TWIN SISTERS Lisa and Leona Maguire cruised into the second round of the Lancôme Irish Women's Close Championship at Westport yesterday.
Leading qualifier Lisa birdied three of the first four holes on her way to a 5 and 4 win over Athlone's Ann Geoghegan while Leona was too good for defending champion Karen Delaney from Carlow, winning on the 15th.
Current International Gillian O'Leary (Cork) had a tough start against former international Sinead Keane from The Curragh, but took the lead with birdies at the seventh and eighth and followed with another on the 13th before closing out the match on the 16th.
Jenny Gannon from Co Louth hit the birdie trail early on her way to a 7 and 6 win over Maria Dunne from Skerries and now meets a fired-up Tara Delaney from Carlow who beat local Sarah Gallagher 9 and 8.
The biggest upset of the day was the defeat of Maura Morrin from the Curragh, who as runner-up in the Leitrim Cup and favourite in her match against Sarah Carty from The Island.
But Carty has proved herself to be a great matchplayer and won with a birdie on the 20th hole.
Niamh Kitching played steady golf to see off the challenge of current international Deidre Smith from Co Louth and comes up against Gemma Hegarty (Greencastle) who has displayed fine consistency over the tournament to date.
