A new €6 million capital fund is available through county councils throughout the Republic of Ireland. The funding will provide capital support for small groups and organisations, such as affiliated squash clubs. There is a particular focus on small capital works, improvements, and the purchase of equipment for community use, making it an ideal means for squash clubs within the Republic of Ireland to upgrade their courts and auxiliary facilities, such as changing areas, showers, toilets, heating, or energy upgrades.
The closing date for applications, as well as the maximum amount available, differs within each county council. If your club wishes to avail of funding to enhance facilities or purchase equipment, I would encourage you to search for more details via your local council without delay. In some instances, the closing date is as early as late January, and funding of up to €10,000 is available. Applications for lesser amounts are likely to have a strong chance of success.
30% of the fund is ring-fenced for women’s groups and initiatives.
Who is eligible to apply?
Any not-for-profit community or voluntary group can apply, including squash clubs affiliated with Irish Squash. Please pay your €120 club affiliation fee if it is still outstanding.
What costs are eligible for funding?
The following provides a non-exhaustive list of projects that could receive capital funding under the program:
Additional information
Matched funding is not a requirement. If your club is successful with a grant application, Irish Squash can provide written evidence of a valid insurance policy, provided your club has completed affiliation.
For more information, please contact your local county council, local sports partnership, or Irish Squash at [email protected]. A selection of schemes currently open for applications can be found below. The fund is available through all local councils throughout the Republic of Ireland.
Additionally, the Team manager has a responsibility to report any incident of serious misconduct which may occur to the Honorary Secretary or National Children’s Officer.
1. 5th-7th March 2024 – Five Nations – U13’s & U15’s – Cardiff, Wales
2. 28th-31st March 2024 – European U19 Individual Team Championships – Bucharest, Romania
3. 8th-11th May 2024 – U/15 & U/17 European Team Championships –Portugal
To express your interest, please fill out this short form – Expressions of Interest for Irish Squash Junior Teams Managers – Form
The deadline for Expressions of Interest is Jan 29th
Registration is now open for the 2024 Irish Senior Nationals.
This is always a highly-anticipated event on the national calendar with Ireland’s top prospects competing against each other for top honours.
This years edition will take place in Fitzwilliam LTC from the 9th to 11th of February with a spectacular field expected.
Ireland’s top talents have made considerable progress in the last 12 months towards achieving their limitless potential, emphasised by Hannah Craig making the World Top 100 players and Sam Buckley’s recent straight set victory over the world no. 64 at the WSF Men’s Team World Championships in New Zealand.
This is set to be spectacle of incredible squash and not one to be missed.
Players can now register for the tournament on SportyHQ or by using the link below.
https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Senior-National-Championships-2
Please note, registration closes on Feb 1st!
It was a busy weekend across the provincial landscape as squash took centre stage at the weekend with 4 events across the weekend.
Leinster Senior Open 2024
Fitzwilliam LTC hosted this month’s premiere billing, when the annual edition of the Leinster Senior Open took place on Saturday and Sunday. This field was stacked with talent across both the men’s and women’s draw and ultimately Ireland’s international talent rose to the fore. Off the back of an impressive showing in the WSF Men’s Team World Championship, Oisin Logan was crowned winner of the Men’s A Division. Another International regular, Breanne Flynn took the honours in the Women’s A Division, while David Ryan and David Connolly prevailed in the Men’s B & C Divisions respectively. The podium places can be viewed below, while full results are available at: https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Leinster-Senior-Open-2024-TOUR-5
Munster
While Leinster hosted the senior event of the weekend, Munster welcomed both Masters and Juniors down south to Cork and Waterford respectively for the Munster Masters Open and the Munster Junior Closed. Action was entertaining and tight across all age-groups in both codes of the Masters and Juniors with brilliant squash on show. The podium places for each event can be seen below with full results available at: https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Munster-Masters-Open-2024 & https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Munster-Junior-Closed-7.
