Results from Treacy’s Pharmacy Mayo Junior Squash Open held on Sunday April 14^th in Claremorris and Ballinrobe.

Girls U-11 A section

Championship Winner Aoibhe O Malley,Championship R-up Sadhbh Culhane

Plate winnerMarie Whicham,Plate R-up Lauren Fahy

Girls U-11 B Section

Championship WinnerLeah Hunt,Championship R-upAbbey Jennings

Boys U-13 Section

Championship WinnerDomhnaill Roe,Championship R-upMark Walsh

Plate WinnerAdam Barrett, Plate R-upOwen Gilraine

Girls U-13 Section

Championship WinnerNacoimh Jordan, Championship R-upClodagh Healy

Plate WinnerEmily Boyle,Plate R-up Sophie Raftery

Boys U-15 Section

Championship WinnerOran O Malley,Championship R-upLiam Foody

Plate WinnerRyan Hobson,Plate R-upRory Jennings

Girls U-15 Section

Championship WinnerRachel Walsh,Championship R-up Sorcha Hobson

Plate WinnerAoife Delargy,Plate R-upRoisin Collins

Masters’ Squash

Masters Interprovincial Championships 2013:

This tournament was run-off at Highfield and Sunday’s Well on Friday & Saturday 12th/13th April. There were some very close ties and all provinces had opportunities to win their events. Many thanks to the clubs for their help in staging this season’s championships and to Masters’ Secretary Martin McDonnell and Tournament Director, Eamonn O’Keeffe for organising another very successful tournament. 

Ulster won the Ladies Over 40 and Over 50  with Leinster runners up in both. Ulster Won the Mens Over 45 again with Leinster  Runners up. Great competition in this event with Munster losing narrowly 3 2 to both Ulster and Leinster . and Ulster beating Leinster 3 2 in the decider. Mens Over 55 was won by Connacht who stopped Munster from completing four in a row . A great win for Pat Hanley over Donal Coughlan levelled the match at 2 all   Alf Kavanagh played the decider against Michael Conlon and saved 2 match balls in the 3rd and again in the 4th. Alf won the 5th to secure an historic win for Connacht. Mens Over 65 was won by Leinster ( Ciaran Roche, Seamus Daly and   Colm Andrews)  with Munster runners up.

Leinster O45 Team Pipped at the Post  (by Tom Crowe)

First up was Connacht on Friday night, and Leinster registered a straight sets victory over the Westerners. Meanwhile, Munster and Ulster were battling hard for a first round victory which went down to the final hard fought match between George Hewitt (Ulster) and Tony Maher (Munster), with George Hewitt winning out on a 3-2 scoreline.

Leinster faced their southern opponents first thing on Saturday morning and when Karam Singh and Tom Crowe won the first two matches, the team were well set up for victory. Eddie Murphy (Munster) proved too strong for Dave Flynn at number one but the deal was sealed when Dave Borton(Leinster) had a superb victory over Kevin O Rourke (3-0). This was an impressive showing by Dave Borton who seemed to have the stronger hand all through, impressively volleying any wayward shots by his opponent and never letting up even when approaching the finishing line in the third game. In the final game, Kevin Ronan (Leinster) fought gamely but was ultimately beaten by the shot making and experience of Tony Maher (3-1).

