The player . . .

It's not just the Sam Maguire Cup or the Liam McCarthy Cup that generates sporting passion. To many, golf can seem an insular and selfish sport. But spend some time in the company of Pat Lyons - into his third decade competing in the Irish Cups and Shields - and such tenets are found to have no foundations.

Lyons lives and breathes golf. On Thursday, he will be part of a Cork Golf Club team that competes in the national finals of the Barton Shield and, even though he has "been there, done that" many times before, the thrill of the battle continues to fire him up.

It was back in 1988 that Lyons got the phone call that was to change his outlook on club golf. Denis O'Sullivan, now successfully plying his skills on the European Senior Tour, was aware that Lyons was moving to Cork and suggested his destination should be Little Island.

The carrot came in the form of a question along the lines of, "How would you like to win a Senior Cup medal?" Lyons won his first Irish Senior Cup medal with Cork GC in 1989, added a Barton Shield title in 1990 and was part of the Cork team that regained the Irish Senior Cup in 1998. And, as someone who has played international and interprovincial golf, the attraction of the inter-club scene is one that he finds hard to beat.

"It's one of the first focuses of the year. You find out what dates matches are scheduled to be played and when the finals are and you make sure that family holidays don't clash," said Lyons.

Regular rounds and meetings develop team spirit. "We're pulling, fighting and dragging each other - the determination is always there. Even at a local level, there is a huge rivalry between Douglas Golf Club and ourselves. A bit like Cork and Tipperary in hurling. If you beat them along the way, you get enormous satisfaction - but then you want to go on and finish the job, to win the national finals.

"Even though you've been there before, it is always quite nerving. It is quite a daunting task, with serious pressure. Whether it is the local finals, the Munster final or the Irish final, you have that pressure. But that is what we play golf for. To be on the best stage that you possibly can be.

"Anyone who has made it to Newlands has done so under an enormous pressure all the way through the qualifying matches."