Maguire netts the plaudits
Wednesday June 09 2010
THE long wait for a local East of Ireland golf champion goes on, but Enda Maguire gave the Seapoint club something to shout about by claiming the Best Nett prize at Baltray on Monday.
The youngster was in the top 10 heading into the final 18 holes thanks largely to a tremendous 68 in the second round, and managed to hold his nerve to claim the Jo Carberry Trophy by the narrowest of margins from Sutton's Derek Downie.
Maguire's closing 76 dropped him down the leaderboard slightly to 12th place with an aggregate of 291, 10 shots behind the overall winner Cian Curley, from the Newlands club.
Curley had a four-shot lead after two opening rounds of 68, but trailed by two heading into the final 18 holes after Galway's Eddie McCormack posted a 67 on Monday morning.
McCormack slumped to a 79 in the afternoon, however, allowing Curley to shake off another challenge from County Sligo's Gary McDermott and win by two shots, with the defending champion Paul Cutler (Portstewart) in third place.
One shot ahead of Maguire was County Louth's Gareth Bohill who claimed the last of the championship prizes – for eighth spot overall – with a closing round of 74 in windy conditions.
The only other locals to qualify for the final round were Laytown and Bettystown's Robert Cannon, who finished one shot behind Maguire, and County Louth's Daniel Coyle who was a further five shots back.
Among the big names who narrowly missed the half-way cut were County Louth pair Nigel Beirth and Shane Smyth, and John McGinn of Laytown and Bettystown.
Declan Branigan of Seapoint was the last local player to win the East of Ireland Championship back in 1995.
- Marcus CAVAROLI