So it was all down to the final match-up between Leinster and Ulster for the honours. Karam Singh (Leinster) started proceedings with a capable (3-0) victory in the first match. Tom Crowe was next up for Leinster against John Mc Keagh. John won the first set exhibiting some deep drives into the back corners. Tom came back and won the second with some more assertive drives to the back mixed with some good drops to the front. The Ulster man appeared to be tiring at this stage. Not to be, however, because victory was sealed for Ulster in this match with John winning the next two hard fought matches. One-all and all to play for. Dave Flynn(Leinster) matched up against Shaun McKee in the third match and from the get-go, seemed to struggle with the  pace put on the ball by Shaun who continually drove hard and low to the side walls near the back corners. The Ulster man won the first two games convincingly and a 3-0 score seemed on the cards. But credit to Dave Flynn who upped his game and pulled one back in the third. A determined push  by Shaun in the last, saw him get through to a 3-1 win. The next match between Dave Borton and Mike Ellis was eagerly anticipated, especially as Mike Ellis had a very good win over Kevin O Rourke the night before. But Dave Borton continued the impressive form of earlier matches and executed his game plan extremely well, not giving his opponent any opportunity to showcase his deft back-hand drop and dealing very comfortable with the high lobbing game of the Ulster man. Dave secured a 3-0 victory and with the score in matches now at 2-2, it was all down to the final battle between Kevin Ronan (Leinster) and George Hewitt. The form book didn’t favour Kevin as he had lost to Tony Maher on a 3-1  score-line and George had beaten the same player 3-2. And so it proved to be – Kevin as always and to his credit, gave it everything he had but the Ulster man proved too strong, registering a win and the Interpro honours.

Congrats to Ulster and well done to Leinster who came so close.

OVERALL RESULTS

LADIES

Over 40 – Winner Ulster/Runner Up Leinster

Over 50 – Winner Ulster/Runner Up Leinster

MENS

Over 45 – Winner Ulster/Runner Up Leinster

Over 55 – Winner Connacht/Runner Up Munster

Over 65 – Winner Leinster/Runner Up Munster

Panels in Alphbetical order

Munster
Men’s over 45
J.Dineen.   T.Maher.  E.Murphy.  C.O’Neill.  K.O’Rourke  B.O’Sullivan.  G.Wales.

Men’s Over 55
M.Conlon.  D.Coughlan. H.Laaksonen. D.MC Carthy.  M.McDonnell.  J.MC Sweeney.  M.Mulhall.  J.O Callaghan.  E.O’Keeffe . N.O’Sullivan

Men’s Over 65
J.Donovan.  N.Murphy.  T.Murphy.  B.Ryan.  J. Whelan.

Ladies Over 40
M. Collins.  C.Cullen.  C.Jones.  D.Reardon. A.N Other.

Ladies Over 50
A.Grey.  E.Healy.  B.Murray.  C.O’Sullivan.  D.Reardon.

Ulster
Men’s Over 45
M.Ellis.  G.Hewitt.  D.Lorimour.  P.McCrisken.  S.McKee.  A.N.Other.

Men’s Over 55
B.Burke.  J.Campbell.  S.Campbell.  D.Connory.  D.Early. R.McIlroy.

Men’s Over 65
H.Cullen.  C.Gilmore.   J.MCBRide.  M.Evans.

Ladies Over 40
S. Abernathy.  C.Coyle.  M.Jackson.

Ladies Over 50
R.Coates.  M. Shannon. L.Tavakoli.

Leinster
Men’s Over 45
D.Flynn.  K .Ronan.  D.Borton.  J.Flynn.  T.Crowe. A.N.Other.

Men’s Over 55
G. Delaney.  C.Mallon.  A. O’Connor.  J.Dowley.  A.N.Other.  A.N.Other.

Men’s Over 65
C.Andrews.  S.Daly.   C.Roche.

Ladies Over 40
J.Dillon.  R.Barry.  J.Murphy.

Ladies Over 50
A.Costelloe.  C.Lowry. C.Mooney.

Connacht
Men’s Over 45
D.Lalor.  P.Murphy.  K.Padden.  A.Power.  T.Treacy.

Men’s Over 55
M.Cowley.  G.Fahy.  A.Kavanagh.  J. Kielty.  A.Larkin.  T.J.Mullins.

Mens Over 65
T.Cantwell.  F.Fahy. M.J.Hynes.  A.N.Other

The All-Ireland Schools Cup Finals took place on Friday 12th April in Sutton LTC. There were 19 schools from all 4 provinces in 6 sections

Boys Under 13/Boys Under 15/ Boys Under17/Boys Under 19

Girls Under 15/Girls Under 17

Thanks for a fantastic day of Squash. There was a total of 19 teams playing in 6 sections, Boys U/13, U/15, U/17, U/19 Girls U/15 & U/17 with a total of 72 match played from 9.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. Sutton LTC hosted the event and we would like to thank them for giving the use of their club.

