After Darren Clarke's victory in the British Open ten days ago, Rory McIlroy tweeted that "Northern Ireland was the Golf capital of the World." It's hard to argue with that comment and this weekend all four of Ireland's recent Golf major winners: Clarke, McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Padraig Harrington will be in action at the Irish Open in Killarney.
I bet there are a few companies who are now regretting that they didn't get involved as tournament sponsors for the Irish Open after '3 Mobile' pulled out earlier this year. The competition gets under way tomorrow (July 28) at the panoramic Killeen course in Killarney with backing from Fáilte Ireland. England's Ross Fisher, who held off Harrington to win in Killarney last year, will be back as will Shane Lowry who won the Irish Open as an amateur at Baltray in 2009. Irish-American Kevin Phelan will be one of four amateurs playing. Former European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie is also coming and another Northerner Michael Hoey, who won the Madeira Open in April, is also confirmed. Then you have regulars like: Peter Lawrie, Gareth Maybin, Damien McGrane and Paul McGinley for what promises to be a great tournament. Already there is talk of staging next year's Irish Open at Darren Clarke's home course at Portrush and the Royal and Ancient Society is also contemplating bringing the British Open to the County Antrim course some time the future. The British Open was staged once previously at Portrush in 1951. Venues have already confirmed for the next three British Opens: Lytham St Annes in 2012, Muirfield in 2013 and Liverpool in 2014, so Portrush will have to wait.
DUBLIN SET FOR SUPER CUP
There is huge Irish interest in the English and Scottish Leagues and with the start of the new soccer season only a few weeks away supporters will get an opportunity to assess new additions to squads next weekend when the first-ever Dublin Super Cup is played at the Aviva Stadium. Manchester City will be the English Premier League representatives, Celtic will represent Scotland, Inter Milan will fly the Italian flag and the quartet will be completed by a League of Ireland selection. All teams are under contract to field their strongest selections so we should have a decent tournament instead of the usual pre-season friendly. There will be two games on Saturday and two on Sunday with the winners getting the new Dublin Super Cup. The FAI are committed to what they hope will be a money-spinning competition for the next ten years and Liverpool are already reported to be lined up for 2012.
BANTY UP FOR REVIEW
Mick O'Dwyer says he is definitely finished with the Wicklow footballers, but the 75 year-old Kerryman says he could be back as manager of another county in 2012.
Another manager who is hoping to stay on for another year is Seamus McEneaney. The Monaghan man got a three-year deal with Meath last September, but that will be up for review at the Meath County Board meeting in September. Under the man they call "Banty," Meath just avoided relegation to division three of the National League, but they improved in the championship.
In Galway Tomás O Flatharta could be on his way when the County Board meet this week to review what was a disastrous season for the Tribesmen.
One man who is sure of his future next year is Glenn Ryan. The former Kildare captain has been re-appointed as Longford football manager for a fourth consecutive year. This was a good year for Longford as they won division four of the National Football League and while they went out of the Leinster Championship at the first hurdle to Laois, they beat Cavan in the first round of the qualifiers and put up a good performance against Tyrone in the second round.
DALGLISH DOES DEAL
Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish has always had a good relationship with Pat Devlin, the manager of Bray Wanderers and last week the English Premiership club signed a co-operation deal with Bray and St. Joseph's Boys from Sallynoggin. The announcement was made prior to a friendly between the Liverpool reserves and Bray at the Carlisle Grounds. The two-year agreement will centre around player recruitment with the Irish clubs acting as feeder clubs for Liverpool and the 'Pool may also loan out players to the North Wicklow club.
KINGDOM APPOINT NEW MINOR MANAGER
The Kerry County Board, worried about their lack of success at minor level; they haven't won an All-Ireland title at under 18 level since 1994, have appointed Mickey 'Ned' O'Sullivan as their new minor manager. O'Sullivan, who captained a young Kerry team to all-Ireland success in 1975, takes over from Pat O'Driscoll and will have the services of another former Kerry great John O'Keeffe as trainer. County Board Chairman Jerome Conway said: ''Mickey is very experienced, working as a selector with Mick O'Dwyer, coaching the Kerry senior team in the early 90s and managing the Limerick senior team for the past number of years, with whom he made very good progress.''
LILYWHITES DROP MUSIC LOVER
Changed times in the GAA. Young Kildare footballer Seán Hurley has been dropped from the squad for attending the Oxegen Music festival in Punchestown. Hurley, a minor last year, played in the Leinster semifinal defeat to Dublin, but apparently he headed off to Oxegen after the back-door win over Laois. That was in breach of the team management's instructions regarding preparations for the following weekend's game against Meath.
