Lucan‘s Keith Redmond’s defence of the Leinster Strokeplay championship begins at 10.45am on Sunday and will initially be conducted in the presence of Wayne Allen (St. Patrick’s) and Mark Newman (Lough Owel).
Having also won at Collinstown ten years ago, Redmond bids to add a third Leinster Strokeplay title to his resumé.
Wayne Allen lifted the Leinster Intermediate Matchplay trophy in 2023 while Scratch Cup specialist Mark Newman reached this season’s provincial senior Matchplay decider. Newman was 2024 Meath Masters winner at Laytown.
Ian Farrelly gets it all underway from 9.00am. Now playing out of the host club, Farrelly will bring his knowledge of the Laytown track to the party along with his four Leinster Inter-County wins and his impressive international career that reached its zenith with his 2011 European Strokeplay success in Norway.
Four-time Leinster Mixed Foursomes champion Joe McGrath Junior (Erry) and provincial Strokeplay champion (at juvenile and adult level) George McGreal (Old County) complete the opening threeball.
Darren Keogh helped Kildare to the 2011 Leinster Inter-County title and the Ryston man also holds two provincial Inter-County silver medals.
A provincial Inter-County winner with Louth in 2013, Shane Redmond was playing out of Channonrock when he collected Leinster Strokeplay honours at Cloghogue in 2014. Now back playing at Old County, Redmond will begin with the honour in a high-quality group, that also features Castletown’s Eamon Gibney (the 2024 Leinster Matchplay champ who also possesses four provincial silver medals, three Strokeplay and one Matchplay) and the player w hopipped Gibney to the 2023 Strokeplay crown, Darren Fagan (Seapoint). Gibney won the 2022 and 2024 stagings of Laytown Scratch Cup.
A 2016 Leinster Inter-County winner, Padraic Sarsfield (MacBride) also holds two provincial silver medals with the Wee County.
Evan Carry (Castletown) won seven provincial individual titles as a juvenile (four Strokeplay and three Matchplay) and would love to record his first such success at adult level.
Mark Millar (Killineer) was Leinster Strokeplay runner-up in millennium year but will still fancy his chances of adding the medal trophy to his Matchplay triumphs of 2000 and 2019.
Stephen Murray (Old County) has the chance of becoming the fifth player in history to win the Leinster Matchplay and Leinster Strokeplay in the same year. He has won three provincial titles (2024 Strokeplay and 2025/2026 Matchplays) in the last three years, so will be short odds to complete the single year pair.
Three of the four Gents to achieve that double are in the 2026 field – Sean Goggin (2022), John Ross Crangle (2012) and William Buckley Junior (2002).
Sean Harkins (Ryston) enjoyed a good run in this championship in the 1990s, winning in 1992 and capturing second prize in both 1990 and 1995. The 1996 Leinster Inter-County winner and three-time runner-up still has the game to compete at the highest level. Harkins goes into battle flanked by Rathfeigh’s Tadhg Harrington, no doubt buoyed by his recent silver medal achievement at Rochfortbridge and 2014 Leinster Mixed Foursomes runner-up Stephen Power (Old County).
Dean Grannell (St. Patrick’s) was Leinster Matchplay champion in 2017 and finished second in the provincial Strokeplay a year later. Grannell is joined by Athgarvan’s Peadar O’Toole (2024 Leinster Junior Matchplay champion and 2025 provincial Matchplay kingpin having won two provincial Strokeplay championships as a juvenile) and Sean Goggin (MacBride). Goggin has four times been a provincial indicividual championship runner-up (three Matchplay and one Strokeplay) in addition to his 2022 double success.
William Buckley junior (Erry) was the man to beat across Leinster in the the noughties, claiming Matchplay glory in 2003 and 2008 along with Strokeplay successes in 2002 and 2005. The Clara man is perfectly capable of adding to that string of titles.
Michael Ahern (Lucan) won the 2016 Leinster Intermediate Strokeplay championship at Collinstown.
Another man still playing at a high level is 1996 and 1997 Leinster Matchplay champion and 2013 provincial Strokeplay winner Frank Ryan (St. Bridget’s).
Provincial Matchplay runner-up in 2016, George Beardsley (MacBride) is a five-time Leinster Inter- County championship winner with Louth.
If William Buckley Junior ‘owned’ the noughties, John Ross Crangle (Loughlinstown) was the next decade’s dominant force in Leinster. First crowned Matchplay champion in 2009 at Seapoint, Crangle notched three more Matchplay successes (in 2012, 2013 and 2015) as well as claiming the Leinster Strokeplay titles of 2012 and 2018. There were also a couple of losing Matchplay finals and a brace of Strokeplay silvers. An Irish Open success at Portmarnock recently will give JR a big boost heading to Laytown.
2022 Leinster Matchplay runner-up Gary Healy (Loughlinstown) boasts half a dozen Leinster Inter- County winners’ medals.
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