The Timmy Murphy Memorial handicap tournament was played at Carlow on Sunday, 5th of November 2017. After a day’s play, which saw many interesting games and several surprise results, the trophy went to Lloyd Myers (AOH Cork), a fitting reward for the consistently high standard of play he showed throughout the day and a fitting result in that the magnificent AOH Cork sponsored memorial trophy returned to Cork in the hands of one of its members.
Play started at 11.15am, all rounds being 90 minutes, handicapped. First round eliminations were Sean Dunne (Edenderry), Timmy Murphy’s fellow members of AOH Cork, Finbar O’Connor and Donnacha Breathnach and Northern Ireland trio of John McIntyre, Frank Trainor and Norman Whaley, who made the trip south in memory of a good friend.
The semi finalists in the top half of the draw were Liam Byrne (Edenderry) and Lloyd Myers (AOH Cork). Liam gained his place in the semi final with a substantial quarter final win over Northern Ireland’s Norman Whaley while Lloyd had an equally substantial quarter final win over Timmy Murphy’s son, Timmy Junior. In the semi final, Lloyd took an early lead which he not only maintained, but increased throughout the game by scoring the more heavily of the two to claim his place in the final.
The semi finalists in the bottom half of the draw were regular practice partners Brendan Devlin (Celbridge) and Robert McCrum (Portmarnock). Brendan progressed to the semi final by taking his quarter final against John Kehoe (Enniscorthy) in the most closely fought match of the day while Robert had a similarly close win in his quarter final against Joe Doheny (Borris-in-Ossory). In the semi final there was never very much between the two until, with about fifteen minutes on the clock Brendan took a slender lead which he maintained to the finish.
The Final turned out to be all about Lloyd, opening his account with significant scoring in his first few visits before Brendan managed to put a score on the board. As the game progressed, Lloyd built substantially on his lead while Brendan suffered a succession of no-score visits. When he did get an opportunity to score, Brendan could not make any significant inroads into his deficit, leaving Lloyd with a commanding lead at the finish to claim a well deserved Timmy Murphy Memorial Trophy.
It was a great pleasure to welcome so many of the Murphy family to the event where Phyllis made the presentation to the winner in memory of her late husband Timmy. By way of compensation for his long trip south to participate in the event, Norman Whaley emerged winner of the plate.
As always, our thanks are due to Marian Leacy for the excellent facilities and to the staff at The Ivy Rooms for their help on the day.
Results (all matches 90 minutes timed, handicapped):
- Pre-Quarters
Sean Dunne 353 -v- 452 Timmy Murphy Jnr
Lloyd Myers 375 -v- 304 John McIntyre
John Kehoe 416 -v- 397 Donnacha Breathnach
Frank Trainor (Brk: 56) 357 -v- 393 Joe Doheny
Finbar O’Connor (Brk: 54) 423 -v- 462 Robert McCrum
- Quarters
Liam Byrne 399 -v- 213 Norman Whaley
Timmy Murphy Jnr 336 -v- 570 Lloyd Myers
John Kehoe 416 -v- 422 Brendan Devlin (Brk: 50)
Joe Doheny 391 -v- 420 Robert McCrum
- Semi-Finals
Liam Byrne 177 -v- 313 Lloyd Myers
Brendan Devlin 499 -v- 434 Robert McCrum
- Final
Lloyd Myers 524 -v- 412 Brendan Devlin
