Hunger for rub of the green

PHILIP REIDon the enduring lure of the All-Ireland club Cups and Shields competitions which culminate at Castlerock Golf Club over the next few days

THE PURSE strings at clubs, by necessity, are tighter these days. Still and all, the lure of a green pennant – the biggest prize in inter-club competition – has meant those 20 teams from 17 clubs competing in the Chartis All-Ireland Cups and Shields finals at Castlerock Golf Club on the Causeway coast over the next few days won’t mind one whit what it costs to gain deliverance.

Take the example of Warrenpoint, who this week are involved in the final stages of no fewer than three separate competitions: the Barton Shield, the Irish Senior Cup and the Jimmy Bruen Shield. Although such a quest for glory has put huge demands on players and management, their intent is evident in the decision to fly Paul Reavey, a vital cog in both Barton Shield and Senior Cup teams, home from New York in the bid for glory.

Of course, Reavey’s presence is worth every cent. A former Irish boys’ champion and the 2009 Ulster youths’ champion, Reavey is a class player who, despite his youth, has already experienced the cut and thrust and the special feeling that winning brings in these inter-club competitions. Reavey was part of the winning Warrenpoint team in the Senior Cup final in 2008 at Monkstown in Cork when a mere slip of a lad. He played his part then, and now he has matured into one of the team’s leading lights.

Tradition in golf is a big thing, and few clubs epitomise it more than Warrenpoint in this unique inter-club festival – the envy of the other “Home” Unions – which started out back in the spring when the days were growing longer and has reached its finale in the autumn when the evening light is fading.

Down through the years, Warrenpoint has savoured copious success in the competitions and, still, the hunger is unabated.

What’s the secret? Peter Kenny, the manager of the Barton Shield and the Senior Cup teams, is convinced it is down to “great coaching structures” in the club, pointing to the role played by club professional Nigel Shaw and former Senior Cup players who continue to give back in developing young players heading into the future.

“We’ve a great history, especially of Barton Shields and Senior Cups. Paddy Gribben. Jim Carvill. Kenny Stevenson . . . but this is a new breed of guys, all very young. I was told they were one of the youngest teams to have won in Ulster and now we’re looking forward to go on and win an All-Ireland,” said Kenny.

And the continuity of generation following generation is apparent in this year’s team, with Ryan Gribben – a hero of the Ulster final of the Senior Cup when birdieing two of the closing three holes to come from one down to win the decisive singles – being in the team. He is a nephew of Paddy, the former Walker Cup player.

For sure, Warrenpoint have the template for success. The Co Down club has, at one point or another, had the Pierce Purcell Shield, the Jimmy Bruen Shield, the Barton Shield and the Senior Cup on display in its clubhouse, with only the Junior Cup evading their clutches.

And if Warrenpoint’s desire remains as strong as ever, the beauty of this inter-club jamboree is new and old alike are treated with the same respect. So it is that clubs will this week be chasing a first green pennant. The likes of Corrstown – a club beyond the airport in north county Dublin – who will be seeking a first green pennant when competing in the Pierce Purcell Shield, or Faithlegg from Waterford, who are competing in the Jimmy Bruen Shield.

As Tony Merrigan, the manager of the Corrstown team put it when attempting to describe what it takes to find the secret to winning, “it’s not about the performance or individuals or pairs, but about a panel of 19 fully-committed players who went (about the task) without once questioning or grumbling over some harsh management decisions that were made during the campaign . . .  this journey started from the first day that we posted a sheet in the clubhouse requesting players who were interested in trying to represent the club. They have given us the type of selection problems that is a determination to represent their club.”

Corrstown are one of those clubs chasing history, seeking to win for a first time. Others, like Warrenpoint have reached the promised land before and know what it feels like. It feels like more, it is not greedy, just an acknowledgement that all of the effort is worth it because there is a Corinthian pleasure – not money, just a piece of green fabric – for those who achieve.

John Mitchell, a member of the Tramore team competing in the Barton Shield, epitomises the spirit of the Cups and Shields. It is of an ongoing desire to succeed. Having first savoured the finals as a player at Royal Portrush in 1979, Mitchell has been back as part of winning and losing teams in the intervening years since then and still retains the same enthusiasm as he did some 21 years ago.

