Team Ireland


Caolan Munnelly, Captain
Caolan took up golf in 2019 at the age of 15 after playing soccer in his younger years. In 2019 he joined the Irish Junior Open Tour, and began to pick up trophies including the Junior Boys Captains Prize in 2020. His achievements include being Junior Boys Captain in 2021 and qualifying for the World Junior Champion of Champions each year from 2019 to 2023.
Caolan has ASD, finding it difficult in social situations, but golf has developed his coping skills and confidence in many ways., including winning the Golfer of the Year 2021/2022 Cistercian College, Roscrea.
Caolan says " It is unbelievable and a huge honour to be asked to be the DIGA Captain and be part of a wonderful bunch of people in Team Ireland. It is something I could not imagine would ever happen to me".
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Carol Brill, Vice Captain
Carol accidentally discovered golf when researching sports for visually impaired people in 2014. She has Usher syndrome, a rare genetic disease causing her to lose both her sight and hearing. After her first game of golf resulted in injury, thanks to a divot, Carol turned to books to understand golf, before returning to lessons and learning to play golf properly! The Ladies prizes started to be collected from 2017 including the Irish, British and Scandinavian Blind Opens. As a result of picking up the SDGC British Disabled Golf Open in 2021, she was selected for the Phoenix Cup teams twice in 2022 and 2023.
Such is Carol's passion for golf as a sport of choice for people with disabilities, off the fairways she is Secretary of DIGA and also a member of Golf Ireland's National Committee for Disability and Inclusion. Carol is looking forward to welcoming all 3 teams to her home club, Stackstown GC.

Cian Arthurs
At two years of age, young Cian lost his arm in a lawnmower accident. However, nothing stopped him from playing most sports, until he fell in love with golf at the age of 14.
With his focus and passion for the sport, he went on to be a World One Armed Champion not just once, but twice. He has also been a member of the One Armed Ryder Cup team competing several times in both Europe and America.
This year, Cian donned the green shirt at the European Team Championships in Germany, where Team Ireland secured fourth place, which Cian considers as "one of my proudest achievements in golf".

Gary Barrett
Gary tarted playing golf at the age of twelve, but the clubs were put away when he was seventeen years old after he was diagnosed with Bone Cancer. After chemotherapy and many operations, Gary made the decision to have his leg amputated above the knee, as the leg that was no longer functioning properly.
In March 2023, Gary got the clubs polished off and took them out to play for a golf trip with the lads. He was so happy to discover DIGA and EDGA at the same time and has been hooked on playing golf ever since.
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Kevin Cassidy
Kevin has been playing golf since a young age. In 2012, he was in a road traffic accident, and his leg was amputated in 2014 as a result. Eight months later, he took out the golf clubs and started playing again. He has gone from strength to strength, playing international golf tournaments in USA, UAE, Portugal and Scotland, with many more places yet to play. He is looking forward representing his country in the Tri Nations Tournament describing it as "up there among my greatest golfing achievements to date".
When not playing golf, Kevin is Handicap Secretary of DIGA.
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Paul Ferguson
Paul has been golfing for thirty years in the scenic county of Donegal, between Greencastle GC and the renowned Ballyliffin GC. Golf has been a huge part of Paul's living with his health challenges. He tries to golf as often as possible, even though he has respiratory problems, sarcoidosis and extreme fatigue.
Paul is absolutely delighted and excited to be a part of Team Ireland and is looking forward to supporting his team mates .

Paul Kelly
Born with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, Paul grew up looking at his dad's golfclubs in the house. Starting in the back garden, he perfected his golf swing before joining County Armagh Golf Club. He was lucky to represent his club in various inter-club tournaments and in 2010 he was part of the Ulster Fourball winning side.
Paul is a great golf advocate, through his work on the DIGA committee and Golf Ireland's National Committee for Disability and Inclusion.

Shane Keogh
Shane started playing pitch and putt when he was young but his focus shifted to playing other sport such as soccer, table tennis and badminton. To date, he is an international deaf badminton player with his hopes set on playing in the 2025 Deaf Olympics in Tokyo.
Shane has only returned to playing golf a few years ago, as a result of playing par 3s with his friends. He now plays with Deaf Golf Ireland and DIGA. When not playing golf and badminton, Shane enjoys running, especially in parkruns.
When Shane was invite to join Team Ireland, he thought it was a prank! He is so happy and excited to play Stackstown.

Philip Quearney
Philip was born partially deaf but then became profoundly deaf later on in life at the age of 16. In 2002, his interest in golf began when he was a "clueless caddy" for the World Deaf Golf Championships when it was held in St Margarets Golf Club. Since then he is an avid golfer and has played in the World Deaf Golf Championships in 2010/12/14/16/18/22 and preparing for his trip to Australia for the 2024 championships.
Philip's achievements in the World Deaf Golf Championships include finishing 3rd in the men's teams in Carton House, 2018 and 2nd place in Hawaii, 2022. He also won the Four Nations in Wales in 2013 while flying the flag for Deaf Golf Ireland.

David Quinn
In 2001, David received life changing injuries in a car accident, which resulted in a broken L3 vertebra, which shattered and damaged the nerve in the spinal cord causing paralysis. He also received a laceration to his head, a broken left hand and broken right ankle.
Eight months of rehabilitation ensued where David went from wheelchair to walking with crutches.
Golf has been a vital part of David's rehabilitation and has helped him go from strength to strength, with his most notable achievement being his selection for the Irish Team to play in the Nations Cup, which was held last July in Germany, and winning third place.

Vera Smyth
Vera started playing golf at the start of the millenium. She started playing with Deaf Golf Ireland in 2018 and has been proud to play with the Irish Ladies Team in the 2018 World Deaf Golf Championships in Carton House.
Her other achievement was winning a silver medal in the Individual Senior Lady category of the European Deaf Championships in Aland, Finland in 2023. Currently Vera is Lady Vice Captain and Competition Secretary of Portumna Golf Club.