With action at the Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle teeing off on Thursday, we take a look at the 14 Irish players in the field who will be competing for overall glory and for the Christy O’Connor Jnr Memorial Trophy which sees the leading home player awarded a place in the field for the Amgen Irish Open at the K Club in September.
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Liam Nolan
After an impressive amateur career that included a Walker Cup selection at St Andrews and qualification for the Open Championship at Royal Troon, the Galway man started his rookie professional year with Alps Tour status and a few HotelPlanner Tour invites in his back pocket, and knew he’d need to make the most of those if he was to gain proper status. Starting in South Africa back in late January, he finished solo third at the SDC Open, then followed with a tie for fourth at the MyGolfLife Open, which guaranteed that he’d have a full HotelPlanner Tour schedule available following the mid-season re-rank.
Now sitting in 23rd place in the Road to Mallorca rankings, four missed cuts in a row leading into Killeen Castle means that he’s badly in need of a return to his early season form – or close to it – if he’s to work his way back inside the top 20 and earn a full DP World Tour card for 2026.
Max Kennedy
Still an amateur at the time, Max Kennedy came closer than any other Irishman to earning DP World Tour status at Q-School in 2024, missing out by a single stroke after a gruelling 108 holes at Infinitum, in Spain. Second prize was a HotelPlanner Tour card, and after a shaky enough start to his pro career in which he missed the first three cuts, he’s gone on to make eight cuts and finished runner-up in the BlotPlay9 event in France, where a 72nd hole double bogey cost him the win.
Kennedy sits 26th in the rankings, and, like Nolan, needs a strong finish to the season to ensure promotion, but he too is looking good for qualification for the season-ending Rolex Grand Final.
Dermot McElroy
The Ballymena man qualified for the 2024 Rolex Grand Tour Final on the Challenge Tour – as it was then called – and ultimately finished in 40th place in the Road to Mallorca rankings. Having graduated from the now defunct EuroPro Tour in 2022, he’s become a regular feature on the HotelPlanner Tour, but has struggled somewhat in 2025, making just five cuts in 15 starts.
But when he gets hot, he’s liable to get into contention as he showed at the Challenge de Cadiz earlier this year when he put back-to-back missed cuts in the rearview mirror and finished tied for third. He has two prior runner-up finishes on the circuit, and is a two-time EuroPro Tour winner.
Jonathan Caldwell
One of the elder statesmen in the field, Caldwell played alongside Rory McIlroy in the 2007 Walker Cup at Royal County Down and earned his DP World Tour card in 2008 via Q-School.
After a bright start to 2025 where he made the cut in five of his first six HotelPlanner Tour starts, the Clandeboye man has gone off the boil and missed the cut in each of his last seven starts.
But as a former DP World Tour winner – he won the Scandinavian Mixed back in 2021 – he remains one of the favourites to land the Christy O’Connor Jnr Memorial Trophy, as he did at Headfort back in 2023.
Alex Maguire
Now in his second year as a pro, the Laytown & Bettystown man has found the going tough without full status anywhere. Six HotelPlanner Tour starts in 2025 have yielded just three made cuts and a best finish of T46, so he’s arguably in need of a big week more than anybody in the field.
A stellar amateur career included back-to-back East of Ireland Championship wins, a victory at the St Andrews Links Trophy which helped earn him a place at Royal Liverpool for the 151st Open Championship, and a place in the Walker Cup team at the ‘home of golf’.
Mark Power
Another man who competed at the Walker Cup in St Andrews – and also at Seminole in 2021 – the Kilkenny native was the only one of seven Irish to make the cut at last week’s Scottish Challenge, but finished tied for 71st. He’s made four cuts in nine starts on the HotelPlanner Tour, with a best finish of tied for sixth at the UAE Challenge back in April.
Lying 113th in the Road to Mallorca rankings, Power continues to rely on invitations but each week presents an opportunity to make fresh strides up the rankings and he’s relishing the lengthy challenge at Killeen Castle.
John Murphy
The Kinsale man turned pro in 2021 after teaming up with Power in the Walker Cup at Seminole, and immediately made a splash in the pro ranks when he finished tied for ninth at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour that October. A year later, he earned his card at DP World Tour Q-School, but since then, it’s been a downward spiral.
Mixing starts on the HotelPlanner Tour with Alps Tour status, he comes into the Irish Challenge on the back of seven missed cuts across both tours but knows that golf is a fickle game and one good week can spark a revival.
Ronan Mullarney
After winning the Alps Tour Order of Merit in 2023, the Galway man spent a fruitless rookie year on the HotelPlanner Tour before finding himself back on the Alps Tour again this year where he currently sits sixth in the rankings and with promotion back very much in his sights.
He recently shot a round of 60 enroute to a third-place finish at the Biarritz Cup, and has two runner-up finishes in his 14 Alps Tour starts in 2025, missing just one cut. Securing HotelPlanner Tour status via the Alps Tour again remains his main goal for the year, but he’ll be eyeing the Christy O’Connor Jnr Memorial Trophy and a place at the K Club in September.
Paul McBride
After competing on the Alps Tour in 2024, the Dubliner switched to the Clutch Pro Tour for 2025 and has made the cut in 11 of his 14 starts. His best finish came at the Rapsodo Open in mid-July, where he finished tied for second, two shots behind the winner after a final-round 65.
A top-10 finish at Killeen Castle would get him into the field for the following week’s Finnish Challenge, and, like Mullarney, he’ll have eyes on being the leading Irishman and a potential career-changing berth in the field for the Amgen Irish Open.
John Ross Galbraith
The Whitehead man has been plying his trade on the Clutch Pro Tour for the past few seasons, and, having claimed a first victory at Harleyford last September, has been playing impressively again this season.
A second Clutch Pro win still evades him, but he’s made the cut in 10 of his 13 starts in 2025, finished inside the top 10 on three occasions, and took solo second place at the Stromberg Masters in early June.
Daniel Mulligan
Having turned pro at the tender age of 16 back in 2020, the man who honed his craft on the fairways at Laytown & Bettystown has struggled to make a strong imprint in the professional game.
A win on the Portugal Pro Tour in early 2024 was a signal that he was starting to find his feet, and, competing primarily on the Clutch Pro Tour in 2025, he finished tied for third at the Moroccan Masters in late April.
Liam Grehan
After spending most of 2024 competing on the Clutch Pro Tour but coming up short of promotion to the HotelPlanner Tour, the Mullingar native travelled to South Africa in early April and earned himself a Sunshine Tour card at Q-School. In four starts on the premier African tour, he’s made the cut on three occasions and finished tied for ninth in the Zambia Open – his final start before the mid-season break.
In the meantime, he’s been competing on the PGA in Ireland circuit, and was due to return to the southern hemisphere this week but an invitation to compete at Killeen Castle has delayed that return.
Jack Madden
The Dungannon native turned pro after graduating from Arkansas State University, and made his pro debut at the Asian Tour’s International Series UK event last year after successfully navigating the pre-qualifier.
Since then, he’s competed on the Clutch Pro Tour, Nordic Golf League and HotelPlanner Tour, but has failed to make the most of his opportunities, missing the cut in each of his five HotelPlanner Tour starts in 2025.
Robert Moran
The Castle golfer turned pro in late 2023 after signing off his amateur career with a victory at the Irish Close Championship having finished runner-up at the North of Ireland Championship. Securing an Alp Tour card for 2024, his rookie pro season was very promising, posting four top-10 finishes including a solo second at the Alps de Andalucia.
He’s had four more in 2025, but will need to win at least once over the closing stretch if he’s to have any chance of pushing his way into the top five in the Alps Order of Merit.
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