High-flying Hoey in demand

Timing is an essential element of any golf swing, but timing of a different sort will determine whether or not Michael Hoey will be available to assist his club, Shandon Park in their quest for All-Ireland glory in the Bulmers-sponsored Irish Senior Cup finals at Portstewart next month.

Already deprived of a chance to compete in the European Individual Strokeplay Championship (which commences at Celtic Manor near Cardiff tomorrow) because of a requirement to return to Clemson University in South Carolina, Hoey's fate will depend on whether he is included on the Irish team for the Home Internationals at Royal Co Down.

"If Michael is included in the Irish team, then I will be asking that he be given permission to return home a week early so that he can assist us in the Senior Cup," admitted Shandon Park captain Phil Posnett.

As a member of the six-man team that participated in the European Team Championships in Italy earlier this summer, Hoey, who returned to the US yesterday, could reasonably expect to be picked on the 11-man team for the Home Internationals which take place on September 22nd-24th. However, the matter is complicated somewhat because of his worth to the Clemson Tigers golf team who will be competing in collegiate events at that time. In fact, last year, Hoey was unavailable to the Irish team because of such college commitments.

The selection dilemma will be watched with interest by Shandon Park, who have a tremendous record in club competitions.

It was originally intended that the Irish team would be finalised after last week's Interprovincial Championships, which were won by Ulster, but the selectors have deferred naming the team until after this week's European strokeplay championships at Celtic Manor, which, coincidentally, clashes with the Leinster finals of the Irish Senior Cup at Portmarnock.

Six Irishmen are included in the field for the Europeans, with Paddy Gribben - the sole Irish representative on the Walker Cup team to face the United States at Nairn in Scotland next month - defending a title he won so impressively in France last year.

The winner of the European title has the added bonus of earning exemption into next year's millennium British Open at St Andrews.

Gribben (Warrenpoint) is joined in Celtic Manor by Gary Cullen (Beaverstown), Eamonn Brady (Royal Dublin), Ken Kearney (Galway), Andrew McCormick (Scrabo) and Irish close champion Ciaran McMonagle (Dunfanaghy). McMonagle is considered a fine strokeplayer and should be capable of launching a strong challenge, while Cullen, winner of the Irish strokeplay championship earlier this season, was considered unlucky not to make the Walker Cup team and will have an ideal opportunity to prove the R&A selectors wrong with the likes of Luke Donald and Gary Wolstenholme also competing for the title. An interesting statistic: no English player has managed to win the European crown!

This is a big week in the calendar, meanwhile, for Ireland's top junior golfers.

The finals of the Fred Daly Trophy take place at Castlecomer today with Leinster champions Grange taking on Ulster kingpins Holywood in the first semi-final, and Connacht winners Co Sligo meeting Munster champions East Cork. The final is scheduled to start at 2.00 pm.

Tomorrow witnesses the finals of the Irish Junior Foursomes, also at Castlecomer, when Munster are represented by Cahir against Connacht champions Westport in the first semi-final, while Beech Park of Leinster take on Ulster champions Downpatrick in the other semi-final.

And, to cap off an intensive week's play, the Irish Amateur Boys' Championship, sponsored by Faldo Junior Series, will be staged at Kilkenny on Thursday and Friday. There are a host of current junior internationals in the field.

The mantle of pre-championship favourite will probably fall on Co Sligo's exciting prospect Sean McTernan, who reached the last 16 of the British Boys' championship last week - but a number of his fellow boys' internationals will be expected to launch serious bids for glory, among them Mark O'Sullivan (Galway), Paul McNamara (Youghal), Philip McLaughlin (Ballyliffin), Paul McDonald (Old Conna), Darren Crowe (Dunmurry), Marc Kynes (Old Conna), Conor Doran (Banbridge), Ian Stafford (Bandon) and youths' international Mervyn Owens (Mallow).

McTernan's younger brother Martin will also be contesting for the Under-16s section of the championship where the Forrest Little duo of Eoin Arthurs and Robert McCarthy will be among his chief rivals.

Meanwhile, South of Ireland champion Mark Campbell (UCD and Stackstown) and Rathmore's Graeme McDowdell, recent winner of the Irish youths' title, will head off at the weekend to defend the Nations Cup which they won by a comfortable seven shots from the Netherlands at last year's Belgian Youths championship. Campbell and McDowell will defend their title over three days, starting next Tuesday.