Owen Casey will be making a welcome return to the Irish competitive scene when he sets out in defence of his title in the Pamela Scott-sponsored Irish Open indoor tennis championships at Riverview on Sunday.
The past six months saw two watersheds in the 27-year-old's career: He retired from the international satellite circuit and subsequently did not figure in Ireland's European Cup team for the first time since coming into prominence.
His task in trying to retain the title at Riverview may appear all that easier due to the absence of Irish number one Scott Barron but in John Doran, the number two seed, Casey will surely have a formidable opponent.
Doran plays at number four on the Harvard University side and showed excellent form in scoring Ireland's lone success against Denmark in the Euro Cup series in Belfast recently.
His match practice could just about prove the deciding factor against a top seed whose full-time involvement in coaching may be too much of a handicap to carry in this instance.
George McGill, another US-based scholarship player, may in fact be in a stronger position to face up to Casey than was the case in last year's final. They are seeded to meet in the semi-finals.
Gina Niland heads the women's list, with Claire Curren, home from the University of California, seeded to meet the Limerick woman in the final.
Cork's Yvonne Flynn and Aoife O'Neill fill the remaining seeded positions in what appears a promising draw, even without the holder, Yvonne Doyle, who is injured.
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