Siobhan Scannell won this championship three times in four years from 2005 and is making a welcome return to competitive play. The Collins lady will set proceedings in motion along with Breda White (Tipperary Hills), whose ten successes between 1977 and 2024 is unlikely ever to be surpassed. And she’s not finished yet.
That pair will be swiftly followed by another Premier County/Rebel County group. Margaret Hennessy (Riverdale) was third at Ardnacrusha two years ago while 2023 Intermediate champion Ailish Sexton (Fermoy) collected senior bronze in 2025.
Little would give holder (and eight-time champion) Eleanor Walsh more satisfaction than to chase down Breda White’s imposing total. The Fermoy phenomenon will conduct her title defence, partnered by Eileen McCarthy (Deerpark), a two-time provincial Strokeplay champion as a juvenile, who will know the host course (the venue for the first time ever) better than most.
2013 Junior champion Lorraine Troy (Cunnigar) is another recent third place finisher. That was at Bruff in 2023 while Sarah O’Neill (Collins) will be bursting to (positively) break the sequence of three successive second placings.
The senior line-up is completed by a couple of former champions, Rocklodge’s Mary Murray who triumphed in 2014 and in 2018 and Fermoy’s Sarah Byrne, who captured the 2022 title.
Two players of immense experience will form the vanguard of the intermediate championship. Vera McCarthy (Collins) was 2005 overall provincial Matchplay champion and collected a dozen Munster Inter-County gold medals with Cork. Three-time National graded Strokeplay champion Bridget Shelly (Lakeside) was crowned 2018 Munster Intermediate Strokeplay champion having been runner-up in 2007.
2023 Munster Matchplay champion Lisa O’Connor (Tralee) plays with E.S.B.’s Paula Nolan, three times the provincial Strokeplay runner-up.
Hillview’s Gemma Martin will bid to add the 2026 intermediate championship to her 2022 junior victory, a quest she will share with fellow competitor Nuala McNamara (Collins), who succeeded Gemma as Junior champion in 2023.
Former Irish and Munster Girls champion Úna Brosnan (Claycastle) is another making a welcome return to the sport. Úna will seek to regain the trophy she captured at Ballinlough in 2014. Lakeside’s Mary Quinn is a past (2019 and 2022) two-time winner of the championship. Mary also claimed a second place finish in Co. Kerry, at Castleisland in 2011.
Mary Quinn’s clubmate Elaine Quinn (Lakeside) has been a regular podium finisher at provincial championships, including two Junior Strokeplay second place finishes and two intermediate matchplay silver medals. Ciara Lowe (Deerpark) will bring local knowledge and the experience of a session prize win at last year’s National Mixed Foursomes.
Former National Mixed Foursomes winner and 2022 Munster Junior Matchplay champion Grainne Shelly (Larkspur Park) is partnered by reigning Cork Matchplay champion Siobhan Foy (Rocklodge) who won the Munster Ladies Intermediate Strokeplay championship as far back as 1988.
Catriona O’Connor (Tralee) will hope to build on her 2024 second place performance as she opens up the junior championship, a mission she will share with 2026 provincial Matchplay finalist Eileen Hanley (The Ranges).
Serena O’Neill (Larkspur Park) is in a rich vein of form, as witnessed by her consecutive Best Nett wins in the All-Ireland Over-55s junior grade Strokeplay championship.
Reigning Munster Matchplay champion Margaret O’Donovan (Bruff) will seek a quick double.
Other contenders are likely to be 2023 Munster Mixed Foursomes runner-up Bernadette O’Regan (Tralee), 2024 Matchplay runner-up Angela Royer (Bishopstown), 2024 Munster Mixed Foursomes silver medallist Leslie Gilmore (Bishopstown) and provincial 2019 Matchplay runner-up Veronica Anglim (Hillview).
MaryAnne Long (St. Anne’s) has been hoovering up prize wins on the recent Cork Open circuit while Sandra O’Sullivan (Bishopstown) regularly visits the podium of Leeside team tournaments, such as the Peter Healy Mixed Team Event
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