Captain Dunne expects great things from five new caps

ALTHOUGH there has been a serious drain to the professional ranks, especially where outstanding players like Graeme McDowell, Michael Hoey and Stephen Browne are concerned, Irish captain Eddie Dunne is positive where his team’s prospects in this week’s home international at Royal St David’s, Harlech, are concerned.

Dunne, an official with the Bank of Ireland finance company, insists “when a star dies in the amateur game, a new star is born”, and he is expecting great things of his five new caps when they go into senior international action for the first time over the splendid par 69 Harlech links in North Wales.

The newcomers are North of Ireland champion Gareth Maybin; Irish Close champion John McGinn, Padraig Dooley of Cork, Darren Crowe of Dunmurry and Co Sligo’s Sean McTernan.

“We well remember when Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington, to name but three, turned professional and they were replaced,” points out Dunne. “I am optimistic because we have a nice blend of youth and experience and a lot of talent and a number who also have a lot to prove.

“There was great disappointment when not one Irishman found a place in the B & I team for the recent St Andrews Trophy and the likes of Colm Moriarty and Justin Kehoe have a great deal to play for.”

Dunne was referring to Ireland’s first appearance as a separate entity in next month’s World Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy in Japan.

The three man team will be chosen after the home internationals and right now the bankers appear to be Justin Kehoe (Birr), recent runaway winner of the World Universities Championship in Japan and last year’s hugely impressive South of Ireland champion; Athlone’s Colm Moriarty, runner-up this year in the Brabazon Trophy for the English Stroke Play Championship and the man who succeeded Kehoe as ‘South’ champion, along with Noel Fox, the East of Ireland champion.

The substitute to travel will come from one of the other players in the side at Harlech, likely to be one of the more experienced trio of Ken Kearney, Stuart Paul and Andrew McCormick.

Now, the emphasis is on considerably improving Ireland’s poor performances in the home internationals in recent years. In spite of their captain’s optimism, the suspicion is they will need to play above themselves if the Raymond Trophy is to return to this country.