Offaly woman leads West of Ireland heading into final round
Victory would be a huge achievement for a young student who has another year to go to sit her Leaving Certificate
IT is shaping up to be a sensational Bank Holiday weekend for Offaly golfers. Tullamore native Stuart Grehan captured the East of Ireland Mens Amateur Open Championship on his new home course at Baltray in Louth on Sunday and another Offaly woman is closing in on the ladies' corresponding event in the West of Ireland at Castle Dargan Golf Club in Sligo.
Young Rahan woman, Ella Cantwell holds the over night lead heading into the final round on Monday.
Still a student in Killina Secondary School, Cantwell will only be doing her Leaving Certificate next year and she heads a very talented field after 36 holes of strokeplay on Sunday.
A member of Esker Hills Golf Club, Cantwell will be aiming to become the first champion of this inaugural event. She leads the field on -11, laying the ground work with a great opening round of 65 and a steady 72 in the second 18.
Aideen Walsh of Lahinch is one behind on -10 and there is a gap then to Shannon Burke of Ballinrobe and Caithlin Shippam of Ballykisteen who are on -7. Hannah Lee McNamara is one further behind on -6: a member of Royal Portrush, her father Ronan McNamara is a native of Banagher and won an All-Ireland minor hurling medal with Offaly in 1989.
Victory would be a huge achievement for Cantwell, who is already assured of a golf scholarship to the USA once she finishes secondary school next year – she has accepted an offer from Abilene Christian University (ACU) in central Texas.
27 players have qualified for Monday's final round and Cantwell, Burke and Walsh will tee off last at 9.28am.