine le scor do 65. Scor ar doigh aris o Shean. Sa dara hait bhi Micheal Og O Dochartaigh le 67 . Sa triu hait bhi Sean O h-icí le 69 BOT. Chuaigh an comhlán chuig Cian O Fearraigh le 74. Fuair an chead 9 chuig Hughie Mc Bride le 33 agus an dara 9 chuig Hugh o Gallchoir le 32 . Bhain Owenie Gallagher an catagoir le 71. CSS Sun 69

Seniors: Birdies at the 4th and 15th helped Rory Mangan win his 2nd seniors tournament this year.
1ú Rory Mangan 40, 2ra Patsy Gallagher 37, 3ú Matt Murray 36 (B.O.T), 4ú Peadar Ó Gallchóir 36
Tá an gráth chomórtas ar an tseachtain seo.
Tuesday 30 May will be the last tournament for this year.
Béidh cuid mhór duiseanna le baint. Is fiú imirt. Big turnout is expected.
Pobal Scoil Classic Results. 1st with 101 BOT. Piaras Coyle, Micheal Doherty, Aisling Uí Chumhaill and Donal Greene, 2nd with 101 Noel o Fearraigh, Philip McDarby, Declan McBride and John Gallagher. 3rd with 100 Jason McBride, Paul McGee, Paul Lynch and Peadar Gallagher
Team news: The Junior scratch team start the defence of their title v Portsalon this week at home. With the rule changes from last year only 2 ff the panel of 7 used are eligible when the handicap is increased from 6 to 7. Adh mór ar an fhoireann.
The club will be hosting beginners lessons on Friday evenings during the month of May at 6pm.

Letterkenny Ladies
Congratulations to Monica McDonagh on a great win with 38pts in last week’s competition, kindly sponsored by Mc Cullagh Jewellers. Other winners were: runner up Eileen Williamson (20) 37pts bot, gross Marian O'Sullivan(11)24 gross pts, third Grainne Hines (26) 37pts, front 9 Angela Bradley (11) 20pts, back 9 Bried McLaughlin (35) 15pts bot. Well done to all the prize winners!
Hard luck to Marian Keating and John Doran’s mixed team who failed to qualify for the mixed foursomes held in Dunfanaghy last Sunday.
Lady Captain’s day out which was planned for Saturday, 27th May, to Rosapenna Golf Club has now been postponed until September.

Ballybofey and Stranorlar
Michael Curran was red hot against the might of the Royal Belfast Golf Club in the second leg of their third round tie of the Fred Daly Trophy. While the last two matches out for B&S, young Patrick Carr and Thomas McMenamin were playing their hearts out and keeping a very tight rein on their opponents, it was the first three that were really impressing away from home. Seán McBride was two up after 11 holes and Ryan Griffin sank a brilliant putt for a birdie on the 12th to go three up but it was Michael Curran who was to have the smile of the day when he had a massive win of 8 and 7.
Both Club Captain Bernard Foy who travelled to support our junior golfers and Team Captain Seán Carlin had nothing but praise for the boys who now meet Castlerock in the the last 16 in Ulster. Sean also thanked the parents who travelled to belfast.
Ulster Cup: B&S Ulster Cup side took their matches down to the wire but it was City of Derry who were to advance to the next round through a putt on the very last hole, but this side can improve and go much further next year.
Our Mixed Foursomes missed out on qualification by just one point which shows the impotrance of each hole played in any competition. Good luck to all our teams who are in action next weekend.
A big thank you to our last weekend sponsors, Lawne Motor Factors and Flatley's Pharmacy.
Results: Tuesday, 16th May, Brian McDermott and Brian McGinley, 1st James Connolly (v) 21 (41pts), 2nd Cathal Hegarty ,(20) 40pts (bot), Gross, Ryan Griffin (5) 33pt
3rd Nett: Jackie Rush (20) 40pts, (bot); Senior, Denis Grindle (20) 38pts

Saturday 20th May, 1st Donough Cleary (5) 38pts (bot,), Gross, Ryan Griffin (5) 31 pts, 2nd Bob McFeely (15) 38pts (bot), 3rd P.J. McGowan 1437pts
Sunday, Flatley's Pharmacy: 1st Paddy McNulty 80-15= 65, 2nd PJ Fitzgerald 81 -15= 66, 3rd Lorcan Donnellan 75-8-67.
Fixtures; Saturday 27th DMG Motors, Sunday 28th Patton Foods, Tue 30th Michael O'Flanagan & Loman O'Dowd.

