GOLF: Philip Reidon how what started out with 20,000 club players chasing glory has been pared down to the 20 teams going for the Irish Cups and Shields finals glory
YO THINK grown men don’t cry? This week, we’ll see. The tears could be of joy, or of sorrow – and, in the search for a green pennant, you can bet your bottom dollar players who will have demonstrated nerves of steel, and who you’d swear had ice flowing in their veins whilst in the heat of battle, will be reduced to slobbering mortals once a winning putt has dropped, or one has shaved the hole and stayed above ground.
This is what happens in the Bulmers Irish Cups and Shields, a unique sporting showcase which this week descends on Castlebar – a club celebrating their centenary by playing host to the national finals – with 20 teams involved in the quest for a piece of silverware but, more importantly, a green pennant that answers all questions.
As Eddie Power, a three-time Irish champion – in 1987, 1993 and 1998 – observes of the Cups and Shields, “it is all very real.”
Indeed it is, and those club players from every corner of the island who have won provincial honours and now attempt to make the giant step towards national glory will likely expend considerable energy and emotion over the four days of the finals.
What started out with over 20,000 club players chasing glory has been whittled down to this, a showcase of 20 teams – 18 clubs, with Co Sligo and Bandon each going for doubles – spanning the handicaps from plus (in some cases in the Senior Cup and Barton Shield) to mid-handicappers (in the Pierce Purcell Shield), with each competition different in make-up but placing the same demands on team spirit and deliverance.
The road to Castlebar has been smooth for some, rocky for others. Take the case of Bandon – competing in the Barton Shield and the Irish Senior Cup – who cruised through the Munster qualifying and finals in the Barton Shields: the west Cork club beat Kinsale by seven holes, Lee Valley by six, Fota Island by two, Castletroy by four and Thurles by six in the Munster final to advance to Castlebar.
In some contrast, Co Sligo’s Pierce Purcell Shield team – who had overcome Ballymote, Strandhill, Enniscrone, Tubbercurry and Galway Bay to reach the Connacht final – were forced to go to the very death before emerging as provincial winners when claiming a 3-2 win over Curra West in spectacular style, with Pat Forkan and Michael McNamara, in the fourth foursomes, and Aidan Doyle and Joe Finnegan, in the bottom match, both winning at the 19th.
In another case, Portumna – who only edged out Athenry in the strokeplay qualifying for the Junior Cup to take their place in the matchplay phases – made the most of their close call to show their true quality in the knock-outs by going on to beat Ballinrobe, Galway and Co Sligo. So, the golfers from hurling country are proof you just never know what’s around the corner.
What is rather unusual about this year’s finals line-up is only one Dublin club – Clontarf, in the Jimmy Bruen Shield – has made it to the national finals and, indeed, the geographical spread is testament to the health of the inter-club competitions.
Power, for his part, is a great advocate of the Cups and Shields, having first tasted success with his home club Tramore and again last year with Kilkenny when they won the Barton Shield.
This time around, Kilkenny are back in the national finals with a first Irish Senior Cup in their sights – with Lurgan, Bandon and Co Sligo also contending for this glamour trophy – and Power outlines the feeling that every player, be it in the Senior Cup or the Pierce Purcell Shield, brings to the finals. “This is all about playing team golf with your friends, it gives us all a great buzz.”
In fact, nothing gets the competitive juices flowing quite like these Cups and Shields.
THE DRAW
TOMORROW
Barton Shield Semi-finals: 10.30 – Galway v Headfort. 10.50 – Dunmurry v Bandon.
Junior Cup Semi-finals: 11.10 – East Cork v Naas. Noon – Portumna v Banbridge.
THURSDAY
Pierce Purcell Shield Semi-finals: 8am _ Co Sligo v Curragh. 8.50 – Nenagh v Lisburn.
Junior Cup Final: 11am – East Cork or Naas v Portumna or Banbridge. Barton Shield Final: Noon – Galway or Headfort v Dunmurry or Bandon.
