All Ireland Juvenile Inter County Championships
As Munster Champions the Kerry U-17 team travelled to the University of Limerick last Sunday (April 28th) to represent the province by taking part in the All-Ireland Championships.
Cheered on by an impressive number of travelling supporters Kerry were firstly faced with the onerous task of trying to overcome a very strong Dublin team.
Dublin won both boys doubles games comfortably but the girls put up a great fight in their games. Grace Guiney (Listowel) and Adele O Brien (Killarney) won their game 30-27 but Listowel paring Madison Carter and Deina Vesko who will both be underage again next season lost out 30 – 23.
Seamus Bradley of Kingdom Castleisland put in a great effort to defeat his Dublin opponent 30-24 in the boys singles but Dublin went 4-2 when they won the girls singles. Kerry never looked like coming out on top in any of the mixed games as Dublin eventually ran out 7-2 winners.
All focus now turned to the challenge of Galway in what would effectively be a battle for runners-up position.
Seamus Bradley and Cathal Donovan got Kerry off to a great start with a 30-22 win in the first boys doubles. Adele O Brien and Deina Vesko made it 2-0 after winning a tight contest 30-28 and Kerry were well on the road to victory when Listowel duo Jack McElligott and Oisin Moloney won 30-13.
But Galway fought back taking the second girls doubles as well and the girls singles but Moyvane’s Christopher O Doughue ensured Kerry had a 2 point gap going into the mixed games when he won his boys singles encounter 30 – 8.
Kerry were to run out comfortable winners in the end as all three mixed pairing games went to the Kingdom. First Christopher O Donoughue and Deina Vesko won 30-23, then Cathal Donovan and Adele O Brien won 30-21 and Kerry before Jack McElligott and Grace Guiney ensured Kerry won 7-2 overall by winning the third mixed by 30-20.
In the final match Dublin defeated Galway 8-1 which confirmed that Dublin were champions and Kerry runners-up.
Team manager Tom McElligott said “ I would like to thank the clubs, the players, the parents and especially the coaches who worked with this team throughout the season. Tom Bradley, Mary Bradley, Paddy Redmond and Tony O Donoghue played a big part in the success of this team”
The Kerry U-11 team had also won the Munster Championships and qualified for the All-Ireland earlier in the season. Unfortunately as the other provinces decided not to send teams to the event there was no competition which was extremely disappointing for the Kerry youngsters.
Community Games
Huge congratulations to coach Roly Chute and the Listowel Under 15 Girls & Boys Community Games Badminton Teams who won Gold at the Community Games Finals which were held in Tralee Sports & Leisure Centre Saturday 20 April.
They will represent Munster in the All-Ireland Finals in UL Limerick at the end of May.
CPC.ic County Mixed Leagues
The mixed leagues will all come to a conclusion this week with the finals in Div 1 to Div 5. All winners will go on to represent Kerry at the Munster Championships in University of Limerick this weekend.
Kerry Badminton Social
The annual end of season social will take place at the Rose Hotel, Tralee on Saturday May 18th. Tickets are 35 euro and can be obtained from your club secretary.