A tradition stretching back 76 years will be broken next year when the West of Ireland Championship moves from its Easter slot in the calendar to a new date over the May bank holiday weekend. The move to the later date will be a permanent one.
However, the Connacht branch has resisted the temptation to revert to a strokeplay championship and the same format - two qualifying rounds, with the top 64 players progressing to matchplay - will be retained when Enniscrone plays host to next year's championship on May 1st-5th.
The switch in dates was first mooted a number of years ago, due to the poor weather which traditionally afflicts the event at Easter. Indeed, a survey of players was conducted during the qualifying rounds of the championship at Rosses Point in 1995 and, according to branch secretary Sean Hosty, "over 80 per cent" indicated a desire to move to the later date. Indeed, the change in dates won't be the only difference next year. Ulster Bank, who have sponsored the championship for 20 years, have informed the branch that they won't be continuing with their sponsorship. "We're now in the market for a new sponsor," confirmed Hosty.
The regional finals of the Golf as Gaeilge for the Holmpatrick Cup were completed over the weekend and the All-Ireland finalists at Ceann Sibeal on September 4th6th will be Co Cavan (Eamon Rice and John Tighe, 7 up at Athlone), Hermitage (Dr Bill Linahan and Tom Talbot, 4 up at St Margarets), Seapoint (Sean McCormack and Frank Heeney, 8 up at the Heath) and Fermoy (Con Cooney and Joe O'Meara, 5 up at Monkstown).
