BADMINTON
The University of Limerick Sports Arena was a hive of Badminton action on Sunday last as this 12 court arena hosted the FG Forza sponsored the All-Ireland Inter League Club Finals
From a Kerry perspective there was just the one representive this year and this was the Moyvane Grade E team who had recently won the Munster title at this Grade.
Their opponents on Sunday last were Sligo City, the Connacht Champions and Meath’s Kilmessan the Leinster Champions.
Round 1 saw Moyvane take on Kilmessan It proved to be a heart-warming start tor the Kerry side as out of the first 4 games they won both singles and the mens doubles bit a fight back by the Leinster Champions saw the sides level at 3 games each.
It was now all down to the second doubles tie to see who would save the day for their club and county. On duty for Moyvane were Amanda Carmody and Timmy Noonan, who both, incidentally, had won their respective singles matches earlier, and this pairing made no mistake as they won this important encounter in two sets, but what a wonderful exhibition of badminton that second set proved to be with the Moyvane pairing dovetailing together to forge a famous victory on the tie-break by just 25 to 23 which gave the Kerry side
A deserved 4-3 first round victory.
In round 2 it was now Kilmessan, as 1st round losers, who were up against Sligo City. It is well known in Badminton competitions that where there are just the three teams involved that the side who gets the bye in round 1 are at a slight disadvantage when they play their first encounter in round 2 as they are virtually going in cold and in a strange hall it takes time to get acclimatized to the new surroundings and so it proved to be for this Sligo side as Kilmessan forged their way to a 5-2 victory and on the day how important this score-line proved to be.
In round 3 it was now Moyvane up against Sligo City and going by the previous 2 rounds it was looking good for the Kerry side but as the old adage proclaims “There is many a slip twixt the cup and the lip .
For some reason Moyvane never hit their first round form. Moyvane did come good in both the ladies singles and doubles encounters but Sligo levelled at 2 games all with the 3 mixed ties remaining.
Once again the Moyvane 2nd mixed pairing of Amanda Carmody and Timmy Noonan came good in 2 sets but 3 of the Moyvane losses, the mens doubles tie and both the first and third mixed doubles games were lost in 3 hard fought sets which saw Sligo coming good by 4-3. A victory in any of those matches would result in another All Ireland title for Moyvane, it was that close.
No doubt but two of the shining lights on this Moyvane team were Amanda Carmody who won all 4 games that she played and Timmy Noonan who was victorious in his 3 encounters
On the day it was Kilmessan who garnished the Gold medals on 9 points with Moyvane bringing home the Silver on 7 points but strange to relate on the total points scored by the Kerry side in both of their matches they outscored their opponents.
Against the new champions, Kilmessan Moyvane scored a total of 325 points to 313 and although falling to Sligo City just outscored the Connacht champions by the one point, 302 to 301.
The Moyvane panel was as follows;
Amanda Carmody, Helen Brown, Carmel Hudson, Denise Collins, Donie Enright, Donnacha Moloney, Timmy Noonan, Kevin Kennelly.
Kerry Rewards night
The Kerry Badminton Association rewards night and social will take place at the Rose Hotel, Tralee next Saturday night to commence at 8pm.
This is the night where all County Champions and County League winners will be presented with their hard earned cups and trophies won over the 2017/2018 season and for all Kerry Badminton followers it is the one time that all can meet up and mingle together away from the thrust of competition. Details can be got from Mike Reardon at 087 9494746