Classy Con completes hat-trick at 82

BANDON native Con Tobin has always been skilled with a stick and ball.

One of the most stylish hurlers produced by the club, he unluckily arrived on the scene when the Lilywhites’ fine side of the late 1940s and early 50s was breaking up, but he was to become a driving force on the side until the late 60s.

The lynchpin of the Carbery side which reached the 1956 county semi-final, he played junior, intermediate and senior for Cork, winning a Munster intermediate medal in 1959. Later that year, he featured on the Cork team which beat Wexford in an NHL game which saw Christy Ring score 6-4.

In addition to his hurling – and football, in which he represented Carbery – career, Con was also developing into a fine golfer. In 1965, he won Ted Hegarty’s Captain’s Prize at Bandon GC and 21 years later he repeated the feat in Michael Young’s Prize.

Two Captain’s Prize wins is more than many will achieve but last weekend he made it a treble at the age of 82, winning Captain Jerry O’Donovan’s Prize. It was a unique treble at that, as the 1965 victory was on the old nine-hole course, the ’87 win was on the original 18-hole layout and this was on the most recent iteration, following the addition of the ‘castle holes’ in 2002.

Playing off a handicap of 17, Con carded a round of 71 in tough conditions on Friday, with birdies at the first and 11th holes, to leave him in fifth place ahead of the nine-hole play-off on Saturdayevening.

Though he began his play-off with a double-bogey at the ninth hole, four pars in the remaining eight holes saw him take the prize, with Dwane Twomey second and Kieran Ryan third.

A popular winner in Con, and a popular captain in Jerry, were toasted long into a memorable night.