Seamus McDonagh and Margaret Roarty will get their year off to a positive start this coming Saturday (one lives in hope) in the annual Captains’ Drive-in, though nothing is guaranteed. Frankie is strengthening the protective netting, a morning curfew has been imposed among our rabbit tenants and migratory birds have booked early flights to Greenland from Clooney Lake in anticipation of spiralling ball trajectories akin to plummeting Russian satellites.

Seamus has been watching his back, something one wag felt he might as well get used to as captain! His swing is modelled on a hybrid of Jim Furyk, Lee Trevino and Elvis Presley; and the latter didn’t even play golf! Will he be all shook up on Saturday morning?

Margaret is a steady operator, never known to panic or waiver under pressure. She never hits a bad shot, nor does she suffer from nerves. She will be calm as a cucumber on Saturday, sure in the expectation that she can out-drive her mother’s tee-shot from 1987. The camera awaits. The scribe’s pen is at the ready. Never has a lady captain had such a build-up! Never has the flipside been so steep!

I wish both golfers the very best on Saturday and I look forward to writing about all their many successes in 2010. The proceeds of the fourball scramble will go towards the Hydropool in Dungloe. The Draw for partners will take place at ten. What happens next is anyone's guess.

Donie McCole triumphed over the other 26 golfers who dared to venture out last Sunday week, courtesy of a fine round of 39 points. Birdies at 12 and 15 contributed handsomely towards a back nine of 21 points and a victory over Phildy Gallagher by virtue of a break-off-tie.

Forty pairs enjoyed the fine but crisp weather on Sunday with Patrick Gallagher and Fr. Adrian Gavigan emerging as the winners. Their round of 43 points included a solitary birdie for Fr. Adrian at 16, but otherwise, the card showed evidence of excellent dovetailing. Owen Bonner and Michael Kennedy were worthy runners-up, another fine performance from the crusty old veterans.

I thought about contacting our Gaeltacht League captain to get the inside story on last Saturday’s home match with Rosapenna, but decided that after listening to the venerable rogue, I would probably be under the impression that Portnoo had won eleven of the ten matches played. The less I know about the performance the better. Suffice to say that Rosapenna only failed to pick up two and a half matches out of the ten played. Like ‘The Times’ in 1950, when word of a one nil World Cup defeat for England against the U.S.A. filtered home over the wires, I heard the score-line and assumed that it had gone the other way. I readied my pen for the deserving praise due to a Mourinho-type Svengali, a true Gael, a legend in his own car parking space. Once reality bit, the words dried up, the hopes and aspirations for a possible Gaeltacht League triumph seemed crushed. Can he rouse the troops? Can he lift their drooping spirits? Are there Churchillian words that can edify the moment? Can Gail Tilsey keep a husband alive for five minutes?

The club is hosting a fundraiser for Haiti on February 27th and we urge all members and visitors to support this worthy cause. Entrants to the single stableford can pay what they wish in entering the competition and both ladies and gents are invited to compete.

Results:

January 31: 1. Donie McCole (9) 39 b.o.t.; 2. Patrick P. Gallagher (15) 39; Twos: 3 balls each.

February 7: 1. Patrick Gallagher & Fr. Adrian Gavigan 43 b.o.t.; 2. Owen Bonner & Michael Kennedy 43; 3. Harold Reid & Frankie Quinn 42 b.o.t.;

Fixtures:

Saturday February 13: Captains’ Drive-in, Draw at 10a.m., shotgun start, ladies & gents, fourball scramble, open

Sunday February 14: monthly medal, open

Wednesday February 17: Wednesday Open, ladies and gents, single stableford, 20 euro entry for G.U.I. visitors including green fee;

Saturday February 27: Special Haiti Fundraiser, Ladies & Gents, single stableford, voluntary contribution as entry fee, open