Munster Masters Open 2024
Ulster
Meanwhile, from one end of the island to the other, Ulster hosted their Junior Closed for 2024 in the Lisburn Racquets Club on Saturday and Sunday. Action was tense across the different categories with plenty of tight matches emphasising the competitiveness of the event. Podium places can be found below, while full results are available at: https://www.sportyhq.com/tournament/view/Ulster-Junior-Closed-2024
Ulster Junior Closed 2024
The Leinster Open is being held in Fitzwilliam LTC, this weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
There are Men’s A, B & C events and a Women’s A event.
Top seeds in the Mens A are Conor Moran and Oisin Logan, Sam Buckley is injured at present. In the Womens draw, top seeds are Breanne Flynn and Emilia Korhonen from Finland.
Matches from Court 1 will be live streamed on Irish Squash TV – HERE
See Draws – HERE
Irish Squash are delighted to announce that the Connacht Squash Leagues are making a return in the coming weeks.
This is a crucial step for squash in Connacht as the provincial leagues in Leinster, Munster and Ulster have been a massive success and have provided a wonderful opportunity for players to engage in competitive squash in a social context, achieving the best of both worlds.
This year’s format will feature a Men’s A, Men’s B and Women’s A League and action will take place on the 20th of January in Westport Squash Club, 17th February in Sligo Lawn Tennis Club and 6th April in Galway Lawn Tennis Club.
Recent provincial tournaments in the west have shown that there is a resounding appetite for squash and huge demand for some type of league structure. With some of the finest courts and facilities nationwide based in Connacht, it is only right that the west hosts a provincial league structure.
Building upon the recent news that Squash will be included in the LA28 Olympic Games, the development of this league is a crucial step in the development of the sport across our nation.
Irish Squash CEO, Scott Graham commented;
“I’m delighted to see the Connacht League reestablished, providing a great outlet for people to engage, play, and test themselves against players from a variety of clubs in the region. A huge thank you to Connacht Squash and the many volunteers who have gotten it off the ground and will ensure the league runs smoothly. I would encourage all clubs in the province to consider entering a team, regardless of playing ability, as this is all about enjoyment and camaraderie”.
So far, Galway LTC, Loughrea, Westport and Sligo have all joined the league but there is still time for any other clubs who may want to join. If you have an interest in joining or want to find out more, contact us at [email protected].
Best of luck to all players playing in these leagues for the rest of the season!
Happy new year to you all. We hope you had a wonderful festive season and are raring to go for squash in 2024!
January, as always, is a very busy period in the squash calendar with events happening each week across the country.
Our headline billing for this month is the Leinster Senior Open which takes place in Fitzwiliam LTC next weekend 13-14th Jan.
Munster is a busy province that weekend (13-14th Jan) with masters action coming from Cork for the Munster Masters Open, while the Munster Junior Closed also features that weekend. Further north, Ulster are hosting their own Junior Closed on Saturday and Sunday 13-14th.
The Mount Pleasant Senior Open (25-28th) is another marquee event, while Highfield hosts their 2nd Women’s One Day Open at the end of the month.
Intercontinental action comes from the Czech Republic for the Czech Junior Open in the middle of the month as well as the Portuguese Masters Open from the 19-21st.
Our appetites are already watering as last weekend saw some strong performances from the Irish contingent at the British Junior Open, while Leinster held their annual Junior Closed. Results from these can be viewed under the latest results tab on our website.
Leinster Senior League
Matches resume this week after the Christmas with all to play for.
Current leaders in each division are
Latest Results, Tables, and Fixtures are available here.
Leinster Tournaments
Congratulations to Conor Moran who won the event this year after overcoming his brother Dylan in the final. Full recap can be found here
The next Senior Tour event is this weekend in Fitzwilliam LTC with a high quality entry in both the mens and womens draws. Full event information here
Running 27/28th Jan. Entry now open here
Great matches over the weekend at Sutton LTC in the Leinster Junior Closed, with over 50 juniors taking part over 2 days of matches. Full results here
3/4th Feb 2024. Entry now open HERE
For full calendar of upcoming events, see the events calendar on SportyHQ, here
December was a busy month for all involved with Irish Squash with plenty of action taking place at home and further afield including the WSF Men’s Team World Championship, where team Ireland finished 17th, usurping their original seeding and finishing top of the 2nd play-off tier. A full recap on the team’s journey can be found here
The Connacht Masters Open and The Munster Junior Invitational occurred in early December, with results available here
Over the festive period, Old Belvedere played host to The Old Belvedere Open & Handicap Championship.