It was a pleasure to run the All Ireland Squash Schools Final once again and all schools should be very proud of their students behaviour and sportsmanship both on and off court. It was great to see so many new faces alongside the well known players and we would hope that they are encouraged to progress to play in more events throughout Ireland in the future. Thanks to the teachers and parents for their help and patience and congratulations to all the prize winners.

Gerry Connaughton/Suzanne Ryan/ Eoin Ryan
Results

U/13 Boys

Winners: St Fintans NS (Leinster)   Runners-Up: Ballon NS  (Leinster)
U/15 Boys

Winners: St Fintans Highschool (Leinster) Runners-Up: Regent House (Ulster)
U/17 Boys

Winners: St Fintans Highschool (Leinster) Runners-Up: Methodist College (Ulster)

U/19 Boys

Winners: Campbell College (Ulster)  Runners-Up: Belvedere College (Leinster)
U/15 Girls

Winners: Santa Sabina (Leinster)   Runners-Up: Gaelcholáiste Ceatharlach  (Leinster)
U/17 Girls

Winners: Coláiste Iognáid (Connacht)  Runners-Up: Mount St Michael (Connacht)

 Very well done to all players who participated in the competition

Thanks to Gerry Connaughton, Suzanne Ryan. Eoin Ryan & Gerry Delaney for organising the event. Thank you also to the teachers, coaches and parents for their support and help in running the event.

WELL DONE AGAIN TO ALL THE SCHOOLS!!

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Aisling Blake squashes competition to be announced as ‘Sportswoman of the Month’

Dublin, Wednesday, 10^th April, 2013 –Irish Squash player, Aisling Blake has today been named The Irish Times / Irish Sports Council ‘Sportswoman of the Month’ for March 2013. Blake has become the Irish National squash champion for the first time after beating the long time champion Madeline Perry in Fitzwilliam LTC – Madeline having won on 14 previous occasions.

The Sligo native was just eight years old when she began playing squash, tennis and badminton and now as a full time world professional squash player, she has a world ranking of number 23. Blake is also a voice for her fellow professionals. In 2011 she was elected to the board of the International Women’s Squash Association as the players’ representative and at the beginning of the year was elected president of the association.

This is the first time Aisling has won the ‘Sportswoman of the Month’ award. The accolade of winning the Irish Times/Irish Sports Council ‘Sportswoman of the Month’ means Aisling will be the fourth of 12 sportswomen to be in the running for the prestigious title of ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ at an awards ceremony in December 2013.

Established in 2004, the aim of the Sportswoman of the Year awards is to recognize the abilities and achievements of women in Irish sports. The awards run over a 12 month period, with the judges selecting a winner each month for her ability to excel at sport. From the 12 monthly winners, the overall Sportswoman of the Year is selected and announced in December. The winner is decided by a judging panel, which is represented by individuals from The Irish Times, RTÉ, and the Evening Herald.

Further details on the Sportswoman of the Year Awards can be found onwww.irishtimes.com/events/sportswoman/.

Junior Interpros 2013 – Results

MadelinePerry had a very good KL Open last week, defeating the 6 seeded Low Wee Wern (MAS) in the 2nd round and then losing a tight quarter final match to the eventual winner, no. 3 seed Laura Massaro (ENG) in a tough 53min match 11-2, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5.

Massaro then went on to beat the world No. 1  Nicol David (MAS) in the semi final.

Laura Massaro then recorded only her second ever World Series title, after coming through to win the KL Open.

The final, held in front of crowds at the Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur, was without the two top seeds, with Nicol David falling to Massaro in yesterday’s semi-final, and Raneem El Weleily falling in the second round by way of Natalie Grinham.

Massaro, world ranked No.3, showed excellent form right from the first round, in which she defeated experienced Latasha Khan of the USA.  She then beat in-form Line Hansen in the second round, following the Dane’s upset of Rachael Grinham in their opening clash.

Her run continued with a strong four-game win over Irishwoman Madeline Perry to set up her excellent defeat of seven-time world champion, Nicol David.

