2016 - #9

The 9th Carne Trophy event took place in St. Helen's Bay on Saturday October 1st.   For once it looked like the weather was going to let us down, it was raining all morning and we were teeing off at noon. Fortunately, after some calls by her sons on Molly to intervene on high, the rain thankfully stopped at 11:30 and, indeed, the weather got brighter and brighter for then on and we had very pleasant playing conditions in the end.

This year we had 17 people playing with the teams once again being drawn in the Kilrane Inn on the Friday evening.  The following were the line-ups that emerged:

The usual scramble format was the order of the day, and all four teams enjoyed the golf and the conditions.  After the golf, everyone adjourned to the bar in the Saint Helen's Bay clubhouse just in time to see a certain replay between Mayo and Dublin.  Thankfully the result ultimately went the right way (apologies to any Mayo fans!), otherwise the physical and mental health of several of our participants would have been under severe threat.

Next up was the Kilrane Inn once again where the ‘golfers’ were joined by Brian and Sonia McGarry, Maura and Eithne Butler and Paddy Burke. Again we had the entire restaurant area to ourselves with Jim, Mark and the K1 team looking after us as well as ever.  After a great meal, we moved onto the results and prizes.

The team that won the Carne Trophy this year posted an excellent gross score of 70, two under par to win by two shots. The winners were the team containing all three of Molly's sons Tommy, Hughie and Shea, her great grandson James Burke and Guy Wheeler.  Second place went to the team which consisted of all three of Joe's sons-in-law, Russell, Billy and Marc who were playing with this year's solitary lady, Anne-Marie Ryan.

Nearest the pin on the 7th was won by Stephen Connolly, longest drive on the 9th was won by Danny Donohoe and nearest the pin on the 11th was won (for the 2nd year in a row!) by James Burke.  Golfer of the day was won by Russell Burke (with considerable help from team captain Billy!) and the Green Jacket going to previous winner Fergal McGrath.

In addition to the presentation of prizes, we also took a few moments to remember absent friends, Molly O'Donnell, Gay Reilly, Pat Hennessy and Joe Connolly.  Stephen Connolly then said a few words on behalf of his Mum, Ellie who had kindly sponsored the main prizes.  Thanks for that Ellie and also to Guy Wheeler, Russell and Susan, Billy Meagher (Meagher Investments) and Tommy O'Donnell who also sponsored prizes and goody bags for the event.

A great night was had by all, and we look forward to the tenth running of this great event in 2017.