The Paul McGinley Cup 2023

On Easter Saturday the Junior members of Dunfanaghy Golf Club held an Awards ceremony for the 2022 Paul McGinley Cup and Plate winners and finalists. In addition, the Junior members wanted to take the opportunity to present to Daniel McColgan a token of their appreciation for looking after them over the past 4 years in his role as their Convenor.
 
The Paul McGinley Cup and Plate have been in existence for almost 10 years and followed on quickly from James Sweeney and Brian Dolan rekindling of the Juvenile section. This involved Saturday morning competitions, lessons with the club Professional, Seamus McMonagle, and fielding teams in county and provincial competitions. Results quickly followed with the club racking up silverware in several Donegal Youth team events and being very competitive in Fred Daly competitions. Graduates of the early days can be seen around the club regularly either playing in low single figures or working on the course or in the club. The first cohort are taking their place in the fabric of the club and contributing to Dunfanaghy Golf Club’s ongoing success. To date, several players have been capped at Provincial and National level in various Golf Ireland teams. What is particularly noteworthy is that some players have gone on to college in the US on golf scholarships.
 
The Cup and Plate are hard fought competitions, and the list of winners is a who’s who of sporting excellence. The 2022 affair was no different with a rematch between 2021 finalists where Lucas Wood defeated Rory Kelly. However, in 2022 Rory was not going to let it happen again beat Lucas to win the Paul McGinley Cup and with that secured bragging rights over older brother Luke who, despite being off +3, never won the Paul McGinley cup. In the Plate, Lorcan Hogg defeated Cormac Gill.
 
The Awards were followed up with the presentation to Daniel McColgan which came in the form of a 4 ball voucher to play Ballyliffin. We can’t speak highly enough of Daniel whose role as the Junior Convenor over the past 4 years were through very difficult times. Having that consistency that Daniel provided along with access to the golf course during those times hopefully provided some respite. Many thanks Daniel and also good luck to Fergal Callan who is the taking up the mantle of Junior Convenor.