BELFAST TO HOST NEW PROFESSIONAL SQUASH EVENT

Legacy Wealth Belfast Open Squash 2015 – Draw Finalised

A new professional squash event, the Legacy Wealth Belfast Open Squash 2015, will take place at the Belfast Boat Club from 25^th – 30^th August.

The Main Draw has been released and squash professionals from around the world will join Irish players to compete in this new $5K event, part of the growing PSA World Tour.

World #83 Joel Hinds from England headlines the event, with other players from UK, Spain, South Africa, USA, and the Netherlands. A strong entry from England includes several up and coming young players such as Angus Gillams (seeded 2 in the Main Draw) and Patrick Rooney, one of the top juniors in Europe.

Ireland will be represented in the main draw by Sean Conroy, who has been steadily climbing the PSA rankings in the last 2 seasons. A number of other leading Irish players will also be competing in the qualifying event on the Tuesday and Wednesday, including Irish #2 Brian Byrne and Ulster players such as Conor O’Hare.

The Qualifying Event of the tournament will take place at the Belfast Boat Club on 25^th and 26^th August with the Main Event running on 27^th – 30^th August.  In parallel, there will be a club level squash tournament on the 29^th and 30^th for local players.

“We are delighted to have such a strong line-up for the first Belfast Open Squash event,” said Tournament Promoter Jeff Hearst. “It will be a great opportunity to see some spectacular squash at the professional level.”

Belfast Open Squash 2015 – Main Draw

[1] Joel Hinds (ENG) v [Qualifier]

Jon Geekie (SCO) v [7] Christo Potgieter (RSA)

[5] Hugo Varela (ESP) v Mike Lewis (USA)

[Qualifier] v [4] Edmon Lopez Moller (ESP)

[3] Adam Murrills (ENG) v [Qualifier]

[Qualifier] v [8] Jean-Pierre Brits (RSA)

[6] Sean Conroy (IRL) v Nick Mulvey (ENG)

Tristan Eysele (RSA) v [2] Angus Gillams (ENG)

Legacy Wealth: The title sponsor of the Belfast Open, Legacy Wealth, is a Belfast-based specialist firm of independent financial planners, providing advice for individuals, businesses and trusts. For further information, go to: http://www.legacywealth.co.uk/

Brothers in Portuguese

Mount Pleasant Summer Camp with Paul Bell.
27th-31st July
2.00-4.30PM
Cost €110

This camp will be geared towards advanced juniors

There are a limited number of places available.

To book a place, please contact :
Henry Gillanders on 0876868168
Or email:
[email protected]

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IRELAND’S Under 15 & 17’s teams with managers Deirdre Byrne (back left) & David Noone (back right) on the way to Lisbon to play in the European Champions.

The U15’s team are seeded 3 and play in a group with Scotland,Sweden & Norway.

Team: Sophie O’Rourke (Munster), Ellie McVeigh (Ulster), Scott Gillanders (Leinster), Conor Moran (Leinster) & Sam Buckley (Leinster)

The U17’s team are seeded 6 and play in a group with Switzerland, Netherlands & Belguim.

Team: Stephanie Ryan (Leinster), Lily Lloyd (Leinster), Oisin Dunne (Leinster), Luke Logan (Leinster) & Sean Dineen (Leinster)

For tournament draw, teams & results see HERE

SENIOR INTERPROS – MATCHES TO SAVOUR!

BELFAST BOAT CLUB

There were 8 men’s teams with no ladies competing in the event.

Schedule – Senior Interprovincials                                                                                                                                                 

Belfast Boat Club 

Friday Evening Session  7-00pm

§  Ulster A v Connacht A

§  Leinster A v Munster A

§  Ulster B v Connacht B

§  Leinster B v Munster B

Saturday Morning Session 10-00am

§  Ulster A v Munster A

§  Leinster A v Connacht A

§  Ulster B v Munster B

§  Leinster B v Connacht B

Saturday Afternoon Session  2-00pm

§  Ulster A v Leinster A

§  Munster A v Connacht A

§  Ulster B v Leinster B

§  Munster B v Connacht B

IRELAND OVER 40’s WIN HI’S IN CARDIFF

Its like waiting ages for a bus to arrive and then 2 come at the same time!!. Ireland’s Mens over 40’s team completed a 5 – 0 whitewash of an English Squash team in Cardiff on April 25th making it back to back wins over England. After last years unbelievable first win, this double is only the 2^nd ever victory over England at this level. 

