A golf competition which took place in Portlaoise over the Christmas break raised more than €9,000 for the Cuisle Cancer Support Centre.
The ‘Towns Cup’ saw 28 golfers take the course in Portlaoise Golf Club where the coveted trophy was up for grabs.
This was the fourth running of the ‘Towns Cup’ – it started in 2016 when the group raised €3,318.
The event was held again in 2018 when they raised €4,179 and their last event in 2020 saw them raise €7,000.
This year, through sponsorship cards from the 28 players, a whopping €9,324.19 was generated.
There were also donations from Portlaoise TSB, Linesight and Ornella Underwriting Ltd which was a massive help to reach the goal.
The organisers of the event this year where James Furlong, Jack Fennell and Michael Dowling – with James explaining how the event came about.
He said: “We came up with the idea six years ago now when a few of us where talking about the game we love and how it would be great to host an event similar to the Ryder Cup by splitting the town down the middle and having 12 lads from the North side of town take on 12 lads from the South side of town.
“We wanted to do it in aide of the Cuisle Centre Portlaoise as one of our friends parents who sadly passed away, used those facilities and had great help and support from the wonderful staff that worked there.
“We seen the great work they do there and wanted to give something back if we could.
“A lot of the lads involved in this event know someone who has used the facilities in the Cuisle Centre and where more than happy to take part.
“We had 28 lads involved this year in true Ryder Cup style and we tasked each man to collect a minimum of €150 each.
“I have to give a lot of credit to them all as they really went above and beyond this year.
“Some lads came back into us with €600 on their cards and its because of this we managed to beat our target this year.”
Unfortunately for the organisers who are all on the Northside team (Reds), this year’s towns cup was won by the South side (blue team) and by a good margin as well, 8.5-5.5.
The Reds have some work to do before the next event. The standing over the four event are 3-1 to the Southsiders (Blue).
James said: “None of this would have been possible without the help and use of the facilities from Portlaoise Golf Club.
“It’s where we want to host the event going forward as they have been brilliant and very accommodating. We also had all of our gear that you can see from our pictures sponsored by DS Sports.
“None of these required funding from us so any money we collected was donated directly to the Cuisle Centre.
“We also had prizes sponsored on the day from Mulhalls Supervalu in Portlaoise, Ray Dowling Electrical, Lilly’s Bar & Restaurant, Seed Golf, Druids Golf, Fore Leaf Golf Clothing, Bovine Restaurant, Shelly’s Bar, Irish Power energy drink.
“Patrick Ryan Photography again offered to take photos of the day free of charge which is always great to be able to have for each time the event has taken place.
“The new restaurant ‘Bovine’ kindly sponsored all the food on the day. The lads said they were the nicest burgers they’ve had so it was greatly appreciated.
“There was a great buzz around the course on the day and other members of Portlaoise Golf Club that were out playing would ask how the scores were going as the rounds came to a close.
“They had a great interest in the whole thing, so much so that the club kindly hosted a separate competition and any money raised from that, was donated to our overall total also. Such a kind gesture from them which we were delighted with.
“Can I just add a massive thanks to Jack Fennell and Michael Dowling who organized this event along with me.
“We only have these sort of figures now because of them, every little detail of the event was brilliant because of them.
“These are the lads you want on your side when organizing a big event like this. They are a great team to work with and hopefully we can go on to do it long into the future.”
SEE ALSO – New Operation Transformation Ad Break hero announced as cameras make their way to Vicarstown
