A County Antrim school with a pool of only four players to select from is celebrating a remarkable third place finish in the prestigious Irish Junior Golf Championship.
Cullybackey College’s young golfers made history in February when they won the Ulster Junior Schools stroke play title at the first time of asking.
It was a fantastic achievement given the rural college, based in the village of Cullybackey on the outskirts of Ballymena, has no history of playing in golf tournaments.
And they went on to represent their province with pride by securing a creditable third place in the school's first ever Irish championship outing in County Cork last month.
Cullybackey’s team of Kaeden Anderson, Josh Nicholl and William Hammond finished four points off eventual champions St Colman’s College of Fermoy (County Cork).
St Colman’s pipped runners-up Garbally College (Ballinasloe, County Galway) by a point, with St Mary’s College (Rathmines, County Dublin) coming fourth.
“It was such an amazing experience for the boys and we are all super proud them,” said Cullybackey College PE teacher Mark Surgenor.
“The boys absolutely loved playing on a really professional set-up and it was a massive achievement to make it to that stage considering the panel we have to choose from.”
Pupils who participate in the Irish Schools event must be members of a golf club and have an official GUI handicap, meaning Cullybackey had a small pool to select from.
Surgenor, who also captains Irish League club Carrick Rangers, said: “The Ulster stroke play final earlier this year was the first time we had entered the event.
“So to qualify for the Irish Schools finals in Cork was a huge feat and something the boys will be able to look back on with great pride in years to come.
“When we put the team together a few years back it was more just to facilitate a game of golf but the boys have worked extremely hard at their game to get to where they have.”
Surgenor and Richard Cowan, Head of Physical Education at Cullybackey College, accompanied the boys to Macroom in County Cork for the recent finals.
The Irish Junior Golf Championship was originally scheduled for April but had to be postponed and rescheduled due to the Coronavirus crisis.
The three boys and Kenny Nicholl, who helped the team qualify for the finals, received their medals from school principal David Donaldson last week.
“Everyone is immensely proud of the boys at school,” said Surgenor.
“They are all good lads and popular around the school which makes their achievements even more rewarding.”
*Cullybackey College would like to thank Antrim Construction Company who helped sponsor and kit the boys out for last month’s championship.
