Mourne Golf Club
By Paul Gallagher
AS the golfing season winds down, there was plenty to celebrate at Mourne Golf Club as Aidan O’Prey won the season-ending Annual at Home competition on Sunday before the perpetual cups and trophies were presented to the seasonal winners.
O’Prey won with an impressive score of 42 points, four clear of John Murphy in second, who denied Conor Keenan on a countback.
James Maginn and Patrick McCommiskey were fourth and fifth respectively after signing for 37 points each.
Maginn came home in two under and his tally of one-under 70 on the Championship Links at Royal County Down was good enough to secure the Annual at Home Gross Prize too.
A host of players on 36 points was led by Niall Doran, followed by Philip Maguire, Connor Pimm, Michael O’Higgins, Gerard Toner and Callum Morgan.
In the Seniors competition, it will come as no great surprise to hear that Martin Greene won with 24 points on the Annesley Links, three ahead of Danny Hillen.
The evergreen Greene keeps on producing the goods, year on year.
A total of 134 Mourne members competed in this year’s Annual at Home.
It’s a unique competition where members traditionally put up the prizes on the day and the winner gets to choose the first prize.
A total of 38 prizes we given out, with club captain Mark Guinness on hand to present to the winners. Winners of the perpetual cups and trophies were also presented.
Philip Maguire secured the Golfer of the Year title after a hard-fought season to deny Niall Doran in second and James Maginn in third. Other highlights included Kevin Quinn winning Captain’s Day, John D Murray wining President’s Day, while Barry Hillen won the Club Matchplay by defeating Kieran O’Connor in the final.
Noel Crawford won the Voipcom-sponsored Scratch Cup, while James Rodgers claimed the Premier Poultry-sponsored Junior Scratch Cup.
Niall Doran won the Hillen Architects-sponsored McKeown Cup. Key events in 2026 included the 80th Anniversary Competition that was won by Pete and Kevin Murray.
The Murrays also dominated this year’s Gerry Toner Trophy (a competition for Seniors and Juniors) with Pete and Oisin Murray taking the spoils.
