With just a few slots left on Team Ireland, this weekend’s One-Wall Nationals at Breaffy House Resort, Castlebar look set to be the most fiercely-contested yet.
Predicting winners in the One-Wall code is a dangerous game due to the timed format; however, the fact that there is now a defined schedule of pre-Nationals warm-up tournaments allows us to paint a clearer picture of who are the men - and ladies - to watch.
And the big news is that Limerick’s Paidi Quish and Tyrone’s reigning champion Conor McElduff are the form players. Big alley specialist Quish saw off Vinny Moran in the final of his home tournament, the King of the Court in Hospital, just last weekend, adding that title to his earlier victories in Mount Talbot and Inis Mor, where he saw off fellow Limerick man CJ Fitzpatrick in the final.
McElduff, who tore to success with wins over Charly Shanks and Darragh Daly to claim his first senior crown at Breaffy last year, returns to the Castlebar venue as no 1 seed and is boosted by a fine showing in the recent Mallow tournament, where he beat local hero Killian Carroll in the decider.
However, the pair will meet no deeper in the draw than the quarter-final, the stage at which they will clash if McElduff sees off Galway’s Peter Daveron and Quish ousts Tyrone’s Gabhainn McCrystal.
The field, however, is littered with quality players and, crucially, experienced exponents of the One-Wall code. Former champion Charly Shanks - who suffered a surprise defeat to Pól Clarke on his home court in Lurgan last weekend - is seeded third, with another former winner, Robbie McCarthy, in at four.
Shanks’ need is greater as he seeks to join the Mullingar man on the official Irish squad for Calgary and the Armagh hop artist will be expected to go well. The Clann Eireann man won’t have it all his own way in his section, though, with the explosive Martin Mulkerrins - should he overcome Patrick McCrory - lying in wait in what would be a mouth watering quarter-final.
Throw into the mix the 2012 World U17 champion, Conall McCavitt from Armagh, and Clare’s smooth 40x20 intermediate champion Colin Crehan, and the top half of the draw looks stacked with talent.
The bottom half is loaded too, though - James Doyle has been a regular at the latter stages of all One Wall tournaments for a decade and more and his ‘deep serve-paddle kill’ style make him a dangerous opponent, as is Longford’s Darren Flynn, possessor of a cannon-like right sidearm.
No 2 seed Darragh Daly from Tyrone produced a massive upset last year in toppling McCarthy by a whisker in a brilliant semi-final and his conditioning, consistency and pinpoint overhand serves to deep court make the recently-married Carrickmore man a live contender, too.
A sleeper could well be Kildare lefty Niall O’Connor, a flamboyant citeog with a penchant for trick shots who, if he’s on his game, could have a big say in what looks like the strongest One Wall Nationals field yet assembled.
The same situation pertains in the Ladies Open. Amazing as it sounds, Cork sensation Catriona Casey is not yet assured of her place on the plane to Canada and she will be determined to go all the way, having warmed up with a solid win in Mallow recently.
Casey, though, has been pitted against her great rival Aisling Reilly in the opening round, a tie which should draw a huge crowd to centre court on Friday evening.
Top seed is Limerick left-hander Martina McMahon, who beat Reilly last year en route to a nail biting 11-9 tiebreaker win in the final against three-time champion Lorraine Havern.
The Down woman holds second seed and while Aoife McCarthy is a coming force in the ladies game, the Saval lady will be expected to come through to meet either Ashley Prendiville or Amy Corrigan.
With nine of the best female players in the country taking their chance, the ladies grade promises to be extremely tight.
Who will nail those last two seats on the flight in both grades? Only a fool would dare to call it before Sunday evening.