WHILE several of the tournaments on the domestic squash circuit have had increasing difficulty in attracting entries over the last couple of years, the Mullingar Open, which gets under way this evening, has once again been heavily over subscribed with more than 50 turned away from its nine sections.

With the backing of the ACC Bank, the event has once again attracted considerable interest in Britain with representatives of clubs in Coventry and London making the journey to play, although the bulk of the better entrants in the A sections are locally based.

Best of the visitors would appear to be Damien Darby from Coventry, who is seeded behind Brian Lalor at two for the title while local number one Breda Ruane starts as favourite for the women's event with Meriel Travers of Trinity expected to pose the greatest threat to her chances.

After Mullingar the local tour moves on to Limerick where Derek Ryan will compete next week along with Welsh international Alex Gough for the men's title.

Ryan's visit home will also include an exhibition match at Fitzwilliam on the following Wednesday, February 14th, against world number two Rodney Eyles of Australia. It is aimed at raising funds to cover some of Ryan's expenses as he attempts to step up his challenge for a place in the world's top 10 over the coming months.

Tickets for the match and preceding reception cost £15 and are available from Martyn Evans Sports at Fitzwilliam, most of Dublin's other leading club shops, Irish Squash and Irish Racquets Review at 2841067.

Simon Parke, who beat Ryan in last season's Leinster open final, will be out of the game until at least the British Open in April after having a cancerous tumour removed.