Defending champion Sheena leads qualifiers

for match-play stages of Irish seniors

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Reigning champion Sheena McElroy (Grange) added a solid round of 79 to her impressive opening round of 75 to lead the qualifiers by four strokes at the Irish senior women’s close championship at Ardee Golf Club today.
On a calm, humid day, McElroy registered two birdies on the front nine and finished with a string of pars to make a comfortable start to the defence of her title. Violet McBride (Belvoir Park) and Valerie Hasset (Ennis) posted the lowest rounds of the day - 77s - to qualify in second and fourth positions respectively.
Strabane’s Helen Jones finished strongly with birdies at the 15th and 17th to claim third spot in tomorrow’s match-play draw.
Other impressive scores on day two included a 78 by Madeline Brennan (Carlow) after a disappointing first qualifying round of 88.
The first round of matcplay is sure to produce some exciting matches with Valerie Hassett taking on Baltinglass’s Mary Gorry and Violet McBride facing a tough test against Phil O’Gorman (Laytown/Bettystown).
QUALIFYING SCORES
154 Sheena McElroy (Grange) 75 79
158 Violet McBride (Belvoir Park) 81 77, Helen Jones (Strabane) 79 79
159 Valerie Hassett (Ennis) 82 77
161 Marilyn Henderson (West Rhine) 79 82
162 Catherine Reilly (The Heath) 77 85
163 Sally Casey (Seapoint) 82 81
164 Gill Rouiller (Mannan Castle) 83 81, Patricia O'Reilly (Headfort) 82 82
165 Pauline Walsh (Headfort) 84 81, Olivia Conroy (Co. Longford) 82 83
166 Madeline Brennan (Carlow) 88 78
170 Mary Gorry (Baltinglass) 85 85, Niamh Giblin (Dun Laoghaire) 85 85, Phil O'Gorman (Laytown/Bettystown) 85 85, Jane Gardner (Malone) 84 86
NON-QUALIFIERS
171 Mary Madden (Ballinasloe) 88 83, Rhona Brennan (Bandon) 85 86, Pamela Morgan (Lahinch) 84 87
173 Mary Geaney (Killarney) 88 85
174 Kay McCartan (Greenore) 89 85
175 Helen O'Donoghue (Clonmel) 89 86
176 Rita McGoldrick (Enniscrone) 87 89
177 Roma English (Larne) 93 84, Mairead MacNamara (Woodbrook) 87 90
178 Catherine Bird (Nenagh) 86 92
179 Valerie James (Bangor) 89 90
180 Val Shannon (Douglas) 88 92
181 Denise O'Sullivan (Hermitage) 94 87, Mary McCabe (Headfort) 94 87, Judy Clarke (Royal Portrush) 92 89, Mary McGoey (Greenore) 91 90
182 Noreen Granard (Portarlington) 93 89
183 Anna Moloney (Clonmel) 94 89
184 Carmel Cahill (Hermitage) 95 89
185 Helen Thornton (Ardee) 92 93
186 Fionnuala McGrady (Dunmurry) 96 90, Kath Stewart-Moore (Royal Portrush) 90 96
187 Finola Duncan (Bangor) 94 93
188 Geraldine Woods (Ardee) 95 93, Sheila Roche (Ardee) 90 98
189 Kathleen Hynes (Ardee) 97 92
191 Julie Barkman (Nenagh) 97 94, Iris Smyth (Bangor) 96 95
193 Mary Kidney (Headfort) 98 95
196 Patsy McCarthy (Grange) 95 101
RTD Gemma Jennings (Navan) 94 RTD

MATCH-PLAY DRAW
(nine-minute intervals)
09.00 Sheena McElroy v Jane Gardner, Patricia O'Reilly v Gill Rouiller, Marilyn Henderson v Madeline Brennan, Mary Gorry v Valerie Hassett.
09:36 Helen Jones v Niamh Giblin, Olivia Conroy v Catherine Reilly, Sally Casey v Pauline Walsh, Phil O'Gorman v Violet McBride.