Irish team captain Tony Goode has backed late call-ups Robin Dawson and Rowan Lester to make the most of the opportunities handed to them by the withdrawals of Paul Dunne and Gary Hurley from next week’s Home International defence at Royal Portrush.

There will be some special guests at tomorrow’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Pro Am at Royal County Down, as two teams of young golfers from Shannon Golf Club in Clare and Faithlegg Golf Club in Waterford reap their reward for winning the inaugural Irish Open Golf Skills Challenge.

Two years ago, the little nine-hole Spanish Point links in West Clare didn’t have a pennant of any kind.

IT MAY be the country’s oldest city — celebrating its 1,100th birthday this year — but as a tourist destination Waterford city has, perhaps unfairly, suffered from a perception as the poor cousin of the likes of Dublin and Cork.

Sq m: 167 (1,800 sq ft)

Dunkettle, Cork €425,000

THE tail-end of Hurricane Katia has made the practice rounds for the Chartis Irish Cups and Shields finals at Castlerock, Co Derry over the past few days more a test of stamina than skill, although it is confidently expected calm will have been restored when the festival gets under way today with the semi-finals of both the Barton Shield and Irish Junior Cup.

GOLF courses and houses built in the ground of period mansions became something of a formulaic cliche in the Celtic Tiger era, but many proved viable working models and saved old houses for future generations as well.

IF THE three key ingredients of a successful Irish golf resort — the course, the lodgings and the cuisine — were thoroughly critiqued, few would tick all the boxes as emphatically as Faithlegg Golf Club in Waterford.