Short putts

Athlone

The Junior Cup team defeated Roscommon in their recent match and will now play Athenry in the next round.

Meanwhile, there were wins for Maeve Davis (46 points) in the recent 18-hole Stableford competition and Lily O’Sullivan (24 points) in the 9-hole. Emily Martin topped the 97 Club leaderboard with 32 points, with Antoinette Brew a close runner-up, also on 32.

Carrick

Congratulations to Frances Molloy (65 nett) who won last weekend’s competition. This weekend’s competition is the ‘Joan O’Shea’, a threeperson Mixed scramble.

Carrick’s Challenge Cup team won against Ballinamore last Friday afternoon and are now through to play Gort in the semi-final.

Unfortunately the JB Carr team was narrowly beaten by Roscommon as was the Flogas Mixed Foursomes team by Sligo.

There was better news for the AIG Men’s Junior Cup team who have qualified for a semi-final against Westport following victory over Co Sligo.

Back at the clubhouse, the Kieran’s Pharmacy competition results were as follows: Cat 1 Gary Hartigan (38); Cat 2 Jim King (38); Cat 3 Steven Daly (39).

Last Thursday’s Seniors’ competition results: Cat 1 Michael Keville (42); Cat 2 Charlie Farrell (37); Cat 3

(News from local golf clubs)

Dermot Monaghan (41) points; Front 9 Paddy Duffy (20); Back 9 Gerard Fitzgerald (22).

Castlerea

A further reminder that the Castlerea Annual Tully’s Totalhealth Golf Classic will take place over the weekend of June 23rd to 25th this year. Teams cost €100 and can be booked through the BRS System or by contacting Gerry on 086-8099410 or Jean at 0872257297.

Roscommon

Recent scores from the 36-hole competition saw Michael Sharkey lead the way on 65 nett. Brian Keane and Charlie McDonnell weren’t too far away on 66 with Gerry Keegan (68) just ahead of Paul McNally, Noel Sharkey and John Walker (all on 69). Next round is this Saturday.

Congratulations to Noreen O’Grady on winning Mary Cunningham’s President’s Prize to the Ladies with a wonderful 36-hole score of 137. Margaret Brennan (141) was runnerup, Bernie Brown (142) was third, and Paula Quinn (162) won the Gross prize.

Good luck to the men taking part in the final 18 holes of their competition. Presentation will take place on Saturday evening in the clubhouse and all are welcome to join.

Finally for this week, last Thursday’s Senior Ladies’ competition was won by G Hoban with M Brennan in second place while the Ladies’ Challenge Cup team was defeated by Portumna.

by Tom Red

went on to win the St Leger at Doncaster. He will take a lot of beating and should be the cause of a few cheers up in Rahara. Willie Mullins dual performer Echoes In Rain, winner of the Amateur Handicap in Galway last year, looks a good e/w bet.

Weekend action…

Racing this week starts this evening (Thursday) with action on the flat at Leopardstown, off at 4.40 pm. Tomorrow (Friday) evening there is flat racing at both Down Royal, off at 4.50 pm, and Limerick, first race at 5.08 pm. On Saturday afternoon, Down Royal races again featuring the Ulster Derby and Ulster Oaks, at 2 pm, and evening racing at Limerick at 5.23 pm. With no racing in Ireland on Sunday there is flat racing at Ballinrobe on Monday at 5.15 pm. All races from Royal Ascot are covered on ITV for the final three days featuring all the Group 1 races, the Gold Cup on Friday, the Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes, and the Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Stakes on Saturday, with a selection of races each day on Virgin Media 1. On Sunday, all seven races from Pontefract are being shown on ITV 4.

Racing news

The five breakaway racecourses - Kilbeggan, Roscommon, Sligo, Limerick and Thurles - who rejected a TV deal a little over a month ago announcing their intention to accept a more lucrative counter offer from Attheraces and Sky Racing rather than RacingTV for the next five years have come back into the fold and will now be shown on RacingTV.

Gordon Elliott lost another jockey when Danny Gilligan, second in the jockey’s championship and leading conditional jockey, broke his collarbone in a fall from Run For Pat in the beginners chase at Downpatrick on Saturday. Gilligan shouldn’t miss too much action as there is no National Hunt racing in Ireland between today and July 3rd giving him some time to recover.

Competition Corner

Last chance to win tickets for Roscom-

SPORTS DESK With Dan Dooner

Enda in ‘Team of the Week’

Roscommon footballer Enda Smith has been named in the GAA.ie ‘Football Team of the Week’ following his man of the match performance against Kildare in Tullamore last Sunday. The Boyle man has been in imperious form for the Primrose and Blue of late and will be hoping to lead them into the All-Ireland quarter-finals this weekend.

Boyle athlete takes European silver

Congratulations to another Boyle athlete, Finley Daly, who took silver in the 3,000m Steeplechase in a time of 8.51.41 at the European Games 2023 in Chorzow, Poland on Tuesday. The Sligo AC and NUI Galway athlete was part of 43-strong Irish team competing in Division Three at the games.

New ‘Head of Games Development’

Best wishes to Padraic Mitchell who was this week appointed ‘Head of Games Development’ by Roscommon GAA. Padraic, who replaces Willie Hegarty in the role, said of the appointment: “I am delighted to take up the opportunity of a lifetime, to manage coaching and games development in my home county”.

Roscommon GAA Chair Brian Carroll said: “Padraic has done great work over the last number of years within Roscommon GAA and I have no doubt he will have more successful years in his new role”.

Search is on for new hurling boss

The county’s Hurling Board has this week expressed their appreciation to the senior hurling management team of Seamus Qualter, Daithi Hand, Peter Galvin and Francis Doolan, whose term in charge has come to an end. Chairperson Christy McDermott thanked them for their time and effort with the team since taking the reins in February.

While in charge the team won promotion to Allianz League Division 2B and retained their Nickey Rackard status for 2024.

Mr McDermott said the position of senior manager was now vacant and applications are invited by email to secretary.hurling.roscommon@gaa.ie by Thursday, July 20th

Connacht title for Brian

Congratulations to Brian Mannion who recently won the Connacht Junior B handball title against Gordon Nolan on a 21-8 21-18 scoreline.

Elsewhere, well done to all Kilglass Gaels members who mon on Tuesday, July 4th for the listed Lenabane Stakes and all we want to know is which horse won the Connaught National in Roscommon last Monday week? took part in the Lurgan Clann Éireann Wallball Slam competition last Saturday.

Also, we have tickets for Roscommon on July 10th and for this we want to know which horse won the Prince of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot yesterday? Answers please on a postcard to the Roscommon People, Abbey Street, Roscommon or by email to tomred17@ gmail.com by 5 pm on Wednesday June 28th for July 4th and July 5th for the July 10th meeting. Don’t forget to include your name, address, and a contact phone number with all competition entries. Tickets will have to be collected in the office in Abbey Street, Roscommon.

Special mention to Tara Hill who was taking part in her first tournament. Tara showed great skill and determination throughout and was only narrowly beaten in the U-11 Shield final.

Niamh Hall lost her first game in the U-13 girls competition to the eventual winner but showed remarkable recovery skills to go on and win the Shield in emphatic style!

Eoin Grehan was in sparkling form last Saturday and he won through to the Cup final with two emphatic victories earlier in the day.

The final itself was a nail-biter but Eoin eventually came out on top to take the title on a 21-20 scoreline.

Patrick Grehan was the final Kilglass Gaels player in action on the day in the U-15 boys’ grade. He won his Shield semi-final impressively by 21-6 but unfortunately came up just short in the decider.