“It’s about driving each other on,” said Mitchell of the team spirit in Tramore that features old hands like himself and Alan Thomas, playing off plus-one, with the likes of Robin Dawson, still only in his mid-teens.

Mitchell was part of Tramore’s double-winning Barton Shield-Senior Cup team in 1992 and, yet, his presence on the team that went out in winds of 60 miles an hour at Castlerock yesterday for practice says all there is to say about the enduring lure of these Cups and Shields. This festival draws club players from plus-handicaps to the high-teens, all seeking a green pennant to adorn a clubhouse wall. It is their own Ryder Cup.

THE TROPHIES: Tradition and formats

Barton Shield

Commemorating the former Golfing Union of Ireland president, the Hon Mr Justice Barton, the first club to win the Shield was Portmarnock in 1920. Clubs are represented by two foursomes pairings (playing off scratch).

Irish Junior Cup

Inaugurated in 1900, teams are comprised of five players of 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, it 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 Senior Cup is the most coveted trophy in club golf. Teams consist of five players in singles matchplay (playing off scratch). The figure on the lid is that of Fred G Tait. A member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, Tait was British Amateur Champion in 1896 and 1898 and runner-up in 1893, 1894, 1895 and 1899.

Jimmy Bruen Shield

The Jimmy Bruen Shield is named in honour of a 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 who is invariably remembered for his huge hitting off the tee and remarkable powers of recovery.

– Philip Reid

THE DRAW: What's on when

Wednesday

Barton Shield semi-finals

10.30: Tramore v Athenry

10.50: Enniscorthy v Warrenpoint

Junior Cup semi-finals

11.10: Ballina v Mitchelstown

12.00: Lurgan v Co Meath

Thursday

Pierce Purcell Shield semi-finals

8.00: Corrstown v Letterkenny

8.50: Woodstock v Athenry

Junior Cup final (11.0)

Barton Shield final (12.0)

Friday

Senior Cup semi-finals

8.30: Warrenpoint v Co Sligo

9.20: Muskerry v Portmarnock

Pierce Purcell Shield final (10.30)

Jimmy Bruen Shield semi-finals

12.00: Forrest Little v Warrenpoint

12.50: Claremorris v Faithlegg

Saturday

Senior Cup final (9.0)

Jimmy Bruen Shield final (10.30)

The course: Castlerock gc

RIGHTLY regarded as one of the North's finest seaside link, Castlerock Golf Club enjoys a wonderful location set amidst dunes where the River Bann meets the north Atlantic on the famed Causeway Coast.

Although it has played host to four Irish Close Championships, this is the club's first time to stage the inter-club festival.

Castlerock is a gem of a links, sandwiched between the mouth of the Bann and the Derry-Belfast railway line.

The sand dunes through which part of the golf course runs were once inhabited during the Neolithic and early Bronze Ages and, as such, the links is protected under the Historic Monuments Act of Northern Ireland.

Some famous hands were also involved in the golf course's design.

Ben Sayers, the long-standing professional at North Berwick in Scotland who was best-known for his club-making, upgraded the course from nine holes to 18 holes in 1909 and, subsequently, Harry Colt in the 1930s and Eddie Hackett in the 1970s contributed their design ingenuity to tasteful upgrading whilst retaining its original character.

The course played host to the 2001 Irish PGA Championship – which was won by Des Smyth – and features a number of quite outstanding holes, with the fourth hole – a par three known as the Leg O'Mutton protected by the railway line on the right and a stream on the left – considered its signature hole.

There is some wonderful variety of holes, as emphasised by the water which runs along the front of the sixth green and the armchair effect in which the seventh green sits on what is a demanding par four hole.

And, then, there is the mound in the middle of the 12th fairway which provides the optical illusion of playing a hole which rises over a hill.

The back nine on the Mussenden course starts off with a par four known as Fairy Dell and this homeward run features no fewer than three par fives, the last of which is the 17th – a hole that tumbles down the hill and which offers excellent sea views (on a clear day it is possible to see the Isle of Islay!).

– Philip Reid