Summerhill golf club claim famous victory

SUMMERHILL Golf Club members were celebrating with great gusto last Saturday night as they hosted an official reception to honour the Newsam Cup-winning team which won the trophy for the first time on the 40th anniversary of its inception.

When the competition was first played, the Summerhill club didn't even exist as it was only established in 1993 and admitted to the Golfing Union of Ireland less than a decade ago, in 1998.

New kids on the block is an appropriate tag and one week earlier, Saturday, 15th September, at the well-appointed Royal Tara course, underdogs and rank outsiders Summerhill stormed to a 3-1 victory in the decider against illustrious opposition in the form of Seapoint.

The Newsam Cup is a very prestigious and sought-after trophy played amongst the clubs in north Leinster.

Captain C.W. Newsam originally presented the trophy to Rush Golf Club in 1967 when he was chairman and managing director of Navan Carpets.

The Newsam Cup has been a highly coveted prize among the top clubs with Headfort, Royal Tara and Mullingar all enjoying success.

Against opposition from an impressive array of clubs which comprised more than 30 teams, Summerhill Golf Club took home the 2007 Newsam Cup in a hotly contested decider.

The enormity of this achievement cannot be underestimated when you consider that this is a club with scarcely more than 100 members.

When you allow for the number of members who are simply signed up for handicap purposes, the 'pool' of regular players is closer to 40 and it is from this small group that the 2007 Newsam Cup team was drawn.

Many of the other clubs in the competition boast membership numbers of the order of 600 to 1500 - and this goes some way to explaining the sense of pride among the Summerhill team, managers and the entire club.

Summerhill overcame the challenge of neighbours South Meath in the opening round before the negotiated the challenge posed by Mullingar at the next hurdle.

They successfully handled Delvin Castle and then Navan to set up a 'David v Goliath' decider against Seapoint.

Royal Tara hosted the final and Summerhill recorded a 3-1 victory to claim their first piece of silverware.

At a specially convened celebration at the Clubhouse on Saturday night, the 2007 Captain, Mr Patrick Fox, commented:

"This is a tremendous achievement for the club and is a fitting result for the hard work put in by the individual team members under the skilful stewardship of team managers George Crolly and Jim Miller," commented Summerhill captain Pat Fox at Saturday night's official reception.

The Summerhill captain thanked all the clubs which participated in the competition and, in particular, Seapoint for providing a very sporting contest as well as Royal Tara for the hospitality and courtesy extended on the day.

Summerhill Golf Club is a challenging course set in just over 75 acres of mature natural parkland in the idyllic setting of Agher, Summerhill. The course is owned and managed by brothers Mark and John Nangle, has a membership of 110 and also caters for ladies and juniors.

The club is currently accepting new members and enquiries should be directed to Mark Nangle at (087) 6993100.