Can Cork Golf Club complete historic Barton Shield mission?

There will be some neat historical symmetry for Cork Golf Club if they were to lift the Barton Shield at Carton House this week, 25 years on from an All Ireland Junior Cup success featuring much of the present set-up.

Yet if Cork are to claim their first national title since the 1998 Senior Cup, they are going to have to do it the hard way, without star man Gary O’Flaherty.

As is traditional, the Barton Shield kicks off the Golfing Union of Ireland’s AIG Cups and Shields finals week tomorrow, with semi-finals between last year’s beaten finalists Galway and hosts Carton House, representing Leinster, and then Munster pennant winners Cork against Ulster kingpins Warrenpoint.