Cruit Island
The weather was fairly good for our weekend competition, sponsored by Bayview Bar, Dungloe.
Declan Gillespie was the man in form on Sunday morning. After a steady front 9 in wet conditions of 18pts, as the wind blew up on the back 9, Declan had an amazing level par 9 to shoot 23pts and a 41pts winning score. Michael O'Donnell took 2nd with 39pts and Packie McHugh was 3rd with 35pts.
The Summer Cup draw is made with 6 preliminary matches and the full draw for the 1st round proper. It's really great to have 22 teams entered.
Please play matches asap. Dates for matches and full draw is in clubhouse and on Facebook.
This week we have the Lobster Pot-sponsored 18 hole stroke competition.
The Michael Sharkey Memorial competition is on Sunday, 4th June.

Ballyliffin
The Saturday competition on the Old Course was kindly sponsored by Mc Grory's of Culdaff. Coming out on top was Ross Donaghy [14] with 39pts. Aaron Jenkins [5] claimed 2nd spot also with 39pts. Brendan Devlin [0] made it the whole way to the 16th before he had a bogey but 3 birdies before that gave him a 2 under round for 38 pts and 3rd place. Joe Sheridan [18] took 4th with 37pts.
The Gross went to an up and coming young player Garret Mallon [1] with 35 gross pts.
The Sunday confined was on Glashedy and for a change the morning men got rained on from the heavens. One of the younger generation, former Fred Daly member, Ben Collins [9] took first place with 39 pts. In second place was Past Captain Liam Doherty [w] [6] with 36 pts. In third place was Allo Tully [23] also with 36 pts. Fourth went to John K Farren [17] with 35 pts. 6 handicapper Mark Davis took the Gross with 28 gross pts.
The Wednesday Society was won by Philip Doherty with 36 pts. In 2nd place was Tony Crowley with 36 pts also and in 3rd place was Phelim Davenport with 34 pts.
Hard luck to Johnny Mc Geoghegan's team who lost out on the break of a tie at qualifying in Dunfanaghy.

Well done to Ciaran Mc Conologue's Jimmy Bruen side who defeated North West in the matchplay stages at Greencastle on Friday evening.
Forthcoming events and fixtures: Saturday 27th, Open Competition on The Old Links. Visitors €40; Sunday 28th Confined on The Old Links
Scramble every Friday from 5pm.

Letterkenny Hospitals society
The Letterkenny Hospitals Golf Society held its latest outing at Dunfanaghy Golf Club on Friday last and in ideal conditions scoring was of a high quality.
Best of the day came from 2015 Captain Conal Mac aBhaird who returned an excellent scorecard of 42 Stableford points. That was just enough to pip runner-up Kevin Mills' fine return of 41 points. Joe Blake was in third spot on 40 points on the break of tie from Eamonn Sweeney in fourth, also on 40 points following a brilliant front nine of 25pts.
Results: Section One: Pauric McHugh 38pts, Hugh Mc Clafferty 36pts bot, John Doherty 36pts.
Section Two: Eileen Williamson 39pts, Charlie Collins 37pts, Michael Boucher-Hayes 35pts bot.
Section Three: Noel Duggan 37pts, Adrian Daly 35pts, Ken Sharpe 33pts.
1st Nine, Mick Gallagher 21pts., 2nd Nine, James McFadden 18pts.
Society Captain Vera Kearney thanked the members for again turning out in big numbers, Dunfanaghy Golf Club for hosting the outing and its staff for their hospitality and service. Vera also confirmed that the next local outing will take place at Rosapenna Golf Club on Monday, 19th June and hoped that those members travelling to the Slieve Russell Hotel and Golf Resort next week for the annual away outing would have an enjoyable time.

