Julie McCarthy is top seed for Irish U18 girls match-play at Galway Bay

 NEWS RELEASE FROM ILGU
Julie McCarthy (Forrest Little) has made a very impressive start to the Irish Under-18 girls' closed championship at Galway Bay Golf Club. 

A near-flawless first round of 70 in the morning saw the international shoot a steady front nine of -1 before burning up the back nine with an eagle and two birdies, and only one shot dropped, at the 17th.

Julie added a level par 74 in the afternoon to emerge as leading qualifier with an aggregate of four-under-par 144.
Fellow Internationals Mairead Martin (Killarney), Annabel Wilson (Lurgan), Valerie Clancy (Killarney) and Niamh McSherry (Lurgan) all carded level par rounds or better to qualify as the top five. Mairead underlined her international and Junior Vagliano status as she carded the best round of the day with a superb 69, including six birdies and one bogey.  It was an improvement of 11 strokes on her first round.
Thirty-two players have qualified for the championship match-play with aggregates of 170 and better. The first round losers in the championship will contest the plate while the non-qualifiers will play Stableford competitions tomorrow and Friday.  

QUALIFYING TOTALS

Par 148 (2x74) SS 76 CSS 75 75

144 Julie McCarthy (Forrest Little Golf Club) 70 74
149 Mairead Martin (Killarney Golf Club) 80 69, Niamh McSherry (Lurgan Golf Club) 74 75
152 Valerie Clancy (Killarney) 74 78, Annabel Wilson (Lurgan) 73 79
154 Katie Aherne (Waterford Castle) 77 77, Clodagh Walsh (Castlewarden Golf Club) 76 78
155 Eleanor Metcalfe (Laytown and Bettystown) 78 77
156 Victoria Craig (Royal Belfast) 80 76, Catriona Griffin (Killarney) 79 77
157 Lisa O'Shea (Shannon) 79 78
159 Sarah Burke (Mullingar) 78 81
160 Gemma McCarthy (Clonmel) 80 80, Molly Dowling (Lucan) 78 82, Elisa Corcoran (Grange) 77 83, Sarah Molloy (Kilkenny) 76 84
161 Rachel Thompson (Cork) 84 77, Maeve Rooney (Co. Sligo) 81 80
162 Lauren Walsh (Castlewarden) 84 78
164 Ciara Casey (Hermitage) 85 79, Grace McGrath (East Cork) 80 84
165 Maeve Cummins (Lurgan) 83 82, Ellen O'Gorman (Milltown) 83 82
166 Clodagh Coughlan (Douglas) 83 83
167 Ciara Leonard (Mitchelstown) 85 82, Alice Hutchinson (St. Anne's) 79 88
168 Clare Calvert (Royal Co. Down) 85 83, Aine Donegan (Woodstock) 85 83, Laura Ryan (Dun Laoghaire) 83 85
169 Aideen Walsh (Woodstock) 83 86

170 Anna Foster (Elm Park) 86 84, Aoife Nithuama (Douglas) 82 88

MATCH-PLAY DRAW
09:00 Julie McCarthy v Ní Thuama     
09:09 Molloy v Thompson    
09:18 Metcalfe v Leonard    
09:27 Craig v Coughlan     
09:36 Clancy v  Ryan 

09:45 Gemma McCarthy (Clonmel) V Ciara Casey (Hermitage)    
09:54 Annabel Wilson (Lurgan) V Aine Donegan (Woodstock)    
10:03 Sarah Burke (Mullingar) V Grace McGrath (East Cork)    
10:12 Martin v  Foster 

 10:21 Corcoran v Rooney     
10:30 Walsh v  Hutchinson 
10:39 Griffin  v O'Gorman    
10:48 McSherry v Aideen Walsh 
10:57 Dowling v Lauren Walsh   
11:06  Aherne v Calvert  
11:15 O'Shea v Cummins 

NON QUALIFIERS
172 Lorna Mullally (Tuam Golf Club) 86 86, Sarah Lacey (Castleknock) 84 88
173 Georgia Carr (Milltown) 85 88
174 Katie Keenan (Kilkenny) 88 86
175 Fiona Behan (Killeen) 86 89, Eibhlin McCarthy (Killorglin) 80 95
178 Nicole McGavisk (Donabate) 91 87, Clodagh Jones (Roscrea) 88 90
179 Ellen Nolan (Grange) 95 84, Emma Guinane (Limerick) 90 89
180 Sara Byrne (Douglas) 94 86, Kate McElroy (Faithlegg ) 94 86, Chloe O'Connor (Roscommon) 92 88, Ciara Magill (East Clare) 88 92
183 Cliodhna Drury (Dun Laoghaire) 91 92, Katie Rafferty (Tipperary) 88 95
185 Siobhan Behan (Killeen) 94 91, Niamh Cronin (Co. Sligo) 90 95, Sophie Dodd (Enniscrone) 87 98
187 Anna Dawson (Tramore) 88 99
190 Kaelin O'Keeffe (Ballykisteen) 97 93, Niamh Mulrooney (Kilkenny) 93 97
191 Jan Browne (Kilkenny) 94 97
192 Jill Jennings (Carlow) 100 92, Niamh Carmody (Tralee) 98 94
194 Annie Harpur (Naas) 95 99
195 Seána McGuinness (Greenore) 102 93
201 Leah Temple Lang (Seapoint) 102 99
204 Stephanie Glennon (Grange) 109 95
205 Shannon Hegarty (Ennis) 102 103
215 Ailbhe Bourke (Enniscrone) 116 99, Caoimhe Slemon (Bearna) 107 108