13th May 2009: Leinster Strokeplay Championships Preview

The first of the 2009 provincial championships take place this weekend in neighbouring courses in Meath and Dublin respectively. The Gents junior, intermediate and senior championships take centre stage at the picturesque Bellewstown course situated within the Bellewstown Racecourse. Designed originally by professional, golfer Bobby Brown, it certainly has the attributes for a tough and challenging course when the wind howls. Strangely we can call it one of the younger clubs within Ireland as it was just formed in the early nineties, officially opened in 1993, but it has gained greater status over the past few years staging County and Provincial championships. Our Offaly contingent will undoubtedly receive a warm welcome from the club committee and members alike but will the course itself prove as welcoming to their efforts?! This will entirely be down to the weather conditions on the day.

The junior sections tees off the 2009 championships at 9a.m. and includes Erry's Robert Mitchell and Tullamore's Michael O'Connell. Both players still adapting to the competitiveness in the adult ranks will quietly fancy their chances of a medal finish with only 18 players taking part. The intermediate grade then tees off at 9.24a.m. Three strong and experienced Offaly representatives are among the thirty-three strong field taking part in this grade; Ferbane's Sean Robinson, Erry's David Carroll and Larry Maher Snr. The latter Erry player's are no strangers to tasting success at Provincial level with Carroll winning the Leinster Inter Matchplay in 2003 and Maher only in 2007 capturing this very title, the Leinster Inter Strokeplay. The trio will certainly be in the title chase over the 36 holes.

At 12a.m. it is the turn of the big hitters, one of Tullamore's seasoned campaigners, John Fleming, is second to tee off in the first three ball of the senior gents grade. Fleming is one of nine Offaly big guns that travel to Meath to compete for the coveted top honours, a challenging feat amongst several of the country's top pitch and putt player's, including Meath locals Ian Farrelly, Liam Sheridan, Gary Smith and Patrick Connelly and not forgetting defending champion Eddie Carey of Athgarvan. William Buckley Jnr. (Erry) twice winner of the championship in 2005 and 2007 and current defending Leinster Matchplay champion will head the Offaly and Erry quintet challenge on Sunday next along with club mates Graham Newman, Joseph McGrath Jnr., Larry Maher Jnr., and Joe McGrath Snr., all of whom have showed promising performances this season. Another dedicated father-son combination competing along with the Maher's and McGrath's are the Hogan's of Tullamore. Mick, the lefty, will be hoping to play as well as support the efforts of his son Mark on Sunday. Along with Fleming and the Hogan's, Darren O'Connell will represent Tullamore at the championships also. The ninth player of the Offaly contingent is Ferbane's Patsy Reams, who qualified with ease in April. Patsy, another lefty, will defiantly be a dark horse in this championship if he can get the run of the Racecourse greens. The top 12 scores after 36 holes will qualify for the final 18 hole play-off Sunday afternoon in the senior grade.

Not too far from Bellewstown Racecourse, taking a fifteen minute drive through the Meath back roads and viewing the eastern coastline on your journey, you will find yourself in the county of Dublin, and a little village called Ring Commons. This is the location for the Ladies Provincial Strokeplay championships, the Ring Commons Sports Centre, hidden away off the M1 motorway near Balbriggan. The Offaly players dominated this particular championship at McDonagh, Kildare, in 2008 by capturing the junior, intermediate and senior titles respectively. This great accomplishment however will be hard to replicate in the back door of current National Strokeplay champion Ger Ward from Portmarnock and almost twenty other high calibre Dublin players including Sheelagh Elmes, Maree O'Toole, Phil Condron, Kay Mooney and Stella Sheridan to name but a few in the senior grade. Current National Matchplay champion Kildare's Tara Dillon will also be in the senior title hunt alongside clubmate and National Matchplay Runner-Up Chrissie Byrne. Neighbouring Meath players who will also quietly fancy their chances on Sunday are Navan's Catherine McCreevy, Bellewstown's Cathy Richardson and Royal Meath's Ann Hall, who makes a welcomed return to the game. Three time winner of the championship and bidding for her fourth (third in a row), Erry's Tracey McGrath will be hoping to return to good playing form come Sunday and lead the sole Offaly challenge in the senior ladies grade. The senior grade tees off at 12 noon with the top 10 scorers of 40 players after 36 holes qualifying for the final 18 hole playoff.

It is the junior ladies however that get the championship underway at the earlier time of 9a.m. Only ten players compete for the spoils in the junior grade and hopes are high that Ferbane's Deirdre McCabe who is the lone Offaly qualifier can cause early title celebrations. An equally competitive grade, the intermediates will take their call to battle over the Dublin course from 9.20a.m. With roughly one third of the intermediate field hailing from the home county it will be a difficult task to drag the cup from the grasp of the capital's competitors. However, the capital does not boast the defending champion in its ranks; Ferbane's Ann-Marie McCabe will not relinquish her grip on her title too easily. Maybe there is a possible double on the cards as her sister Deirdre competes in the junior grade this year. In her title defence Ann-Marie will also face stiff competition from her county counterparts. Club mate Eileen Guerin, Erry's Geraldine Ryan and Linda Flanagan and Tullamore's Annie Galvin and Mary Cuskelly will also prove formidable challengers to the intermediate thrown!

One thing that is for sure is that the gents and ladies championships will serve up a feast of top quality pitch and putt this Sunday. The determining factor on the day could in fact be the weather and the players who can adapt their game the most will inevitably hail supreme. We wish all our Offaly representatives the very best of luck on Sunday and we hope we will be toasting further Provincial success.

Click here for Ladies & Gents order of play for the forthcoming Leinster Championships on the PPUI website »