This result for Madeline who was seeded 12th, should ensure she retains her 11th place world ranking for April, if not actually improve it. Obviously her form is very good at present which is encouraging news coming into the European team Championships in Amsterdam, starting on the 1st of May. Ireland women’s team will be defending their silver medal from last year’s Europeans.

Full Results

Final:

[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [5] Alison Waters (ENG)      11-9, 11-7, 11-6 (44m)

Semi-finals:

[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [1] Nicol David (MAS)          10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5

[5] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [7] Joelle King (NZL)  12-10, 11-5, 12-10

Quarter-finals:

[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [8] Jenny Duncalf (ENG)           11-8, 11-7, 11-2 (43m)

[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt [12] Madeline Perry (IRL) 11-2, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5 (53m)

[5] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [4] Nour El Sherbini (EGY)   9-11, 12-10, 11-6, 10-12, 11-5 (51m)

[7] Joelle King (NZL) bt [11] Natalie Grinham (NED) 11-9, 11-4, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10 (63m)

2nd round:

[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [14] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY)         11-9, 11-7, 11-8 (46m)

[8] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [15] Dipika Pallikal (IND)     11-9, 11-5, 6-11, 11-4 (48m)

[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt Line Hansen (DEN)  12-10, 11-7, 11-7 (35m)

[12] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [6] Low Wee Wern (MAS) 12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4 (96m)

[5] Alison Waters (ENG) bt [13] Kasey Brown (AUS)       11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-5 (50m)

[4] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [10] Annie Au (HKG)        12-10, 11-9, 11-4 (30m)

[7] Joelle King (NZL) bt [9] Camille Serme (FRA) 12-10, 13-15, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8 (90m)

[11] Natalie Grinham (NED) bt [2] Raneem El Weleily (EGY)     11-6, 12-14, 11-8, 11-6 (48m)

1st round:

[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [Q] Siyoli Waters (RSA) 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 (31m)

[14] Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt Aisling Blake (IRL)   11-7, 11-8, 8-11, 10-12, 11-9 (72m)

[8] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) bt [Q] Kylie Lindsay (NZL)        11-1, 11-3, 11-5 (23m)

[15] Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt [Q] Lisa Aitken (SCO)          11-7, 11-7, 11-7 (34m)

[3] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt Latasha Khan (USA)            11-7, 11-4, 19-17 (30m)

Line Hansen (DEN) bt [16] Rachael Grinham (AUS)        12-10, 11-8, 11-7 (32m)

[6] Low Wee Wern (MAS) bt Lauren Briggs (ENG)          16-14, 11-4, 11-3 (39m)

[12] Madeline Perry (IRL) bt [Q] Lucie Fialova (CZE)      11-2, 11-5, 11-3 (28m)

[13] Kasey Brown (AUS) bt Emily Whitlock (ENG)           12-10, 11-9, 11-5 (50m)

[5] Alison Waters (ENG) bt Joey Chan (HKG)        6-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7 (45m)

[10] Annie Au (HKG) bt [Q] Emma Beddoes (ENG)          11-9, 11-5, 12-10 (40m)

[4] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt Nour El Tayeb (EGY)        11-4, 11-5, 7-11, 9-11, 14-12 (63m)

[9] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [Q] Nicolette Fernandes (GUY)        11-4, 11-7, 11-3 (30m)

[7] Joelle King (NZL) bt [Q] Joshana Chinappa (IND)      11-5, 11-4, 11-5 (35m)

[11] Natalie Grinham (NED) bt [Q] Zulhijjah Binti Azan (MAS)  11-3, 11-3, 11-2 (19m)

[2] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) bt Delia Arnold (MAS)        11-8, 11-7, 5-11, 11-1 (28m)

Ga Sabry Scores Galway Glory

RESULTS: PSA Challenger 10 Paddy Whack West of Ireland Open, Galway, Ireland

Final: Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY) bt Steven Finitsis (AUS) 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8 (56m)

Unseeded Egyptian teenager Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry celebrated the third PSA World Tour title success of his career when he beat Australian Steven Finitsis in the final of the Paddy Whack West of Ireland Open, the PSA Challenger 10 squash event in its seventh successive year at the Galway Lawn Tennis Club in Galway.

