Although his involvement was not until very late in the tournament, Damien Fleming played his part in Ireland’s World Cup Pitch and Putt victory in El Vendrell in Barcelona as Ireland retained the title and won the competition for a sixth time in total and a fourth in straight succession.
The Deerpark, Killarney member travelled as the Irish team’s reserve and he featured in the final when Louth’s Padraic Sarsfield had to withdraw injured prior to the decider.
Up to that stage Ireland had dominated the tournament, becoming top seeds for the start of the knockout stages on Friday before defeating Switzerland in the quarter- finals.
On Saturday they had a semi-final victory over Galicia meaning they would play competition newcomers North Portugal in the final after they surprised hosts Catalonia in the other semi- final.
Sunday’s final started with a doubles and singles encounter as Damien partnered with Limerick’s Kieran Earls to win their match with Kildare’s Ian Dillon winning the singles encounter to give Ireland a 2-0 lead.
After Ireland hot the winning point in the final the lead both Damien Fleming and Ian Dillon had in both their singles matches were deemed wins and not halves so it goes down as a 5-0 win not 4-1.
Damien became the second Kerry player to win for Ireland in a championship event after his club-mate Derry McCarthy captained the 2005 Irish side to victory in the European Championships that year.
Damien officially became the first Kerry player to play for both province and country with his appearance in the decider but an announcement prior to last weekend means he will b quickly joined by another two players in the county in achieving that feat.
Both Brian McCarthy (Deerpark) and Ajay Barrett (Listowel) will be part of the Munster under 16 side in Pitch and Putt Ireland’s second Inter Provincial Challenge next month after playing for Ireland in a Cchallenge with Catalonia last year.
In total four of the six under 16’s in the Munster side will be from Kerry as Deerpark’s Ben Kelliher and Tralee’s Sophie Moynihan will be part of the team.
Continuing the Kerry involvement, Deerpark and Kerry under 16 officer Gearóid Cronin has been selected as manager of the Munster side for the challenge which will take place in Larkspur Park in Cashel on Saturday, November 2.
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