For the past two weeks, the one name that keeps popping up again and again from Leinster is Mark Millar. There is a real expectation that the adopted son of Shandon is going to bring home the bacon once again. For sure, he still has that raw ability that marked him out as one of the special players at the turn of the century. The manner in which he accumulated those Matchplay titles was awesome, and if that Millar turns up this weekend, then realistically you don’t have to look much further for a Champion-in-waiting.
There are echoes of that those heady days now too. Remember this was a time before Ray Murphy had truly become dominant, a time when there was something of a vacuum to be filled following the Downes era. His first, in Seapoint, was a weekend when everything fell into place for the Louth man. The overwhelming favourite (JJ Walsh) had been dumped out on his keester by a hitherto unknown Andy Lowe, and Millar capitalised winning a final that was incredibly one-sided purely down to his incredible technique rather than a deficiency on the part of Pacelli Darcy.

But that was that Millar. The 2013 version is different. Not as quick (still bloody quick), and not as sure-footed. The Millar of present has been knocking around for a while, threatening to do something of importance in a National since he return, but even Mark will acknowledge he has flattered to deceive to an extent. This tournament presents him with as good an opportunity as he’s likely to get. Pitch and Putt is waiting for someone to grab the next few majors by the scruff and give them a good rattling. Why would it not be MM?

The word around Shandon is that he is playing incredible stuff. Not just Shandon either, two other clubs have reported similar to me. He has what should be a straightforward first encounter with Shane Redmond of St Pats. I can only see one outcome here and that is a Millar victory.

The winner of the tie featuring Martin Hoctor and Declan Sheedy will have the honour of facing up to Millar in Round 2. I hope for Hoctor’s sake that his navigation skills around a pitch and putt course are better than his chauffeur navigating through West Dublin. Dublin city council were giving warnings of a silver Offaly registered car driving frantically through the burren of estates in Dublin 22 on Wednesday, taking right turns and left turns with less self-regard than Brian Whelehan on All Ireland final day.
That didn’t seem to affect Hoctor, and his sweet ball-striking ability will be a plus come Saturday afternoon. However Sheedy is a man on form, and my moles tell me of a man that has put some serious performances together on consecutive weekends. Sheedy is a good operator, sadly a hectic work schedule prevents this guy from competiting further afield with more regularity.
Sheedy to compound a disappointing day for Offaly I think.

Young Brendan McMahon will savour the opportunity of playing in a National Matchplay finals, and the keen intermediate (he better be intermediate now, or Helen McMorrow will be investigating!) from Kilbeggan has been having a fine season, and has built on last year’s solid displays. So good a season that winning the Westmeath Strokeplay was seen as a formality, this has been supplemented by an excellent start to the Inter-county trials that sees him ensconced firmly in the top 6 ahead of more seasoned campaigners.
His opponent tomorrow is Martin O’Neill, himself a fine player. What has become something of a running joke is my championing of Murt, only for him to fall foul of commentator’s curse. Sorry Murt, but you’ll have to break the hoodoo tomorrow because you should win this one, even allowing for McMahon’s fine form.

The bottom game of the section finds another treacherous Munster player, James Cleary play Westmeath PRO, and a wordsmith in training, Kilbeggan’s Ronan Whelan. Such is Whelan’s dedication to supporting his county folk that he put the normally docile Order of Malta crew on red alert in Stackallen last year during the Leinster Inter-co. Talk about putting one’s passion ahead of one’s welfare! Ronan is a smooth pitch and putt player and this will be a great matchup with Cleary. Cleary can blow either red-hot or stone-cold, and the trouble is you never know what you’re going to get from the Deise man. They’re mostly from Waterford down that neck of the woods aren’t they?
I fancy Whelan for this one; I think the greens might suit him better.

Millar against Sheedy to make the Last 16 should be competitive, but to a point. Millar, if he has any designs on winning the title must win, and be convincing in doing so. O’Neill against Whelan is a very finely poised game and could be one of the most enjoyable to watch in the whole Championship. Two players that have nothing but the utmost respect for the sport, for themselves and their opponents, this will be a good quality and a good sporting occasion. That being said, at some stage Murt is going to have to make an honest amateur journo out of me, and what better time to do it than on the June Weekend?

So a game between Millar and O’Neill to decide the penultimate quarter-final spot; two men straddling opposite ends of the East Coast converge on the balmy confines of plush West Dublin to do battle in this most bourgeois of Irish sports. Millar is the outstanding prospect in this group, and this should be where Murt’s journey comes to an end. Mark Millar marches on.