Talented Offaly woman has USA golf scholarship in sight

WHEN a young Rahan woman first swung a golf club in the driving range beside the old Jesuit College in Tullabeg less than a decade ago, she had no idea that she was embarking on a potentially life defining journey.

With the ruins of the old Jesuit College a pitching wedge away and providing a damning indictment of the various bodies who allowed a landmark steeped in history and tradition to decay beyond repair, Ella Cantwell was 8/9 years of age and still in National School when she began her love affair with golf.

Founded as a boarding school for boys under 13 years of age in 1818, later opening up top older teenagers, St Stanislaus College closed for boarders in 1886 when its pupils were transferred to its sister school at Clongowes Wood College, near Clane.

It continued on as a formation house for young Jesuit novices in the early years of the 20^th century before they too were transferred in 1930 when it became a retreat house until finally closing its doors in 1991. The Jesuits and the house were part and parcel of life in Rahan and much further afield for generations – its yearly garden fete was one of the summer highlights up to the end of the 1980s, the outdoor swimming pool there much used by locals and the orchard and gardens a source of great fun and mischief.

The College was later the site of a nursing home before that too closed in the 2000s while the driving range and a golf course with club house was also developed. The golf course was a basic parkland one but provided a brief starting point for several people to get into golf while the driving range proved to be a great asset – the driving range is still going strong, much used by people who want to sharpen their swing by hitting a bucket or more of balls.

The club house with bar was a comfortable, modern structure and it was also welcomed with great enthusiasm by locals as the Rahan pub, the Thatch was closed for several years until being purchased by Martin and Lelia Dunne quite recently, building up a booming trade.

The College “pub” as it was affectionately known remained in use until a short few years ago and played an unwitting role in Ella Cantwell taking up golf. Accompanying her parents, Pat and Tara to the club house on occasional social evenings, Ella soon got bored of the assortment of adults having their downtime and went out to the driving range to entertain herself.

Self taught, she soon discovered that she could hit the ball very competently and everything mushroomed from there as she joined the nearby Esker Hills Golf Club and gradually her golf reached another orbit. She has had a sensational 2025, emerging as one of the best young female amateur golfers in the country – she was the number one U18 golfer on the Golf Ireland Order of Merit, won her first Irish cap in 2025 and her achievements were recognised by her home club recently when they conferred honorary life membership on her.

A fifth year student at Killina Presentation Secondary School, Ella still has to hit academic targets but is already in the happy position of not having to worry too much about the points race and what college she will go to – already she has had approaches from big colleges in the USA offering her a golf scholarship and this may well prove to be her path as she chases her dream of becoming a professional golfer.

Her achievements in 2025 are worth recalling here:

* U18 order of merit winner;

* Golf Ireland's Scratch Cup Order of Merit winner for women;

* 1^st cap for Ireland;

* Winner of the Ulster U18 girls championship;

* Ballybunnion Scratch Cup winner;

* Winner of Esker Hills Club matchplay;

* Member of the Tullamore senior foursomes team who won the Leinster Central pennant;

* Member of Leinster U18 girls inter-provincial winning team;

* The youngest player on the Leinster adult inter-provincial team;

* Set three course records in Esker Hills, Millicent and Newcastle West;

* Played in the Justin Rose finals in Portugal and is heading to the Orange Bowl finals in Miami in January.

Speaking after the recent Esker Hills ceremony, the 17 year old smiled: “I started at 8/9 when I lost patience waiting for mam and dad, went out the back and started hitting balls”.

She continued doing that for a year and a half when she decided to put it into practice on a golf course. With people hitting balls beside each other on the range, Ella was often told that she was striking it “fairly well” and Esker Hills was a natural habitat for her – the Tullabeg golf course was closed by that stage.

She started off with a handicap of 36, playing her competitive golf with boys as there were few girl members in Esker Hills at that stage while she played her more social rounds with more mature members.

She made steady if unspectacular progress as she moved into secondary school but her golf has evolved to a different planet in the past year plus – her handicap has plummeted to the far side of scratch to an elite +2.7 in the past year plus and the titles and honours have stacked up on the Irish circuit.

She had a 6 handicap in 2024 when she decided that she wanted to be a scratch golfer. “Last year it was my goal and I didn't really get there but I made it my goal again this year,” she smiled.

She won her first competition in the now defunct Castle Barna Golf Club at 13 years of age and has been a regular in the winners' enclosure since then. She was 15-16 when she first began to compete in inter-club events and concentrate solely on womens' events.

She is also a member of Tullamore Golf Club and spoke about the benefits of being a member of two clubs. “You get to meet more people and everyone is so lovely. You get to play with various different people. Esker and Tullamore are very different courses as well.”

Her first big major win was the Irish Girls Close Plate in Monkstown in Cork in 2023 and this was a huge breakthrough. It also prompted her to concentrate on golf. A sports mad young girl, she had played county U16 camogie in goals as well as ladies football, basketball. “You name it, I played it. I had to concentrate on golf when it started getting serious for me when I was making national teams. I still play a bit of camogie for the school.”

Ella confirmed that she has been talking to representatives from colleges in the USA about a scholarship. “I just have to wait and see what the right one will be,” she said, admitting that she expects an offer.

Professional golf is the ambition while she is benefitting from the coaching by a relation through her mother, Gary Madden, who is based in Glenlo Abbey in Galway.

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Unsurprisingly, golf occupies a central role in her life with her doing something seven days a week including gym work three days a week. “I try and get out as much as I can and I practice as much time as I can get,” she said, adding that chipping and putting occupies a lot of her schedule.