BADMINTON
Killarney and Limerick were the Badminton attractions on last weekend when the Munster senior 1 and the Munster Junior Championships were played in Killarney whilst round 1 of the Munster juvenile Inter County Championships were played off in Limericks UL Arena.

The Munster junior championships was not a bad competition at all from a Kerry perspective as out of the five events to be played for, namely ladies and mens singles, ladies and mens doubles and the mixed doubles, Kerry players contested all 5 finals played; were successful in one; lost one close 2 setter; and each of the other 3 had to go to the third set for decision.

There was no joy this year for Kerry players in the senior 1 championships but overall there was no joy at all in these senior championships. The old song queried; Where are all the flowers gone”

The question for the Munster championships of 2017 begs the question “Where are all the ladies gone?”

Due to a shortage of the female species there was no ladies singles, no ladies doubles and therefore no mixed doubles, not a good day at the office for the Munster seniors.

The Juniors, however, was a most entertaining championships with many wonderful encounters for the crowd to enjoy.

The Kerry success came in the ladies doubles where the Killarney club pairing of Sinead Galvin and Maeve Twomey had a great 2 set win over the Cork/Waterford pairing of Jo Murphy and Shauna Kennelly. For Mrs. Galvin in particular this was a gratifying success as earlier she had fallen to Miss Kennelly in a ladies singles cracker.

The early stages of both sets of this ladies doubles final followed the same pattern, score for score early on but in both sets the Kerry power told and they captured that Munster title by 21-12; 21-13.

In the early stages of that ladies singles decider it was point for point right up to 6 all but Miss Kennelly took control from there on and captured the set by 21-10.

It was a different Galvin in set number 2 , no doubt from the promptings of Tom Bourke who was in her corner and from the word go she was in control of the set winning by 21-16.

Mrs Galvin commenced the third set and what did she do, she served out of court to give her opponent point number 1 and amazingly the Killarney lady hit a right bad patch by powering the following 6 points out of court also to go 7-1 down.

It was indeed a bad start but to her credit she never threw in the towel. She was 11-3 down at the change of sides but she fought back to come within a point of her opponent on three occasions at 15-14; at 16-15 and at 17-16 but the effort told its toll as the Waterford lady again took control and won the set and title by 21-16 but the Killarney lady showed wonderful courage to battle back

The mens singles final saw Listowel’s Fergal Hannon take on Tipperary’s Robbie Ingram. A very hard fought first set saw the Kerryman triumph by 21-19 but the Premier County man took over the second set winning by 21-14.

What an absolute spectacle the third set proved to be with the sides level on no less than 7 times. Hannon on a few times seemed to be in control but on a number of times he threw some short serves that cost him dearly which brought the Tipperary man back into the game.

At 19 all it was nail biting stuff but Ingram closed out the game to win the set by 21-19 to capture the singles crown.

Hannon was also involved in the mens doubles final being partnered by his Listowel club member, James Leane.

The Kerry pair were always fighting an uphill battle in the first set against the Tipperary/ Waterford pairing of Aidan Barry and Gary Alcorn going down by 21-11 but the Kerry pair raised their game in the second set and seemed to have the set won with the shuttle clipping the net cord but it came back to favour the opposition who levelled the tie at 20 all before going on to win the set and title by 23-21.

The last final of the day was the mixed doubles decider which saw Maeve Twomey of Killarney joining forces with Cork;s Paul Kingston and their final opposition were the Cork/Tipperary pairing of Ann Murphy and Aidan Barry

Twomey/Kingston won the opening set by 21-14 but the Cork/ Tipperary pairing controlled set number 2 winning by 21-11. The deciding set was hard fought with many exciting rallies but Murphy/Barry hit the front at the critical juncture and captured the title on the third set score of 21-14 but overall it was not a bad day at all for the Kerry competitors.

Munster Juveniles.
The Intercounty juvenile team competitions took place in the U.L. Arena on Sunday last. Kerry had 4 teams entered but at the end of the day there was no joy for the Kerry teams.The under 11 team reached the semi final before bowing out to Waterford whilst the under 15 team did likewise losing out their semi-final to Cork but both the under 13 and under 17 teams fell out early on in their respective events.

Kerry singles County championships

The serious stuff within the confines of Kerry Badminton commences in the spacious Killarney Sports Centre on Sunday next .

It is the opening series of the CPC.IE sponsored Kerry Badminton County Championships for 2017. The allure and honour of winning a County title is the ultimate ambition of every sports person and those involved in the game of Badminton are no different.

The opening phase next Sunday caters for both ladies and men in divisions 1,3 and 5. Entry forms have been distributed to club secretaries and it is hoped that all who fancies their chances to win a singles title will participate on Sunday next.

A reminder to all clubs. The annual table quiz will take place in O’Donnell’s Bar Tralee on Friday Feb. 3rd. The support of all clubs is most important