“It was a fantastic final with a packed audience – played at a ferocious pace that demonstrated what true athleticism was,” said tournament spokesman Andre Davies.

“Both players played with power and finesse in equal measure sending their opponent to every corner of the court.  It was incredibly evenly-matched in both the first and second game with both players reaching nine points – but it was the young Egyptian who managed to sneak both games 11-9 to develop a 2/0 cushion.

“Finitsis came back fighting in true style and in another tense and close game managed to close out the third 11-9.  The crowd were hopeful of the match going the distance but it proved to be a little too much for Finitsis as Sabry kept up the intensity and pace and had Finitsis covering every inch of the court.

“Unsurprisingly Sabry finished the match at the front of the court with another attacking shot that handed him the championship title, much to his delight,” concluded Davies.

The 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8 triumph in 56 minutes makes 18-year-old Cairo-based Ga Sabry the first Egyptian winner of the popular Tour event whose roll of honour includes players from Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany and Hungary.

West of Ireland Tournament Summary

A great weekend was had by all at this year’s west of Ireland squash championships held once again at Galway Lawn Tennis Club. 40 competitors made up the 3 sections of the graded tournament which provided a host of great matches to watch and play.

As far as the A section goes the first round provided some good encounters with some good results for local boys Ronan Tully who beat Kevin Moore in an epic 5 setter to move up the A section rankings and Conor O’Shea who beat the always impressive Anthony Lyons to hop up a few positions also.

Brian Byrne played some very steady squash to progress to the final where he met Arthur Gaskin who had been struggling all week with illness. Despite Arthur getting to a 2-0 lead He had to concede after Brian had played an excellent game to take the third to make it 2-1. Many congratulations to Brian – this years west of Ireland open A section champion.

The bottom of the A and top of the B section saw some good battles develop. This latest development with the A/B playoff is great and offers the opportunity for a scalp by one of the B section players. Shane Cluskey another local player had a great weekend racking up 3 victories in a row before finally loosing to Kevin Moore in the play off. He still managed to end up 16th in the A section and thoroughly deserved to be there. Some fantastic performances from Theo Anderson saw him climb the ranks as well to finish in 14th position in the A section having stated well down in the B section. Congratulations to Cormac MacMahon for winning the B section plate as well.

The C section was won by Jack Davies a junior squash player from Galway Lawn Tennis Club. He managed to come back from 2-0 to win 3-2 in a great effort which saw him diving all over the court. Congratulations to Martin O’Sullivan, the runner up in the C section and to Brian Dowley the C section plate winner.

All in all a great weekend in Galway and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all those who took part in the tournament particularly those who travelled long distances to support the event.

 See you next year.

 Andre Davis

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Finishing Positions of the West of Ireland Squash Championship

A section

1 Brian Byrne

2 Arthur Gaskin

3 Keith Moran

4 Conor O’Hare

5 Conor O’Shea

6 Stuart Hadden

7 Paul Linehan

8 Ronan Tully

9 Darren Waring

10 Ciaran McCoy

11 Dara O’Flynn

12 Michael Conroy

13 Kevin Moore

14 Theo Anderson

15 Neal Pollock

16 Shane Cluskey

B Section

1 Charlie Sturm

2 Anthony Lyons

3 David Cassidy

4 Mark Gilliland

5 Andre Davies

6 Shane Shevlin

7 Tony Knights

8 bye due to withdrawal

9 Cormac MacMahon

10 Howard Gill

11 Nick Leeming

12 Eoghan Lynch

13 Aidan McDonnell

14 Dave Lalor

15 James Barrett

16 Curnan Reidy

C Section

1 Jack Davies

2 Martin O’Sullivan

3 Tom Cantwell

4 Gavin McLoughlin

5 Brian Dowley

6 David Murphy

7 Joe O’ Flaherty

8 Eamon Reilly

For the full draw see here