A Laois father and son combination are celebrating a sensational double-victory in the increasingly popular sport of footgolf.
Mountmellick duo Eamon and Kyle Dunne are well renowned for their exploits with their local soccer club, Mountmellick United, but they have found glory since turning their attention to footgolf.
Football and golf are two of the most popular sports – both globally and in Ireland – with new sport merging the skills of the two games.
Governing body FIFG (Federation for International FootGolf) run a World Tour, a World Cup, a World Club Trophy, as well as regional continental tours.
The FGAI (FootGolf Association of Ireland) have run the game here since 2014 and operate the Irish FootGolf Tour each year.
Kyle Dunne, just 14, was this week crowned Junior Champion at the FGAI Ulster Open held in Enniskillen Golf Club in Fermanagh.
Following an amazing score of 17 under par for his third round, Kyle finished on 35 under par for the tournament, 11 shots clear of Kildare’s Jake Donoghue in second place.
That win followed on from Kyle’s father Eamon winning the Senior Title at the FGAI Irish Open in May.
Eamon Dunne, 52, finished on 20 under par to become the Senior Irish Champion at the Highfield Golf and Country Club in Carbury, Kildare, beating reigning champion Joe Donoghue.
Dunne came into the final round five shots adrift of one of Europe’s elite footgolfers, Italian Daniel Marcci, but showed incredible grit and resolve to clinch the title in dramatic fashion.
It was a whirlwind event for the Dunnes, with Kyle also finishing in third place in the Junior Irish Open.
However, it was Kyle’s victory in Enniskillen this week that was the culmination of this father-and-son fairy tale, with the Dunne boys beating their Kildare counterparts – the father-and-son duo of Joe and Jack Donoghue from Kildare.
The Donoghues are two of the premier footgolfers in Ireland, with Joe Donoghue going for his seventh Senior Irish Open title in a row, and son, Jack, going for his third consecutive Ulster Open Junior title.
Eamon’s win in May along with Kyle’s win this week was the toppling of a dynasty in the emerging new sport.
It was also the culmination of an incredible redemption arc for Eamon.
The elder Dunne was leading going into the final back-nine of the 2024 Irish Open, only to be overtaken by Donoghue.
The Mountmellick man was able to put that bitter disappointment behind him and went on to claim five Open Championships in a row, winning the Cork, Carlow, Kilkenny and Dublin Opens before his Irish Open triumph in Kildare.
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