FRIDAY
Senior Cup Semi-finals: 8.30 – Bandon v Co Sligo. 9.20 – Kilkenny v Lurgan. Pierce Purcell Shield Final: 10.30 – Co Sligo or Curragh v Nenagh or Lisburn.
Jimmy Bruen Shield Semi-finals: Noon – Tandragee v Swinford. 12.50 – Carrick on Suir v Clontarf .
SATURDAY
Senior Cup Final: 9am – Bandon or Co Sligo v Kilkenny or Lurgan.
Jimmy Bruen Shield Final: 10.30 – Tandragee or Swinford v Carrick on Suir or Clontarf.
THE COURSE: CASTLEBAR GC
IN THEIR centenary year, Castlebar Golf Club host the Irish Cups and Shields finals – and, in so doing, showcase their modernised course.
Noted golf course architect Peter McEvoy – a two-time British Amateur champion who served in the Walker Cup as player and captain – was responsible for the upgrade and created three new water features and added over 40 bunkers to put a greater emphasis on course management. All 18 greens were rebuilt to top USGA specifications.
Founded in 1910, the course – originally a nine-hole layout on land leased for the princely sum of £12 per annum – was expanded to 18-holes in 1982 after the club bought out the lease and purchased additional land. Not content with what they had, though, the club members decided in 1999 to undergo a major redevelopment of the course and brought in McEvoy to oversee the upgrading project.
The Irish Cups and Shields finals will provide one of the highpoints of the club's centenary year and those players arriving in Castlebar in pursuit of a green pennant will find a course where the par threes, in particular, will ask serious questions.
In fact, McEvoy nominates the par three sixth hole – of 188 yards – as his particular favourite as streams, ponds and marshes all come into play. There are five par threes, the first of them coming at the second hole, and each of the short holes will appeal in its own way.
There is great variety, especially with the way the trees on the course have matured to complement the additional water hazards and bunkering. The par four ninth hole – measuring almost 460 yards – has earned the reputation as the toughest hole on the course but, in this matchplay format of inter-club competitions, it is likely the tough 17th could have a vital bearing on the destination of the five titles.
THE TROPHIES: A BRIEF HISTORY
Barton Shield
Commemorating former Golfing Union of Ireland president, the Hon Mr Justice Barton, the first club to win was Portmarnock in 1920. Clubs are represented by two foursomes pairings (playing off scratch).
Irish Junior Cup
Inaugurated in 1900, cup teams comprised five players off five handicap and over, playing matchplay (playing off scratch). John Ball Jnr is featured on the lid. A member of Royal Liverpool GC, Ball was British Amateur Champion in 1888, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1899, 1902, 1909 and 1912, runner-up in 1887 and 1895. He was also British Open Champion in 1890 and Irish Amateur Open Champion in 1893, 1894 and 1899.
Pierce Purcell Shield
Named after Prof Purcell, one of Ireland's outstanding golf administrators from the 1920s to the 1960s, was won by Massereene for the first time in 1970. Five foursomes pairings represent each club, comprised of minimum individual handicap of 12 and minimum combined of 27.
Irish Senior Cup
Instituted in 1900, the most coveted trophy in club golf. Teams consist of five players in singles matchplay (off scratch). Figure on lid is Fred G Tait, member of the Royal and Ancient, and British Amateur Champion in 1896 and 1898, runner-up in 1893, 1894, 1895 and 1899.
Jimmy Bruen Shield
Named in honour of great Cork golfer who inspired Britain and Ireland to their first Walker Cup victory at St Andrews in 1938 when still an 18-year-old schoolboy at Presentation Brothers. Jimmy Bruen captured the British Amateur Championship in 1946 and enjoyed many other notable successes before injury brought a premature end to the career of a man remembered for huge hitting off the tee and remarkable powers of recovery.
