Meleady takes command as Killeen duo seal place

Military man John Meleady (pictured right) marched into the Lombard Trophy grand final after he triumphed in the qualifying round at The Island Golf Club.

Meleady, of Killeen Golf Club in Co. Kildare, partnered PGA Professional Brian Cosgrove (left) to seal a commanding four shot victory at the Donabate venue and clinch a trip to Gleneagles.

The pair got off to an impressive start and never looked back, carding a six-under-par round of 65.

They beat Brendan McGovern and Colin Young (Headfort) and Simon Byrne and Pat McGillroy (Hermitage) into second place.

Now the Killeen duo will play in the £43,600 Grand Final which will be held at Gleneagles in Scotland - the venue for next year’s Ryder Cup - on September 3-4.

Meleady, 49, who works in the defence forces and lives in Raheny, admitted that the day could hardly have gone better - and was forced to keep his feet on the ground by Cosgrove.

The amateur, who plays off a handicap of 12, said: “At the turn we were seven- under and I felt then that we were going to win it.

“But Brian used his experience and warned me it wasn’t over yet. And sure enough we had to play in the rain and the wind on the back nine. At that point I thought we might lose it but we did enough.

“I’ve only been playing golf for seven years. I took it up when I finished playing football and I got hooked as it keeps the competitive side of me going, so to get to the final is fantastic.”

For Cosgrove, it was his first attempt at getting to the final of the PGA National Pro-Am Championship which has attracted nearly 700 entries to date across the 16 regional finals.

He said: “It wasn’t a bad debut was it?

“I’ve only been the Professional at Killeen for about 18 months and I wanted to drum up some interest in this competition among the members.

“So now that we’ve won it and reached the final, I expect there’ll be plenty more interest next year.”