McBride and Curran win Hilary at Portmarnock

Paul McBride. Picture Thos Caffrey www.golffile.ie

Dara Curran squeezed home to win the RaboDirect Hilary outing at Portmarnock Golf Club.

The man from neighbouring Portmarnock Links, helped by a rare birdie at the difficult 17th, fired a 70 to edge out The Island's Fergal Kennedy on a tie.

Another Island member, Irish international Paul McBride, won the gross with a splendid 73 in somewhat benign conditions on the North Dublin championship links.

With just one round remaining, Royal Dublin's Darragh O Malley leads by two shots in the race for the coveted Gold medal-awarded or the player with the best nett scores in the series.

McBride, meanwhile, has a clear lead for the Silver Medal awarded to the player with the best gross scores throughout the series. 

However, he will not be teeing it up in the last event of the season at Sutton Golf Club on Friday April 25th as he's heading to the US for the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.