Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, home of the Leinster Open 2012, basked in Autumn sunshine earlier today
While the Irish women’s squash team are playing their third/fourth place play-off at the Women’s Team World Championships in Nimes, France, the Leinster Open 2012 is on in the prestigious Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club this weekend, and as so often, you’ll find the who is who of Irish squash battling it out.
I’m not playing this weekend, but since I live relatively close to Fitz I decided to check out some of this morning’s matches. Due to Dublin having busy Squash leagues and being home to a lot of strong players, the draws are extremely competitive. Yesterday had only seen two matches go against the seeding in the Men’s A: Sean Conroy, the eight seed, lost to Niall Rooney 3:1, and Rory Birthistle (10) overcame Connor O’Hare, recently moved to Dublin and the tournament’s seventh seed, in five games.
First match I saw this morning was young Michael Craig, from up North, beat veteran Dara O’Flynn 3:0, every game finishing 11:6. Dara plays a very tough game, hitting hard and tight and slotting in delightful drop shots, and I thought he’d be too strong for Michael. However, this morning Dara let himself down with a few too many errors, and Michael was able to weather the intensity quite comfortably. Michael also has a delicate hold on his backhand side and generally plays with great oversight and understanding, and on this Saturday morning he was simply too good. He will now face his junior rival Sean Conroy in the next round, Sean having beaten Paul Lenihan comfortably in three.
Next match on my agenda was Steve Richardson against Brian Byrne, fourth against fifth seed. Brian has been the talks of many recent tournaments, oftentimes only being stopped by Ireland’s number one Arthur Gaskin in the finals, while Stevie is rarely one to lose to anyone beneath his seeding. The match started at a very high pace, Brian seeking to volley at every opportunity. The difference between the two players was that when playing at this pace, Stevie was able to control the ball slightly better, while Brian was suffering from his drives occasionally jumping off the side walls. Nonetheless, even when Stevie worked Brian out of his position, he was still able to reach the next shot due to his speed. Nonetheless, Stevie managed to play the last few points of the first two games stronger and took a commanding 2:0 lead, and finished the third 11:4. The scoreline of 3:0 does little justice to what was really a good-quality and tough encounter.
In the other quarter-finals Graeme Stewart had to pull out facing Nigel Peyton. Graeme, who had beaten Nigel’s brother Ronan yesterday, is suffering from a neck injury that left him unable to compete. Derek Ryan, seeded two, beat Rory Birthistle, and is Nigel’s next opponent.
All results from the Mens A matches so far
Last game I saw was in the Men’s B, with David Ryan, of Sutton, playing Neal Murphy. It was the first time I’ve seen david following his lengthy injury, and he certainly seems to be back with a vengeance! Neal is a tough competitor and former Irish international, but today David was in great form, with great court coverage and superb back-court game. The rallies were long and intense, but David’s fitness levels are really something for a junior player, and he ran out a clear 3:0 victory.
Unfortunately I missed the ladies’ matches this morning, but the semis will be between Claire O’Neill and Tanya Owens, and Zoe Hall and Ciara Moloney, taking place just about now. (Dan. Z.)
The Irish Women’s team battled tough competition to get through the final 16 of the Women’s World Team Squash championships.
Ireland came second in their group matches and are through to the top 16 draw.
Congratulations to Aisling Blake, Madeline Perry, Laura Mylotte and Breanne Flynn (pictured here).
Ireland are playing France at 1.30 today (wed) on the main glass back court in the Parnasse centre, The matches can be followed live from the tournament website
Ireland played England – the No. 1 seed on Thursday 15th November on the centre court in the Parnasse centre.
First on was Madeline Perry against Laura Massaro. Madeline started well, taking control qnd winning the first game 11/7. Laura came out in the second finding the corners and winning it 11/2. The third and fourth games were closer but Laura’s strength prevailed and she won them 11/8 and 11/9
Next up was Aisling Blake against Alison Waters. Alison’s strength prevailed and she beat Aisling 11/7, 11/3 and 11/3.
England had won the tie 2-0. The number 3 stings went on to play the best of 3 games. The players were Breanne Flynn against the English No: 3 Jenny Duncalf. It was Breanne’s first cap at senior level. Breanne played well but Jenny”s experience and ability won her the game 11/3 and 11/2:
On Friday, Ireland are playing New Zealand at 17.00 on court 1 in the Parnasse Centre.
Day 5 at Womens world Team Championships in Nimes.
Ireland played New Zealand in their first match in the playoffs for 5th to 8th place. It was always going to be a difficult match.
