Mick Heffernan wins the Michael Flynn Claret Jug 2010
Mick Heffernan receiving the Claret Jug from sponsor Michael Flynn
Once again the Michael Flynn Claret Jug proved to be a weekend of intense competition and continuous excitement. The weekend got off to a flying start on Saturday morning with Liam Buckley triumphing over Pat Smith in the first match. Pat Smith bounced back to beat Watty Kenny though in the next match in that group and when Liam Buckley also beat Watty it meant an early exit for Wat. Victories for John McDonald over Kevin Farrell and John Flanagan saw ‘Dossie’ progress to Sunday and Kevin won the straight shoot-out with John for the second qualifying spot. The third group of the morning threw up a shock with the current Westmeath Senior matchplay champion getting knocked out after defeats to Charlie Nolan and Leo Ryan. The final group of the morning proved to be the tightest one. Mick Heffernan won a tight match against Paddy Browne on the last hole after drawing earlier with Michael Flynn. It meant that Michael only needed a draw with Paddy in the last match to progress but Paddy sneaked through in the end with a 2&1 victory.
And so to the afternoon – the pre-tournament favourite Liam Hetherton had very little trouble dispensing of John Browne and Mick Buckley leaving the 2 seniors to fight it out for the second spot. After a high quality match Mick edged it on the last hole. Next up we lost the former National Champion Niall Cuffe as a combination of giving shots and good play from his opponents meant that he lost out to both Paddy Gorman and Martin Carter. Defending champion Stuart Tarleton saw off the challenge of George Carolan and Peter Dolan leaving the 2 lads to battle it out for the second place. A super comeback by Peter Dolan in the match of the day, saw him come from 2 down with 2 to go, to win it on the first tie-hole. And finally victories for Larry McGinn and Tom Archbold over Ena Clinton meant that both men progressed.
Paddy Gorman finished Runner-up in the Claret Jug
And so to Sunday morning and the knockout stages. First up was Paddy Browne against Peter Dolan. Despite a very spirited display from Paddy, Peter had just too much in the tank for him and ran out a 4&3 winner. Next up was Liam Buckley against Pat Smith in a rematch from the group stages from the day before. Unfortunately for Pat the result was the same and he made his exit on the 16th hole. Larry McGinn then took on Charlie Nolan and the Cavan man played very solidly to record a 3&2 victory. Stuart Tarleton then faced Kevin Farrell and defending champ, Stuart, prevailed in a tight match by a 2&1 scoreline. John McDonald made a valiant comeback against Paddy Gorman but in the end the ‘Rocker’ won on the 17th. Mick Heffernan was in fine form against Mick Buckley running out an easy 5&3 winner. The best match of the morning was between Liam Hetherton and Tommy Archbold – with it going right to the last hole before Liam edged through. But the performance of the round went to Leo Ryan when he defeated the highly fancied Martin Carter by a 3&2 scoreline.
And so to the quarter-finals – first up was the all-senior affair of Larry McGinn and Liam Buckley. Liam stormed into a 2 hole lead after 3 but birdies on 4, 5 and 6 meant that Larry went 1 up. A further birdie on 13 gave Larry a 2 hole lead going to the 15th. An incredible chip in from out the back of 15 followed by another chip in on 16 from Liam levelled up the match and then Liam pinched it on the last with a 10 footer to win.
Mick Heffernan produced some of the best Pitch and Putt of his life to knock out the defending champ Stuart Tarleton. Mick was 5 under par for 16 holes when they shook hands with Mick winning 3&2. Paddy Gorman was also in a rich vein of form and he turned the form book on its head when he knocked out the pre-tournament favourite Liam Hetherton by a 2&1 scoreline. And the final quarter-final saw Peter Dolan winning a close encounter with Leo Ryan by a 3&2 scoreline.
Beaten Semi-finalist Liam Buckley
Beaten Semi-finalist Peter Dolan
The semi-final draw threw up two Senior vs Junior clashes and it was wonderful to see that the Junior pre-veiled on both occasions. Liam Buckley was drawn against Mick Heffernan and Peter Dolan had to play Paddy Gorman. Both semi-finals went the full distance but in the end ‘Heffo’ and the ‘Rocker’ both got through on the 18th.
And so we had a final that most would not have predicted at the start of the day – Mick Heffernan was up against Paddy Gorman. Mick came out of the traps like a greyhound and a shell-shocked Paddy Gorman found himself 4 down after 18 in this 36 hole final. Mick had extended the lead to 5 after the 5th and it was looking like a formality. But then Paddy found an extra gear and started the comeback. An incredible chip-in on the 15th completed an astonishing comeback to leave the match all-square with 3 to play. However an uncharacteristic 4 on 16 gave Mick a 1 hole lead again. Both men were caught by the sand trap on 17 and when Pat took 2 to get out he had to admit defeat and shook Mick’s hand at that stage. A wonderfully entertaining final had been completed by 2 of the games gentlemen.
Sponsor Michael Flynn thanked the players and the club for the enjoyment he gets from it and in turn John Browne thanked Michael for his continued kind sponsorship of both this competition and the club outing. Mick Heffernan was over-joyed with his victory and thanked all the supporters for keeping him going in the final.
Larry McGinn wins the Hole-In-One prize
- Michael Flynn receiving his prize for nearest the pin on the first from assistant comp. sec. John Browne