Narin and Portnoo
Another one of our club teams made their exit last weekend when our Irish Mixed foursomes did not qualify in Dunfanaghy
Next Sat/Sun. 27th/28th May will be a Single Stableford sponsored by J J Reid Motors
Results: Sat. 20th May, 1st Harold Reid (8) 37pts, 2nd Jim Harley (6) 36pts. Sunday, 21st May, Monthly Medal 1st John Gallagher (12) 70, 2nd Kevin Byrne (13) 72, 3rd Patsy Harkin (20) 73 b.o.t., Front Nine Mickey Campbell (11) 33, Back Nine Charlie Tully (13) 36, Cat A Ciaran O'Kane (10) 36, Cat B Seamus Ryan (17) 73, Cat C John Byrne (28) 75.

Bundoran Ladies
Congratulations to Kathleen Connolly who won the Lafayette Photography competition on Sunday last.
Results: 1st Kathleen Connolly 37 points, 2nd Yvonne McGarrigle 34 points, 3rd Ursula McManus 32 points. Well done to Josephine McGurren who won the Pillbox Ballyshannon and Bundoran competition with a score of 73 (b.o.t.) on Thursday last.
This Thursday the Little Bullet with Murvagh G.C. will be taking place in Bundoran.
Next weekend sees the Club Classic from Saturday 27th to Monday 29th sponsored by Western Car Sales. Sympathy is extended to the Clancy and Keon families on the recent passing of Michael Clancy, a former captain and stalwart of Bundoran Golf Club.

Ballybofey and Stranorlar Ladies
In the Wednesday 17th stableford competition sponsored by Kathleen McGowan, Josephine Stewart and Bridie Faulkner, the Cat 3 players were top of the heap with Brieid Kelly on 36 pts and Ita Ward just behind on 35 pts. Cat 2 Josephine Stewart 34 pts Margaret Hynes 31 pts; Cat 1 Margaret McConnell 35 pts Clara McNeill 34 pts.
In the 2's , there was just the one winner, Margaret Hynes.
Sat Sweep: 1st Sharon Maloney on an excellent 38 pts, 2nd Maureen Boyle on 36 pts bot and Darragh McGowan 36 pts.
The Junior Foursomes team played against North West and won 1 and a half matches at home. Plenty to do now on the return leg. The team were Mary McHugh and Margaret Hynes, Ann Glancy and Stephanie Canning, Bridie Faulkner and Sharon Maloney, Team Capt. Dolores Devanney.

The Senior Foursomes team played the 2nd leg away to Lisburn and needed just a half match to clinch the round as they won all 3 matches at home. They won one match, enabling them to proceed to the next round. The team were Darragh McGowan and Ann Glancy, Margaret McConnell and Eileen Boyce, Bridie Faulkner and Deirdre Duncan with Team Captain, Deirdre Duncan.

Donegal Ladies
Results of the Ashtree Garden Centre Sponsored Ladies Competition at Donegal Golf Club, Murvagh from May 14th-16th, 1st. Rosemary Carr (18) 36pts 2nd. Geraldine Breslin (21) 33pts BOT 3rd. Helen O'Shea (15) 33pts 4th. Moragh Canney (28) 32pts 5th. Bernie Finn (17) 31pts.
Nine Hole. 1st. Helen O'Shea (15) 20pts;
CARA Pharmacy Open day Ladies Competition on 13th: 1st Celine Markey (20) 30pts, 2nd Bried Gallagher (24) 29pts BOT
NBCRI Charity 9 Hole, 1st May: 1st Bernie Finn (17) 18 points, 2nd Anne Marie McCormick (30) 17 points; Donegal Golf Club Murvagh Foursomes qualified in Clones on 21 May to play in the Mixed Ulster Foresomes Team. Dorothy Woods is the Team Captain.

North West
Sean Dixon (10) completed his round at North West on Tuesday (May 16th) in 75 shots for a superb 41 points on the card. 21 points on the outward nine were backed up by 20 on the back nine to give Sean the win. Runner up was Michael Bradley (9) who finished a shot back on 40 points.
The new format for the Debonair Singles was unveiled on Saturday and the members of North West got an opportunity to qualify for this year's competition which was sponsored by Handy Hands, painters and decorators.. In a change from the usual format where all competitors were drawn out in an open draw, this year's matchplay draw will only feature the top 8 who qualified from Saturday's competition. Topping the qualifying and winning the competition with ease was Gregory Boyce (14) who returned a superb 44 points to enter the draw as the top seed. Gregory coasted around the Lisfannon links in 76 shots to win by 3 points from runner up, Danny Devine (15) on 41 points. The gross was won by Competition Secretary, Stewart McGinlay (3) with 72 and 3rd went to Trevor Henderson (13) on 39 points.
Joe Flanagan completed the prizewinners, winning the back nine prize.

