Three of the No.1 seeds across the 13 events at the Irish Masters Open 2025 tasted defeat on Friday’s opening day.
Irish duo Michael McGrath (MO75) and Josephine Grogan (WO55) were beaten in their opening round-robin matches at the Fitzwilliam, respectively losing 0-3 to England’s Allan Whittow [3/4] and Ireland’s Sarah Berkeley [5/8].
Both McGrath and Grogan must wait until Saturday to go again, but Austria’s David Grabenweger (MO35), who was beaten 1-3 by Northern Ireland’s Mark Gilliland [3/4], bounced back later on Friday in his second match with a 3-0 win over Spain’s Pedro Rios Perez [3/4].
Six other No.1 seeds – Ireland’s David Noone (MO40), Spain’s Ignacio Rodriquez (MO55), France’s Alain Gardette (MO65), Ireland’s Michael Conlon MO70, France’s Maul Bailly (WO45/50) and Ireland’s Maureen Duke (WO60/65/70) – started their campaigns with two round-robin wins each, while a seventh top tank, Aoileann Ni Chomhrai (WO35/40), won her sole round-robin match so far.
The remaining three events have an elimination format. Ireland’s Neil Macarron (MO45) was a 3-0 round of 16 winner against Spain’s Miguel Gomez [9/16] to set up a quarter-final versus fellow Irishman Karl Gillis [5/8].
Matthieu Benoit (MO50) of France saw off Ireland’s Cuan MacAogain [9/16] with a 3-0 win to book a quarter-final against another nine/16 seed, Spain’s Manual Ramirez.
Meanwhile, Willie Hosey, the Irishman seeded MO60 No.1, will begin his tournament on Saturday with a quarter-final against England’s Peter Call [5/8] following a round of 16 bye.
The day two action in Dublin, which will see Mount Pleasant host some fixtures as well as Fitzwilliam, has a 9am start with matches scheduled across the day through to 6pm.