First on were the No. 1’s, Madeline Perry and Joelle King. Joelle won the first game quickly 11/3, however in the second game Madeline increased her determination and the pace of the game and won it 11/7. Joelle fought back to win the third game11/7. The fourth game was very close with Madeline winning 14/12. Madeline continued playing well and went on to win the fifth game 11/3. Madeline won 3/2.
Laura Mylotte went on next to play Amanda Landers Murphy. Laura played well and putting the ball in the corners she won the first game 11/8. The second game was close with Amanda winning 12/10. Despite Laura’s best efforts Amanda went on to win the next two games 11/8 and 12/10. Amanda won 3/1
Aisling Blake went on to play Jaclyn Hawkes in the deciding match. Aisling won the first two games 11/5 and 11/9. Jaclyn fought back and won the next two 11/4 and 11/8. However Aisling dug deep, chased every ball and managed to win the final game 11/7. Aisling won 3/2 which meant that Ireland beat NewZealand 2/1 and are due to play India at 13.30 on Saturday in the play off for 5/6th place.
Ireland already met India in the pool matches, India won that match but hopefully that will be reversed today.
Here are the new guidelines that must be followed if you would like to see something posted to the Irish Squash web site. You must now provide it in a specified format or it won’t get posted.
It is commonly commented that we are not providing sufficient coverage for various events – our professionals, our teams our leagues or whatever. Usually the squash office gets an e-mail with something like “this team won” or “Arthur won the PSA event in France” or “Irish Team are competing in Hungary”, “can you put up the results from this”. This format doesn’t provide enough information to provide a good post or item on the website. It means that the person uploading the information to the site has complete discretion to just put up what is provided. There are far too many news items and not enough resources for one person to do this properly.
If the information is provided properly it can be put up the site quickly and will be more useful. This just takes a little effort on behalf of whoever knows about the item.
The title should try to include the name of the event and have a hook to try and get the readers interested. E.g. “Arthur wins World Championships in London”
This is a summary paragraph that will tell the reader a synopsis of the item. It should draw in the reader and make the article interesting. “In what was one of his finest professional performances Arthur took pushed the former World Number one to his limits in a roaring reception in the auditorium…”.. you get the idea.
Ideally this is a summary of the event – and it might be possible to get this from another source if it is a big event. Our readers want to know about the winners and about how our players competed and anything interesting that may have happened. This should be more than just “John won 3-0”.
Article Background
Is there any background information you can provide about this tournament or event to help the reader? Just because you know the people involved and that we have won the event for the last 10 years doesn’t mean everyone else does. Who won it last year? What was it like last year? Is it it better now? Are there old rivalries we should know about?
Nearly everyone has a camera on their phone and definitely someone at the event took pictures. We Need pictures. Gather the pictures.. find them on the websites, copy them and then attach them to the item to be posted! All sorts of pictures can be good – action shots, including those of the venue and the crowd.. things that help capture the experience not just the trophy collections.
Much as we would like to think that we know everybody in the World of Squash in Ireland – trying to work out who is in a picture and how to spell their names correctly is another task that should be carried out by you when you submit the article. If you don’t know who they are in the picture how can we know what name to put beside them?
Updated ranking lists and points for Masters are now online here
Ireland start their campaign in France today in the Women’s World Team Championships 2012. A record 26 nations will take 
part in the 2012 championship which is being hosted by Fédération Française de Squash from 12-17 November, and staged in France for the first time in its 33-year history.
The championship in Nimes will be held at the eight-court Club des Costières, and at La Parnasse Arena – where history will be made with action taking place simultaneously on three new state-of-the-art ASB all-glass show courts. Ireland are putting forward a strong team with Madeline Perry, Aisling Blake, Laura Mylotte and Breanne Flynn. We wish them all the best of luck. You can watch selected matches live from here. Ireland started off seeded 7th in the competetion and were in Pool G with Argentina and India.
Ireleland beat Argenina 3-0 but lost to India 1-2 and finished second in the Group. Ireland were nextin the payoffs for 1 – 16th position.
Wednesday UpdateOn Wednesday Ireland played the host nation France to decide which team would go to the top 8. Ireland had played France in the European Team Championship earlier in 2012 and had beaten them, so the French would be looking for revenge. The atmosphere at the match was tense. The match was on the centre glass court in Parnasse with the vast majority of spectators naturally supporting the French team.