Dunfanaghy
Over the last few weeks we have had a lot going on at the club. Our Ulster Cup team got a good result with a 5-2 win at home. Unfortunately lady luck did not shine on them on their away match to Omagh.
We have the Club Classic next week on 27th May. If you haven’t got a team in already be quick as spaces are filling fast.
Sunday, 21st May saw the GUI Irish Mixed Qualifying. Dunfanaghy tied as top qualifiers with a score of 276 with City of Derry. The next game will be against Buncrana at Letterkenny in the next round.
Results: Wednesday Open Stableford, May 10th: 1st Neil McGinley 13 40pts bot, 2nd Charles Roaarty Jnr 12 40pts, Gross Declan Lynch 9 25pts, 3rd Brian McGinley 39pts, Css 67
Open 4BBB Stableford, 13th May: 1st David Johnston/Joe Terry.
Monthly Medal Stroke, 14th May: 1st Luke Kelly 66, 2nd M.J. McGinley 69,
Gross Daniel McColgan 76, 3rd John McCosker 70, 1st 9 Patrick McCafferty 31.5, 2nd 9 Derek Porter 33.5, CSS 68.
Wednesday Open Stableford, 16th May:
1st Sean O’Kane 19 Northwest 42,
2nd Gareth Patterson 5 Portnoo 38,
Gross Bryan Northey 6 30, 3rd Cairan Kelly 12 Strabane 36, Css 69.
Hickey Clarke & Langan Open, 20th May: 1st Mark Caithness 14 41pts, 2nd Brian McGinley 17 41pts bot, Gross Brian Wallace 7 30pts, 3rd Malachy Johnston 12 39pts, 1st 9 Lindsay McCorkell 16 22pts, 2nd 9 Paul Burton 10 20pts. Css 67.

Bundoran
The results for the weekend competition (20th and 21st May), sponsored by The Criterion Bar, Bundoran were:
1st: Oran Gallagher 65 (BOT), 2nd: Declan McGloin 65, 3rd: Jim McCafferty 67, 4th: John Keon 68 (BOT), Gross: Shane Feeney 73. Congratulations to all.
The presentation of prizes will take place at 9pm on Monday, May 29th.
The Club Classic, sponsored by Western Car Sales, Enniskillen, will be held over three days next weekend (27th - 29th). Entry fee €25 per player (Team of 4 - Meal included in price - Re-entry €15 with no food).
All are welcome.
The Club Matchplay Competitions will commence in June. Entries must be received by June 11th.

Letterkenny
On Wednesday, May 17th, Donaghey Van Centre sponsored the Open Competition. Stephen Walsh won with an excellent 12 pars beating his nearest rival Padraig McAleer by 3 points. Barry Ramsay came in third with a very good score of 40 pts.
The Sunday members competition was won by Con Boyce playing great golf with one eagle, three birdies and 13 pars scoring 43 pts. Eunan McGarrigle came in closely behind Con with 42 pts and David McCormick third with 41 pts.
On Sunday 21st Michael Bouchier Hayes stepped forward with his Ulster Cup Team playing against Banbridge. Letterkenny lost 4 - 3 away (a good result) Letterkenny needed 4 1/2 matches to win, however they were 3 1/2 matches up with one to play. It all came down to Kevin McDonald's match and nothing less than a win was essential down the 18th, both players were on the green in three. The Banbridge player's all or nothing putt failed to go in and Kevin secured his putt. Letterkenny came away with a great win. The next match will be against Spa at home in the first leg.
Upcoming events - The Divers Hyundai Open will be held on Saturday 27th May and Consultants Financial Services (Tom Mc Donagh & Niall Kavanagh) Open will be held on Wednesday 31st May