The honour of getting the competition underway is the reigning champion, Kevin McCarthy from the Rocklodge club in Blarney, Co. Cork. Kevin won the battle of the mind with Eoin Walsh in Youghal last summer. Even the most eternal of optimists wouldn’t have forecast that pairing this time 12 months ago. But that is what transpired and the deserved man wore the crown on Monday afternoon. Looking back over the 12 months it’s hard to know how the mantle of All-Ireland champion sat with Kevin. I fully believe having the All-Ireland Matchplay champion as the sub in St Patrick’s contributed to Cork’s downfall.  As defending champion (and with one eye to the Strokeplay on his home course in a few months) adds pressure to the Rocklodge member. He has as nice an opening tie as he could hope for. He faces the young Meath Intermediate Strokeplay champion Peter Reilly (Bellewstown). I hope I’m right in saying this is Reilly’s first taste of a National Matchplay, and if the qualifying draw was kind, then what about the prospects of playing the All-Ireland Matchplay champion in the first match of the tournament. The stuff dreams are made of! I hope it doesn’t turn into a nightmare for Reilly, as McCarthy has to be overwhelming favourite.

The second tie in this section pits Shandon’s Dennis Monaghan against Peter Dolan now of Collinstown. Monaghan had an impressive time qualifying, and the man who is approaching near-veteran status, was at his imperious best around the greens to eliminate Stephen Murray. Dennis is renowned for being a humble person, and a superb sportsman. His biggest weapon is his around-the-green work, and the joke when Dennis was a force in Dublin (and beyond) was that it was worse for you if Dennis was off a green, as that meant an almost certain birdie, such is his prowess around the green. As a coach, Dennis would be the prime example I would show to any young player or beginner looking to see how to work on game management around a green.  I remember Peter Dolan as much from his time in Athboy as I do now that he’s absconded west along the road. He came through into the adult grades along with a couple of other lads from that area pretty much the same time as we did in Old County. A very good player in those early days, he seems to be rejuvenated since the move to Collinstown, and I’m delighted to see him take his place in the field this weekend. The game itself could be nip and tuck, but Dennis’ nous around the Lucan venue should be enough to sway the match in his direction.

The first mega-clash of the Gent’s Championship is between St. Anne’s Kieran Dunscombe and the first home player out of the hat, the gritty Terry McMorrow. This has the hall-mark of an epic clash, as these two players surely will feel this match is the one to set them on the way to Sunday afternoon. Dunscombe is a confusing player. He’s a good guy, an excellent supporter of Pitch and Putt and of other Cork players, and this year he has shown that he’s willing to give something back as he has taken on the secretary’s role in St. Anne’s. Big shoes to fill Kieran, and I hope you have plenty of stamps at the ready. His talent is there for all to see, a genius with the wedge in hand, the trouble starts when the putter comes out. And that is what is confusing: this guy has won some big competitions, and has done some incredible scores throughout the last decade. An Inter-County winner (that is a bigger achievement in itself than most of the field), and also I’ve a vague recollection of his blitzing the Lucan Scr Cup some years ago.

But he’s playing Terry McMorrow, a real Matchplay fighter, and someone grossly under-valued around Leinster. Terry will relish the opportunity to shine on his own course and this is just the match to do that. This will be a really close match and I’ve had a nagging suspicion that McMorrow could do very well this weekend, if he can get over that first hurdle. I’ve also listened to some of the rumours floating around about Kieran’s putting travails over the past week, and while I’ve no doubt they’re exaggerated to some extent, I can’t help but feel McMorrow is going to progress to Sunday.

The final match in this opening section is between Derek Courtney, the former Glenville player now playing in his adopted home of St. Bridget’s and he will face Pat Martin from Tipperary Hills. Courtney has had a good start to the season, and it would appear that the logical, but gut-wrenching, decision to relocate to Kilcullen has come up trumps for the popular Dubliner. I wonder is the question for Derek now “Why didn’t I do it sooner?” Certainly he was a favourite of mine coming into the Leinster Matchplay, and while he was derailed by Mark Millar, he was magnanimous enough to suggest that Millar was value for the win, despite leading coming into the final 9 holes. As anyone with Derek’s experience, Lucan will be no mystery to him. His opponent might, Martin qualifying on his home course, from a group James Ryan would have been expected to progress from. However he’s there on merit, but there is nothing to suggest to me that Courtney will be eliminated, at this stage anyway….

I’m anticipating that 3 of the 4 games will go somewhat to form, and that sets up two second-round ties of Kevin McCarthy versus Dennis Monaghan, and Terry McMorrow versus Derek Courtney. In the first game, I think conditions will have a lot to do with the outcome. If the conditions are conduicive to attacking Pitch and Putt I’d fancy McCarthy, but if the day is squally or windy, then the tie swings in Monaghan’s favour. Having said that he is the holder for a good reason, so I’ll settle on Kevin McCarthy to progress to the last 16.

The second potential game is a much tougher affair to analyse. Courtney has all the experience and all the honours needed for these big games. McMorrow doesn’t have the same level of experience, certainly not of winning when it truly counts on the biggest stage of all. Depending on how other ties have gone, this could attract a huge Lucan, Dublin and Kildare following and that will put further pressure on McMorrow, a situation Courtney will thrive on. But I was surprised at his laments in Tullamore given he was playing well coming into the Competition, and I do fancy McMorrow this weekend. So I can see McMorrow on home soil edging a tense encounter.

That of course would mean a showdown between the holder, Kevin McCarthy, and Terry McMorrow (if things go the way I expect them to). If this transpires then I don’t think McMorrow will have anything to fear, certainly not after eliminating Dunscombe and Courtney. Whereas I just don’t see McCarthy as a threat this weekend, and for that reason I can see Terry McMorrow being Quarter-finalist for section 1-4.