Kinsale's Cathal Butler pleased with start at Irish Men’s Amateur Close

Butler is just a shot off the pace after the opening round of the AIG Irish Men’s Amateur Close at Tullamore

Cathal Butler (Kinsale). File picture by Pat Cashman

Kinsale’s Cathal Butler was pleased to keep the ball on the straight and narrow and open with a two-under 68 that left him just a shot off the pace after the opening round of the AIG Irish Men’s Amateur Close at Tullamore.

Keen to clinch his place on the Munster team for the Interprovincial matches at Shannon later this month, the 24-year-old lies just a shot behind a sextet of leaders — Castle’s Robert Moran, Castleknock’s Paul Coughlan, Dun Laoghaire’s Robert Abernethy and Ross Halpin, Carton House’s Keith Egan and Forrest Little’s Jack McDonnell — who shot three-under 67s to lead by one stroke from a six-strong chasing posse in a steady 20mph breeze.