*Seán Crowe, winner of the Kerry Boys Plate Championship at Ballybunion Golf Club pictured with Captain Vincent Moloney. Photograph: Francis Bennett.
WOODSTOCK JUNIOR Captain Seán Crowe reigned supreme in the Kerry Boys Plate Championship.
Eighteen year old Seán won the final of the Kerry Boys Plate held at Ballybunion Golf Club on Friday.
Run in a similar format to the South of Ireland Amateur Championship in Lahinch which Seán attended as a spectator, the Kerry Boys sees 130 junior golfers tee off on the Cashen Course of the seaside Kerry links for the U18 championships.
Two rounds of strokeplay started off the competition on Tuesday and Wednesday with the top thirty two young golfers then advancing for the Championship and Plate in a matchplay format with sixteen in each.
Seán won his last sixteen and quarter-finals in the Plate on Thursday, accounting for Kevin Barry of Clonmel Golf Club on the eighteenth hole and then defeating Lahinch’s Cathal McNulty in the quarter-final on the nineteenth hole.
In the semi-final, he won on a score of four and three against James Crowe of Limerick Golf Club who is no relation.
Friday’s final saw Seán tee off with Jack Whelan also of Limerick Golf Club and he prevailed that evening on a score of two up. In the final, Crowe landed a hole in one on the third hole in what was a memorable victory.
A member of Woodstock Golf Club in Ennis, Seán has represented the club this year in Senior Cup and the Barton Shield plus Junior Foursomes and the Fred Daly. Having recently turned eighteen, he will be commencing his Leaving Certificate year at Rice College next week.
Viewed as one of the most promising young golfers in the county, he is noted for his dedication to the sport and has been a member of Woodstock Golf Club since 2011.
Clare’s very first winner of the competition was Tommy Skerritt in 1950, a member of a well-known golfing family from Lahinch. Other past winners included Gerry McGlennon (1954) and Michael Walsh (1955), both of Lahinch Golf Club. Thurles native Michael Wall but a member of Lahinch won in 1959.
Cathal O’Loughlin also of Lahinch won in 1961 with Brian O’Brien recording back to back successes in 1962 and 1963, his brother Raymond won the title in 1968.
Lahinch’s strong ties with the Kerry Boys Plate is fitting given that Seán’s father Noel hails from Ennistymon and his grand-father JJ is a former Chairman of Ennistymon football club and Bord na nÓg Peil and ex Clare minor football selector.
