The third staging of the bi-annual ‘Towns Cup’ golf competition has raised €7,000 for the Cuisle Centre in Portlaoise.
Every second year, 24 golfers from Portlaoise battle it our Ryder Cup style for the honour of claiming the Towns Cup trophy.
Hosted in Portlaoise Golf club, players are between the North side of the town and the South side, with Main Street being the dividing line.
One of the organisers of the competition, which took place before the Covid-19 restrictions came into force this year, Jack Fennell, explained how the group chose the Cuisle Centre.
He said: “As the idea developed we started to think about hosting the event in aid of a local charity.
“We were unanimous in our decision to pick the Cuisle Centre Portlaoise as the benefactor.
“One of our close friends parents who sadly passed away, used those facilities and had great help and support from the wonderful staff that worked there.
“We got to see first hand the great work they do there and wanted to give something back if we could. It’s a sad reality that a lot of the lads involved in this event know someone who has used the facilities in the Cuisle Centre. So we set up the WhatsApp group and the thumbs up symbol came flying in.”
The success of the event has grown over the years and despite Covid-19, the group managed to raise more money than ever before.
Jack said: “It started in 2016 when we raised €3,318 and held again in 2018 when we raised €4,179.
“We knew it would be tough this year with COVID to raise money but we set an ambitious target of €5,000.
“We made the decision this year to not ask local businesses for financial donations given the tough year they have experienced with COVID -19.
“So to supplement that shortfall we set up a GoFundMe page with a target of €500 (we hit that target within a week) and we asked each player to collect €150 in sponsorship as opposed to €100 in previous years.
“We had 24 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 we had €6,522 collected up to just before we teed off that morning.
“As I mentioned before, we hadn’t approached businesses this year so it was a great achievement from them all to get that level of sponsorship.”
Team Captains for the event were South Side (Blue Team) – Leon McDonald and North Side (Red Team) – Michael Dowling.
The last two events have been won by the South and by a good margin as well but the North were winners this time – 8-4.
Jack added: “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 and Druids Golf. None of these required funding from us so any money we collected was donated directly to the Cuisle Centre.
“Linesight contacted us to donate another sizable amount which they have done in every event so far which was a good boost to our total figure.
“We also had prizes sponsored on the day from Mulhalls Supervalu in Portlaoise, Ray Dowling Electrical, Egans Off License and The Style Bar Portlaoise.
“Patrick Ryan Photography again offered to take photos of the day free of charge.
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 when they heard our total figure, the men and women’s committee of the club advised that they would donate €478 so that we could reach a total figure of €7,000.
“Such a kind gesture from them which we were delighted with. The Towns Cup will take place again in December 2022 – Hopefully.
“Thanks also to James Furlong and Michael Dowling who organised the event alongside myself.”
SEE ALSO – Portlaoise Hospital delivers two of Ireland’s first babies of 2021