Organising the weekend got underway around last October.  The team of David ’Captain Fantastic’ Ayerst, Dara ‘Hit the ball harder daddy’ O Flynn, Neal ‘let please’ Murphy, John ‘Bull’ Hurley,  Rob ‘Only man to lose a match’ Staunton and Stevie ‘ Curly’ Richardson knew after last year’s historic first win that the double over England  was on. The phones were ringing and bellys reducing over the next 6 months with everyones eyes on Cardiff and the possible English double and an overall win in the competition between the 4 nations.

The weekend got under way with a very nervy win over Scotland on Friday night. A long day and early flights had everyone just wanting to get to bed with a win. A 4 -1 win over a good Scotland side in the bag. Job done with some tight matches. England were drawn for Saturday morning and now nothing else mattered. First win down, move on.

Saturday morning. Breakfasts were pushed around the plates. Chat was limited. Even the English team could smell the tension. Neutrals called it a 50 /50 match maybe with Ireland slight favourites. Nothing an Irish team likes less than being made favourites against England. ‘Lets just get started, enough of this waiting around………’

First on Neal Murphy against the 6 foot 5 Ginger  Octopus Josh Hargreaves. Josh even made ‘Bull’ Hurley look like a pup. At one game all everyone was twitching in their seats. Josh played a great second game to even it up at 1-1. With a series of well timed lets and lobs Murph pushed through 3 – 1. Tough first one out of the way …. game on lads. A good day for the biblical  ‘Davids’ not the ‘Goliaths’.

Next up Captain fantastic, David  Ayerst, playing Paul Boyle, an ex New Zealand international nationalised to the England team. This was going to be hard, hard going. Absolute blood and guts. All games down to the wire, Boyle really strong and a lovely player.  David dug in on every point matched Boyle for fitness and played his shots all the way through. This was monumental stuff. Beaten by the same player last year, this was a turn around result of last years 3- 1 for David. A real captains performance. For a man of few words he couldn’t be shut up afterward. 2 – 0 in matches. Brilliant stuff.

Next up our Banker match. Stevie ‘Curly’ Richardson against the England legend Jamie Goodrich. This to make it 3 – 0 in matches and seal the deal. Jesus bad start for Stevie, 1- 0 down. Ohhhh nooooo even worse 2 -0 down in games,  with Englands Goodrich looking very strong and confident. Que the usual shifting in seats, nervous looks, not defeat from the jaws of victory, lets not even let the thoughts go there….. England starting to believe  again. Escape to victory sounds in the background !!.    Stevie comes out and in his own inimitable style puts the head down. Famous for his pure raw working squash Stevie turned the match around. After winning a tight, nervy third game the change in body language was evident for all to see. Stevie on the T, Jamie doing court sprints. ‘Lovely Stevie is back to business’. 2-2 and never in doubt. Stevie pushes on and at 3- 2 the teams and audience give a standing ovation to both players  coming off court. Ireland win but more to come…….

Next up Dara o Flynn. On the phone for months talking of close matches with England but never a win, Flynner was mad for road. Playing the England captain and pin up boy John Gliddon this was only going one way. Picked as player of the weekend Flynner came out playing easily his best squash of the year.   Gliddon a really classy player and quick to the front was bullied from the T for the three games by Dara . Everytime things got tight Flynner got the head down and gave Gliddon no hope. A really comprehensive win for flynner and a big punch of the air for his first England win.

Last on Rob ‘only man to lose a watch all weekend’ Staunton (against Scotland).  Playing a really great English player Rob had a brilliant match. At 1-0 down Rob really scrapped and fought to stay in the match. Even at 1-1 McLaughlin was playing super squash. With pure guts Rob sneeked the third with both players exhausted. Rob picked up where he left off and gave a performance of skill and composure to complete the whitewash of the English squash team. 5-0 read it and weep!!!!

Ireland 5 v Wales 0

Ireland beat Wales in a straightforward 5  -0 win to complete the full six nations victory for only the second time in Ireland Squash history.

