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Fleming clinches third National Matchplay title

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Killarney pitch and putt legend Damien Fleming added another All-Ireland title to his impressive honours list over the long weekend when he won the National Matchplay Championship at the Ryston Club in Newbridge, County Kildare.

The Deerpark star has now won the prestigious title three times with two of those triumphs coming in the last three years. Fleming has also claimed the Irish Open on three occasions, as well as the National Senior Strokeplay Championship in 2018.

The Killarney man’s most recent victory was made all the more noteworthy by the fact that he overcame Cork’s Ray Murphy – a player whom Fleming describes as the GOAT – in the final.

“It’s always nice to win them,” Fleming told the Killarney Advertiser. “To be honest, I don’t tend to dwell on them too much, but they are all special in their own way. Beating the greatest player of all time in the final makes it even more special from that point of view.”

After surviving a major scare against Nenagh’s Steven Shoer in the first round (1up), Fleming defeated James Foley Jr of Enniscorthy (2&1), James Cleary of Cashel (4&3), Peter O’Donovan of Bishopstown (2&1), and Ian Dillon of Kildare (2&1) to secure his place in Monday’s final. By then, after a sluggish start to the weekend, he was firing on all cylinders.

“I went a bit stale against Shoer in the first round and missed a couple of easy putts. I played myself into trouble. Fortunately enough I birdied the last three holes and got myself out of it. In reality, I probably should have been beaten. But I lived to tell the tale.

“I didn’t play great on Sunday morning against James Foley Jr but I always felt I was in control of the match. I was playing a formidable opponent from Tipperary in the next round, James Cleary, and I knew I’d have to play better if I wanted to stay in the competition.

“And then, to be honest with you, from that match on it was like I went into a different gear. I was consistently shooting double figures every round and I didn’t really feel as though I was in trouble in any game.”

The final hurdle against six-time champion Murphy promised to be Fleming’s most difficult task, and the match-up was made even more intriguing by the fact that the pair are close friends off the course.

“I know him well and we had played a few times in matchplay. Fortunately enough, he hadn’t beaten me, so I wanted to make sure that record stood! But his record speaks for itself. That was his 10th time playing in the matchplay final and he has reached 14 semi-finals, so there was no doubt that it was going to be a tough one.

“But I got off to a flyer and was -13 for the first round. I was comfortable enough from that point on really.”

Fleming is now looking forward to the National Senior Strokeplay Championship in September, a competition he has already secured qualification for on the back of his fourth-place finish at the same event last year.

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Kerry’s All-Ireland heroes launch new football camp for girls

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Legendary Kerry ladies’ player Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh will be inspiring the next generation of superstars at the new Laochra football camp, which takes place in Killarney in August.

Aimed at girls aged 12 to 16, the camp is being run by three leaders who were central to Kerry’s magnificent All-Ireland triumph in 2024: Darragh Long (joint manager), Declan Quill (joint manager) and Anna Maria O’Donoghue (selector).

Camp ambassador Louise will be on hand to offer guidance in a coaching capacity, as will some members of the current Kerry team.

“We want you to train with your heroes so you can be the next hero,” explains Darragh Long.

“We feel very strongly about ladies’ football. It has been brilliant to myself and Declan over the last five or six years, and it has been brilliant to Anna Maria and Louise over their full careers, so we just see it as an opportunity to give something back to a sport that gave an awful lot to us.

“We’re aiming at an age group of 12 to 16, girls who will hopefully be starting on their intercounty journey. We will be able to give them a skillset they will be able to use as their steps to success. To try and be the next Louise or the next Síofra O’Shea.

“We have three workshops planned. One with Eric McDonnell, who was our strength and conditioning coach when we won the All-Ireland. One with Michelle O’Connor, an All-Ireland winning performance coach. And one with Claire O’Sullivan, our nutritionist when we won the All-Ireland.

“It’s all about giving the girls the skills and the bits and pieces they’ll need if they want to make it to the top. We really think we can give them a good grounding. We’ll also be providing a huge amount of coaching throughout the week.”

Many teenage girls give up on sport around the ages of 15 or 16. Long and his fellow camp founders are hopeful that attending Laochra might encourage girls to stick with it that bit longer.

“We would see it as a huge success if 10, 15, or 20 of the girls who come to the camp continue to play football after the camp because they got a bit of a buzz or a bit of energy from us during the week.”

The Laochra camp will run from August 12-15 at Dr Crokes GAA grounds in Killarney. You can register here.

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St Paul’s sign 6ft American guard Burnham

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Having really found their feet in the Women’s Super League in the second half of the season, culminating in a drive to the final, Utility Trust St Paul’s have signalled their intent to push on for the 2025/26 season by announcing the signing of American guard Maisie Burnham.

Burnham (24) comes to Killarney following an honour-laden time in the Liberty High School where she also excelled at volleyball. She went to the Eastern Washington University where she led the team in scoring in the 2020/21 season with over 14 points per game – the highest PPG ever for an EWU freshman.

She moved onto the University of Portland where she really found her feet with the team and as her time progressed with the Pilots her stats went north, peaking in the 2024/2025 season when she averaged 16.3 points per game.

Maisie, a guard and standing at 6ft, is a native of Spangle City in Washington and the club will welcome her to the Kingdom in plenty of time ahead of the new season.

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