By Colm Griffin
Kerry Mixed Championships
Tom Bourke Chairman Kerry Badminton presenting the Kerry Div 5 Mixed Doubles Cup to
L/R, Danielle Robinson & Paraic Murray Causeway along with runners up Eva Browne & Radek Choromonski Moyvane. Photo; Tom Bradley
Close to 100 players took part in the CPC.ie sponsored Kerry Division 1, 3 and 5 Championships at the Killarney Sports and Leisure Complex last Friday night (March 29th).
Paraic Murray and Danielle Robinson (Causeway) overcame a difficult quarter final three setter against Mark Allen and Danielle Noonan (Ballybunion) to reach the semi-final against local Ballyheigue rivals Cathal O Regan and Abbie Liu. The Causeway pairing won this contest in two sets ensuring Murray reached his third county final of the season at this grade.
On the other side of the draw Radek Choromanski and Eva Browne set up an all Moyvane semi-final against Padraig Hanrahan and Charlotte Quinn after overcoming Kyle Reidy and Ann Leahy in the quarter final. They overcame Hanrahan and Quinn and reached the final without dropping a set.
Choromanski had beaten Murray in a final already this season when he won the mens doubles title with Hanrahan. However he was not going to be celebrating again. Instead it was a case of third time lucky for Murray as he put the Men’s singles and doubles disappointment behind him and with the aid of his able assistant Robinson they took the final 21-13, 21-14.
Division 3 had the largest field of entries on the night.
Killarney pairing Samira Hayes and Kieran Crehan overcame Francine Collins and Chris McCarthy (Moyvane) in the quarter final before beating Aoife Moloney and Cian Liston (Listowel) in the semi-final ensuring Hayes was just one game away from the treble of singles, doubles and mixed.
On the other side of the draw Kingdom – Castleisland pairing Michelle Beasley and Jamie Elliott defeated Bridget McCarthy and William Flaherty (Moyvane) in the quarter finals before overcoming Carmel Hudson (Moyvane) and Cathal Donovan (Annascaul) in the semi-final.
Tom Bourke Chairman Kerry Badminton presenting the Kerry Div 3 Mixed Doubles Cup to
L/R, Jamie Elliott & Michelle Beazley Kingdom Castleisland alongwith runners up Samera Hayes & Kiaran Crehan Killarney. Photo; Tom Bradley
In one of the games of the night Beasley and Flaherty denied Hayes the treble and ensured the Div 3 title was going to Castleisland. After a titantic struggle Killarney eventually sunk to a defeat in three sets. 21-18, 19-21, 21-18.
With Hayes losing out the only player left with a chance of completing the treble on the night was now Tom Bourke (Kingdom – Castleisland) in Division 1. He teamed up with Sinead Galvin (Killarney) to first beat the Moyvane pairing of Amanda Carmody and Donie Enright in the quarter finals and then Karen Farrell and Fergal Hannon of Listowel in the semi-final.
Meanwhile Mary Falvey (Annascaul) and Alan Nelligan (Kingdom) defeated Castleisand duo Brid Murphy and Aidan McCarthy and then Saorise Fitzgerald (Moyvane) and Eric Nelligan (Kingdom) in a tough three set semi final
Despite losing the first set in the final 21-13 Falvey and Nelligan battled back bravely and took the second set 22-20. But Bourke was not to be denied the treble as Galvin and Bourke took the third and final set 21-13.
Sinead Galvin Killarney & Tom Bourke Kingdom Castleisland on their way to winning the Kerry Division 1 Mixed Doubles. Photo: Tom Bradley
Munster Singles Championships
Kerry players who had won county singles titles earlier in the season made the long trip to Cappoquin in Co Waterford last Sunday (March 31st) for the Munster Singles Championships.
In the Men’s Grade F event Kerry were represented by County Division 3 Champion Cathal Donovan of Annascaul. In what proved to be a very tight affair between very evenly matched players he defeated Ryan O Rourke of Waterford 21-18, 21-12. He took the first set against Solim Mi of Tipperary 21-19 but lost the second set 15-21. He also won the first set against Stephen Lee of Limerick 21-17 again lost the second set 15-21. However everyone was taking sets off everywhere and by winning 4 of his 6 sets it was enough for Donovan who is still only 15 to win the Munster title.
Kerry were represented by Fergal Hannon of Listowel in Men’s Grade D. Again the players in this competition were very evenly matched. In his first game he won the first set against Ethan o Connor Cork 21-18 lost 21-14. Next up Hannon played Tayyab Shahzad of Waterford. Again this was a case of sharing the spoils. The Listowel man won the first set 21-20 but lost the second 21-19. His final match was against Paul Ryan of Tipperary and despite convincingly winning the first set 21-10 he lost the second set 21-19. This meant that O Connor of Cork with four sets took the title and Hannon with 3 sets was Runner-up on points from Shahzad who also won 3 sets.
Well done to all the other Kerry players that made the trip and represented your county with pride.
All Ireland Schools Championships
Congratulations to Presentation Listowel who won silver medals at the All-Ireland Schools U-16 Championships recently. They defeated St Joesph’s Castlebar, Mayo 5-1 and Wallace High School Antrim 4-2 but lost to narrowly to Pipers Hall of Kildare 4-2. The team was Deina Vesko, Grace Guiney, Madison Carter and Aoife Murphy.