On the junior circuit, two major junior events took place over the last few weeks, The Scottish Junior Open and the British Junior Open. On top of this, The Leinster Junior Closed took place last weekend with results available here
Here’s to more of the same for January!
A 17th place finish, usurping their original seeding (18) was the ultimate outcome for team Ireland at the recent Men’s Team World Championship in Tauranga, New Zealand.
In a week filled with high-quality squash, unlimited drama and lifelong memories, the Irish team consisting of Sam Buckley, Michael Creaven, Oisin Logan and Sean Conroy proved they belong at the top table of international squash, with some stellar performances and convincing victories proving their mantle.
Ireland were facing an uphill battle before even making it down under as they were seeded 18th of 24 and were drawn in Group A alongside top seed, reigning champions and eventual champions, Egypt and a tough Malaysian outfit. Despite the inevitable challenging task, there was plenty of optimism surrounding an Irish team comprising youth and experience with the team winning silver in Division 2 of the European tournament equivalent, ultimately gaining promotion to the premier division of European squash earlier in 2023.
After a wonderful, culture driven opening ceremony, the boys in green got their campaign underway against a fancied Malaysian side. Ireland’s number 1, Sam Buckley gave the side a dream start and provided a true highlight of the tournament comfortably defeating Adreen Idrakie, world no. 64 (more than 60 places above Sam) in straight sets (11-9, 11-4, 11-6). Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Ireland in match one with Sean Conroy and Oisin Logan battling to tight losses against their Malaysian opponents. This left Ireland with a mountain to climb, knowing only a win against the titans of Egypt would give them the opportunity to reach the finals play-off section.
Our young stars got to experience a massive developmental learning curve against eventual tournament winners Egypt, as they had the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with three of the world’s best players under the biggest spotlight. Sean Conroy took on world no.7 Mazen Hesham, Sam Buckley faces world no.4 Mostafa Asal and Oisin Logan battled world no. 12 Youssef Soliman. Each player succumbed to straight set defeats against their African opponents, meaning Ireland fell into the 17-24th place play-off section.
The team faced outsiders Tahiti as their first barrier in their quest for 17th spot and comfortably saw off their island opponents 2-0 with Sam Buckely and Michael Creaven producing the goods in two straight set victories. This win set up a battle with Japan.
Ireland once again showed their superiority and emphasised the impact they may have had on the 1- 16th part of the draw, had they been drawn in a more favourable group as they dismantled Japan 2-0, as Sam Buckley and Oisin Logan ensured Ireland would battle the Netherlands for in a showdown for the 17th spot.
Having made it to the 17/18th place play-off final, team Ireland had already matched their seeding with a chance to finish top of the bottom half of the draw, against their higher seeded European opponents. In what proved a tense affair, straight set victories from Sam Buckley and Oisin Logan meant Ireland left New Zealand with 17th Place wrapped up, the best possible outcome after falling into the 17-24th place playoffs.
In winning each play-off game without losing a match, Ireland once again proved that they have what it takes to compete against the world’s elite and had things gine differently, may have caused some shocks in the 1-16th place play-offs. Ultimately this was a wonderful learning curve for the lads as they now turn their focus back to their individual campaigns for the remainder of the 23/24 season.
Hopefully, this tournament was just a sign of things to come for a young squad as the Olympic Games qualification looms closer in 2028.
Massive thank you to our sponsors and supporters who supported the team; UPMC Sports Surgery Clinic, Cassidy Travel, EventHaus and GillenMarkets. This journey would not have been possible without their generosity.
