SATURDAY sees the start of a journey for 31 teams and nearly 300 players across two competitions as following a successful debut in 2013, the National Inter-Club competitions kick into gear. The brainchild of former NEC Member Niall Reynolds (Clare Road) who put plenty of sleepless nights into getting it off the ground, the competition was an instant hit with clubs and players alike as it gave many who ordinarily wouldn’t get a moment in the sun, a chance to make their mark for their club in the white hot heat of battle.
Think of a club’s Grounds Committee member who works tirelessly (in adverse weather as it has been in recent years) to keep their course in tip, top shape or the Club Treasurer who chases feverishly after everyone to make sure that they have their fees paid (often thanklessly) and you get the sense of how this competition can catch the imagination of any club big and small. Both Gents competitions are named in memory of two of the game’s most memorable stalwarts. Willie Parker (Scratch competition) of so many different Pitch & Putt parishes it’s hard to remember them all while Jack McCormack (Inter/Junior competition) will forever be associated with Westmeath Pitch & Putt for his years of service there. We will look more at both men’s legacies nearer the Finals but for now let’s focus on the battle to claim their respective cups.
The inaugural staging of the competitions last year culminated on the October Bank Holiday Weekend in Bruff, Co Limerick last year and it was a quite memorable one for St Annes of Cork in both the Gents competitions. For any club to win the inaugural staging is special, to win two is unique and unprecedented and nothing less than the burgeoning Cork City club deserved. They might have been strong winners of the Scratch competition but their Inter/Junior team went all the way to the last match and the last putt with Deerpark of Killarney in their other success. Fittingly both St Annes and Deerpark start as they finished last year with the first match of both their campaigns against each other in the same venue as last year’s decider. The St Annes Scratch team begin their defence with a trip to Hillview to take on Tramore in Group B.
The Clonmel club along with a rather interesting combination of Cork clubs Collins & Fermoy are the other two sides in the defending champions’ Group and with smaller group sizes this year, the margin for error will be a lot narrower for all sides this year. While the decline in entries compared to last year is disappointing, one would hope that this will be an exception and not the rule in future years. It certainly is disappointing that due to a poor number of entries that there will be no Ladies competition this year but hopefully it can return next year. The other two groups in the Scratch competition are Eastern and Western based sets of five with the Eastern Group (Group A) consisting of four Leinster counties with Erin’s Isle and Old County (Dublin), Bellewstown (Meath), Collinstown (Westmeath) and St Bridget’s (Kildare) all involved. The Western Group (Group C) is made up of three Munster counties with Bruff and Parteen (Limerick), Lakeside/Riverdale and Tipperary Hills (Tipperary) and Clare Road (Clare) doing battle. The top two teams in Group B with the top 3 teams in Group A and Group C will make up the eight quarter finalists in the Scratch Gents Competition.
In the Inter/Junior competition the aforementioned meeting of Deerpark and St Annes kicks off Group A alongside the meeting of Castleisland and Collins in what is to be set to be a fiercely competitive group with another Kerry side Tralee also involved. Group B has a South East feel to it with three sides from the area Bagenalstown (Carlow), St Patrick’s (Wexford) and Cunnigar (Waterford) joining a more northerly St Bridget’s (Kildare) in the Group. Group C is made up solely of two counties, Collinstown, Kilbeggan and Lough Owel (Westmeath) and Cement and MacBride (Louth). Group D has a more Mid-Western dimension to it as Tipperary sides Lakeside and Tipperary Hills, Cork side Majestic, Limerick’s Parteen and Ennis’ Clare Road face off. It’s a bit easier to explain advancement to the quarter-finals in this competition as the top two in each will advance directly to the quarter-finals.
With the semi-finals and Finals taking place on separate weekends this year it will allow teams a bit more focus on the respective deciders (or maybe even add a bit more pressure and anticipation in equal measure!) but one things for certain there will be plenty of excitement and despair about missed putts, rakers, chip-ins and maybe even the odd hole-in-one over the next five months or so. Matchplay is the only game that can truly bring all this to life.
We wish all the teams the very best on their respective roads to September through the highways and bye ways of Pitch & Putt country, it’s bound to be long and winding along the way!
Jason O’Connor
Communications and Press Officer PPUI