Will Bill stay on Top of Fantasy Tree
There are two strong opinions on this season’s Una O’Sullivan Memorial Irish Cup. One is that the pups are an above average lot and will have a huge say in the final outcome. The other is that the Champion Stakes winner Five O Five (pictured) is most likely to prove best of the second & third season greyhounds. Should either or both scenarios come to pass then the Sporting Press Fantasy competition is as good as over. However our current leader Bill Lonergan of Tree Top fame, Cahir, Co Tipperary knows very well that there are no certainties in coursing and he won’t be getting the suit and tie ready for the ICC Awards Night on May 3rd just yet. He does have a very strong team heading to Patrickswell though with Five O Five, Return To Racing, Challenger Deep and Coverbridge plus Moyle Magic (Irish Cup runner up 2025) in the Patsy Byrne Select Bitch Stake. The last three named showed a distinct liking for the venue 12 months ago.
Bill’s nearest rivals are Billy Cashman/Timmy Moynihan (Tralee) and mother, son combination of Marie & John Field who both won the competition before playing individually. The Fields are probably not going to make any ground on Bill unless Eulogy wins the Bitch stake and all the Irish Cup results fall right for them (interestingly they also have My Town in a different selection on 585 points). However Billy & Timmy have a lively chance with Gone To Strand & Moyle Alonzo in the Cup and Ballymac Mulan in the Bitch Stake. Alonzo was on the easy list after the Kingdom Cup so the two runs in the Champion Stakes will have brought him on and he should be challenging the pup Magical Titan on Saturday afternoon for a place in the last eight. Derby winner Gone To Strand needs a return to form but Brendan Matthews is always dangerous at the Irish Cup after a quiet Clonmel. Mulan is going for back to back victories in the Select Bitch Stake.
Blathnaid Leen from Killarney needs a big performance from Challenger Deep and Eulogy for her top selection to win but in her selection on 575 points she has another Brendan Matthews runner Warship and should he raise the final flag on Sunday then Blathnaid would be sitting nicely. Three time Fantasy winner Sean Doyle, Ennis is still there with a chance of a fourth success if 2025 Derby runner up Cooga Magic goes one better in the Irish Cup. He has a lovely draw in the bottom section of the third quarter and the bookmakers have him priced at only 8/1. (Sean also has last season’s Irish Cup semi-finalist Stickmein running for him in a lower down selection). Neil Enright, Rathkeale who led this season’s Fantasy Coursing competition for several weeks has one last throw of the dice with Ballymac Loral which ran very well to win the UK Stake at the recent National Meeting.
Con O’Connor from Millstreet has three chances with Suspicious Minds, Lone Missile and Banoffee Pie and the latter reached the quarter-final of the Cup as a pup last year. The hopes of Terry Maguire/Christy Flynn (Portmarnock) are very much alive with Ballinabola Cha & Sparkplug Kerry. James Wade, Cashel who appears near the top of the leaderboard every season but is still waiting for that elusive victory will be relying on Mango to change all that. And finally we spotted Master Tactician in the selection of Jack Foley, Abbeyfeale but he is meeting the ante-post favourite in the first round.
In the Fantasy for Charity Competition, our leader Cormac Thompson (510) will be hoping Five O Five can complete the Irish Cup / Champion Stakes double that was last achieved in 2010. Steve Dobie (475) also has Five O Five plus his own runner Ballymac Loral, My Town and Ballymac Mulan in the Bitch Stake. Dan O’Donoghue (470) is never too far away in the Fantasy Competitions and he could win €1000 for his charity if Challenger Deep goes at least one place better than his semi-final finish 12 months ago. Dan also has Eulogy in the Select Bitch Stake. Adrian O’Neill (445) will be doubly celebrating if Cooga Magic raises the last flag of the 2025/26 season being a member of the John McLoughlin & Cooga Syndicate and also having the dog in his Charity selection together with Banoffee Pie. Sharon Coss (410) is very well represented with Ballinabola Cha, Mango, Gone To Strand and very importantly the Coss family runner Sparkplug Kerry. And the last of our Charity Players with a squeak is Anne Marie Keane (400) who requires a huge performance from Coverbridge and Hoping For Five (Bitch Stake) if her chosen charity is to receive the lovely prize sponsored by a very generous coursing supporter.
| Leaderboards To 25/02/26 | |||
| Sporting Press Fantasy Coursing Competition | |||
| Name | Points | ||
| 1 | Bill Lonergan, Cahir | 645 | |
| 2 | Bill Lonergan, Cahir | 625 | |
| Jt 3 | Billy Cashman / Tim Moynihan, Tralee | 615 | |
| Jt 3 | John & Marie Field, Castletroy | 615 | |
| Jt 5 | Blathnaid Leen, Killarney | 610 | |
| Jt 5 | James Wade, Cashel | 610 | |
| 7 | Sean Doyle, Ennis | 605 | |
| 8 | Neil Enright, Rathkeale | 600 | |
| 9 | Con O’Connor, Millstreet | 595 | |