Top gun Robbie Cannon has set his sights on East of Ireland glory at Baltray.

The Laytown and Bettystown ace, 30, is fed up firing blanks in the amateur “majors” but plans to hit the bullseye this week.

Blasting the ball off the tee and red hot with the putter, Cannon roared: “My record has been shameful but I’ve worked really hard this winter and I think I’ve got a great chance.

“I’ve lost two a stone of fat and put on a stone of muscle since January. I’m ripping it and the putter is getting hot so I’m really looking forward to East.”

Cannon has had two top tens at Baltray but knows he’ll have to play some top drawer golf to beat a field that features Walker Cup hopefuls Niall Kearney, Alan Dunbar and Dara Lernihan as well as the in-form Nicky Grant and defending champion Eoin Arthurs.

Kearney put himself in pole position to secure his Walker Cup debut in September when he lifted the Brabazon Trophy the same day Lowry captured the 3 Irish Open at Baltray and Cannon sees the Royal Dublin man as the player to beat.

He said: “Niall Kearney is the deserved favourite but with guys like Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy and Jonathan Caldwell in the pro game now and Simon Ward still in America, I really think it’s wide open this year.”

Victory for Cannon would set up a massive party across the River Boyne at Laytown and Bettystown, where he’s been playing his golf since 2006.

The club is celebrating its centenary year this season but hasn’t celebrated major championship wins at individual level since Declan Branigan won the East, the West and the Close in 1981.

Cannon said: “That would be fabulous but the key to putting a score on the board at Baltray is playing the par threes well.

“The course is in fantastic condition and the greens are perfect. But the rough has grown since the Irish Open so you’ve got to be straight.”