TEED UP FOR SUCCESS

The All-Ireland Fire Services Golf Championship continues to grow from strength to strength, writes Ray Campion

A Brief History

e All-Ireland Fire Services Golf Championships has been in existence for more than 20 years. e rst Championship was hosted by Limerick Fire Service at Castletroy Golf Club, and Limerick re service would continue to successfully host the event for ten years, seeing winners from Limerick, Cork and Dublin in the early years. e event was rst sponsored by Dreager, and they would supply the coveted chalice as the winners’ cup. e format of the event is a fourperson team competition, with each team splitting into two pairs playing opposite other teams as a fourball better ball style format. One score from each team would count on the rst 16 holes, with all four scores to count on the 17th and 18th holes. e venue changed on a couple of occasions, but the home of the event was always seen as Castletroy, with many teams coming to Limerick and staying the night to partake in the singles event the following dayat least those capable of attending a er the festivities from the previous night!

A er ten years, Limerick Fire Service felt it was time to pass the mantle to someone new, so Dublin Fire Brigade Sports and Social Club decided to take on the responsibility of running the event. With the template of the Championship established by Limerick, it was a seamless transition to move it to the east, with Castleknock Golf Club becoming the new home of the event. e competition for the trophy has become intense and has created great rivalries between teams from all over the country. With teams from Dublin, Limerick, Northern Ireland and Mayo getting their names on the cup, as well as many others.

Since then, the Championship has gone from strength to strength, with more than 35 teams entering the event this year. We have had various sponsors over the years, with Respro, DubCo, and PBS to name but a few. In recent years, Peopl Insurance have become the main sponsor of the event.

In 2015, the event was used as a vehicle to host a fund-raising event for one of our colleagues, F/F Ian McCormac (aka Frodo), who was battling a brain tumour. e event in conjunction with other fundraising events raised €15,000 for Ian and his young family. Sadly, Ian lost his battle, but that day will be proudest moment of the event.

2022 e Championships for 2022 took place at Rathsallagh Golf Club on 7 September, again hosted by Dublin Fire Brigade Sports and Social Club, and was once again a great success. A er an unfortunate booking issue with our usual venue of Castleknock Golf Club, we had to, at short notice, move the event. ankfully, is decision would turn out to be a popular one with the majority of golfers. is would also mean that teams did not have to split up, and made the tee box congestion and scoring easier to handle on the day. e day began with bright conditions and many of the teams arriving early and ready to go. e rst tee o was at 09:30am, and we saw Sean Foley (DFB) and team take the rst drives of the day. e early teams of Jim King (DFB) and Martin Troy (DFB) would set the early pace. At the turn a score of 3 under seemed to be the average.

Rathsallagh at such short notice. We hope it was worth the journey.

With a new course and pending bad weather, it was decided to change the format of the event to a scramble.

As the teams arrived, they were gi ed with a handsome and loaded goodie bag courtesy of Peopl Insurance in association with DubCo Ireland. A sincere thanks to our sponsors for their generosity, and we hope they will continue to support this great event.

It was at the halfway point that our regular burger and a beer was to be found. A big thanks to our resident chefs Alan (Bundy) Byrne and Derek (Burger) Baitson. As always, they served up some tasty treats to the passing players.

As the players passed the turn, the consensus was that the course was in superb condition, with the greens being described as perfect. is was down to the great work by the sta and groundsmen of Rathsallagh GC.

Rathsallagh Golf Club came to the rescue and proved to be a great venue for the premier golf event for re services personnel.

With almost 100 golfers attending this year’s Championships, the committee would like to thank all those who made the e ort to get to

As the morning progressed, we had teams from Limerick, Louth, Laois and our usual contingent from Northern Ireland Fire Service arrive, along with many other teams, and a great number of Dublin Fire Brigade teams making the e ort to get to the course.

By 1pm, we had almost all teams out on the course, with the early teams starting to appear on the 18th. e early scores would prove to set the pace for the day, with one particularly low score arriving in the rst few to nish. e team of Martin Troy would set a net score of 55, shooting 9 under on the day. is would prove to be the winning score.

Individuals

As for the longest drive and nearest the pin, they would be won by Craig Wilson (DFB) for the longest drive and Seamus McQuaid (Westmeath) with the nearest the pin. When asked about the nearest the pin shot, Seamus was heard to have said: “I hit a ¾ nine iron with a hint of fade and a touch of backspin!” although one of his playing partners said he choked down on a rescue wood, hit a tree, then the footpath, and ran through the bunker and ended up next to the hole. Hard to know who to believe!

is year, we also had our rst Holein-One in the Championship’s history. is honour went to Paul Johnston of the Northern Ireland Fire Service. A big congrats from all, and mine is a Guinness!!

As the last of the teams began to come to the end of their rounds, those in the mix kindly stayed until the last group tapped in on the 18th. Although we had some great scoring, no one could catch the early score of the eventual winners Martin Troy, Neil Corcoran, Simon Lawlor and Fergal McCourt (DFB). e trophy was presented to the team captain Martin, who had some very kind words to say about the event. e prizes for the day were sponsored by DubCo and were of a quality be tting such a prestigious event.

So, all in all it was a very successful day, with far better weather than expected, and far better weather than Castleknock GC had on the day.

Once again, a sincere thanks to all who attended, to Rathsallagh Golf Club, and especially to our two sponsors Peopl Insurance and DubCo Ireland. Without their support we would not have had such a successful and enjoyable day.

2023

A er much debate and consideration, it has been decided to move the event for 2023 to Wednesday, 6 and ursday, 7 September, and the venue will be at Glasson Golf Club close to Athlone. We will see a return to the singles event on the ursday. is of course will mean that the event will be a 2-day, 1-night a air.

For all details of the event, email: reservicesgolf@gmail.com

As we are moving into a new venue, the organisation of the event will bring up new challenges and therefore it is important that we have con rmation of teams as soon as possible. Contact will be made to each of the previous teams and the above details will hopefully attract even more teams from areas of Ireland yet to be represented. ere has also been international interest in the competition, and it has been decided by the committee to open the event to any re service worldwide who wishes to participate. erefore, the event will now be known as the All-Ireland Fire Services Open Golf Championships.

We look forward to 2023’s event with the prospect of it being the largest and most supported golf event on the re ghter’s calendar!