First on was the number three string, Laura Mylotte against Maude Duplomb. Laura had lost to Maude in the Europeans 3-0 but the score was 11/9 in each game. In this match Laura lost the first game 7/11 but recovered well to win the next game 11/8, the third was long and exciting but went to the French at 15/13, Laura took control of the fourth and fifth ga,e and wore Maude out winning the last two games 11/8 and 11/4.
Next up was Madeline Perry against Camille Serme, the number one strings. Madeline had beaten Camille 3/0 in the Europeans so we all hoped she would do the same again. The first two games went to Madeline 11/8 and 12/10 and it looked as if it would go the same way as the Europeans, however Camille managed to come back to win the next two games 11/8 and 11/9. So it was 2 all, the athmosphere in Parnasse was getting tenser by the minute, could Ireland finish it off and win the tie or could France hang in and make the third match count. Madeline dug deep and showed her class by winning the fifth game 11/5.
Aisling Blake played Coline Aumard in a three set tie which she won easily 2-0.
Next up for Ireland is England, the No,1 seeds at 19.00 on the Centre court in Parnasse. The team will be Madeline Perry, Aisling Blake and Breanne Flynn. It will be Breanne’s first cap at senior level, so best of luck to her and the rest of the team.
Ireland played England – the No. 1 seed on Thursday 15th November on the centre court in the Parnasse centre.
First on was Madeline Perry against Laura Massaro. Madeline started well, taking control qnd winning the first game 11/7. Laura came out in the second finding the corners and winning it 11/2. The third and fourth games were closer but Laura’s strength prevailed and she won them 11/8 and 11/9
Next up was Aisling Blake against Alison Waters. Alison’s strength prevailed and she beat Aisling 11/7, 11/3 and 11/3.
England had won the tie 2-0. The number 3 stings went on to play the best of 3 games. The players were Breanne Flynn against the English No: 3 Jenny Duncalf. It was Breanne’s first cap at senior level. Breanne played well but Jenny”s experience and ability won her the game 11/3 and 11/2:
On Friday, Ireland are playing New Zealand at 17.00 on court 1 in the Parnasse Centre:
Ireland played England – the No. 1 seed on Thursday 15th November on the centre court in the Parnasse centre.
First on was Madeline Perry against Laura Massaro. Madeline started well, taking control qnd winning the first game 11/7. Laura came out in the second finding the corners and winning it 11/2. The third and fourth games were closer but Laura’s strength prevailed and she won them 11/8 and 11/9
Next up was Aisling Blake against Alison Waters. Alison’s strength prevailed and she beat Aisling 11/7, 11/3 and 11/3.
England had won the tie 2-0. The number 3 stings went on to play the best of 3 games. The players were Breanne Flynn against the English No: 3 Jenny Duncalf. It was Breanne’s first cap at senior level. Breanne played well but Jenny”s experience and ability won her the game 11/3 and 11/2:
On Friday, Ireland are playing New Zealand at 17.00 on court 1 in the Parnasse Centre.
Day 5 at Womens world Team Championships in Nimes.
Ireland played New Zealand in their first match in the playoffs for 5th to 8th place. It was always going to be a difficult match.
First on were the No. 1’s, Madeline Perry and Joelle King. Joelle won the first game quickly 11/3, however in the second game Madeline increased her determination and the pace of the game and won it 11/7. Joelle fought back to win the third game11/7. The fourth game was very close with Madeline winning 14/12. Madeline continued playing well and went on to win the fifth game 11/3. Madeline won 3/2.
Laura Mylotte went on next to play Amanda Landers Murphy. Laura played well and putting the ball in the corners she won the first game 11/8. The second game was close with Amanda winning 12/10. Despite Laura’s best efforts Amanda went on to win the next two games 11/8 and 12/10. Amanda won 3/1
Aisling Blake went on to play Jaclyn Hawkes in the deciding match. Aisling won the first two games 11/5 and 11/9. Jaclyn fought back and won the next two 11/4 and 11/8. However Aisling dug deep, chased every ball and managed to win the final game 11/7. Aisling won 3/2 which meant that Ireland beat NewZealand 2/1 and are due to play India at 13.30 on Saturday in the play off for 5/6th place.
Ireland already met India in the pool matches, India won that match but hopefully that will be reversed today.
Updated rankings for O35s and O40s Maseters can be found here
Photos from the recent Leinster Masters 2012 held in Fitzwilliam
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Entries are invited to play in the Leinster Senior Open 2012 to be held in the Mount Pleasant and Fitzwilliam LTC in November.
Entries are being accepted for the Leinster Senior Open 2012.
| Leinster Senior Open 2012 | 16th – 18th November | Mount Pleasant, Fitzwilliam LTC | Time table |