Let just mayhem on the dance floor, a few renditions of the Irish Rover, and 6 happy Paddys on Sunday. Love it.

Neal Murphy

On the weekend of the 1st/2nd of May saw 4 countries come to Dublin to play in 4 events – ladies O55’s, Mens O75’s, O55’s & O35’s.

The teams from Scotland, England, Wales and hosts Ireland had over 80 masters playing in the 4 events. As usual play was very competitive and of course sporting.

For full results see below

Ladies Over 55

Ire v Eng  Ire v Scot  Ire v Wales  Scot v Eng  Scot v Wales  Wales v Eng

Mens Over 75

Eng v Wales  Ire v Eng  Ire v Scot  Ire v Wales  Scot v Eng  Scot v Wales

Mens Over 55

Eng v Wales  Ire v Eng  Ire v Scot  Ire v Wales  Scot v Eng  Scot v Wales

Mens Over 35

Eng v Wales  Ire v Eng  Ire v Scot  Ire v Wales  Scot v Eng  Scot v Wales

Elvy Da Costa finished training the latest batch of new Irish Squash coaches in Mt. Pleasant last Sunday 3rd May. Congratulations to all those involved and many thanks to Mt. Pleasant for allowing us to host the course there.

Some photos of the action below:

Ireland’s men and women start today in the European Championships in Herning, Denmark.

The men are in a group with Czech and the ladies with England, Wales and Spain.

MENS TEAM – A.Gaskin, B.Byrne, M.Craig, S.Richardson, S.Conroy

WOMENS TEAM – M.Perry, A.Blake, L.Mylotte, C.Moloney

COACHES – Hadrian Stiff & Paul Bell  MANAGERS – Rosie Barry & Ed Dunne

For Live Streaming click HERE

TOURNAMENT WEBSITE

For all results – TOURNAMENT SOFTWARE

MEN

Day 4

So a 2nd in Division 2 and promotion to Division 1 for the men and a bronze medal for the women. – A super European Championships for Irish Squash!!

Ireland – Finland: [2-2]

 

Match overview

Order	Event	Ireland	–	Finland	Score	Points			Duration
1	MS1	Arthur Gaskin	–	Henrik Mustonen	7-11 7-11 5-11	0-1			0:29
2	MS2	Brian O Broin	–	Matias Tuomi	7-11 3-11 11-3 7-11	0-1			0:46
3	MS3	Michael Craig	–	Jaakko Vähämaa	11-6 11-5 8-11	1-0
4	MS4	Sean Conroy	–	Kristian Rautiainen	11-5 5-11 11-9 11-6	1-0			1:19

Day 3

Denmark – Ireland: 2-2 – Ireland win on countback 8-7

Match overview

Order	Event	Denmark	–	Ireland	Score	Points			Duration
1	MS1	Kristian Frost	–	Arthur Gaskin	11-8 7-11 11-5 11-6	1-0			1:02
2	MS2	Rasmus Møller	–	Brian O Broin	11-6 11-7 5-11 11-5	1-0			0:52
3	MS3	Morten Sørensen	–	Michael Craig	7-11 8-11 9-11	0-1			0:50
4	MS4	Thomas Laursen	–	Steve Richardson	11-2 5-11 6-11 2-11	0-1			0:43

 

Day 2

Both IRELAND men and women’s team are into semi finals tomorrow in the European Championships. IRELAND’S  men beat Sweden this afternoon in a quarter final in Division 2 4-0. having gained enough points the 3rd & 4th matches did not have to be completed as IRELAND were through. They now play Denmark in the semi final tomorrow @ 1pm on Court 5/6. Watch it live see link above.

Sweden – Ireland: 0-4

Match overview

Order	Event	Sweden	–	Ireland	Score	Points			Duration
1	MS1	Christian Drakenberg	–	Arthur Gaskin	8-11 3-11 3-11	0-1			0:33
2	MS2	Alex Christenson	–	Brian O Broin	6-11 6-11 6-11	0-1			0:29
3	MS3	Aryan Ahmed	–	Michael Craig	9-11	0-1			0:47
4	MS4	Björn Angtoft	–	Steve Richardson	5-11	0-1			0:38

Czech Republic – Ireland: [1-3]

Match overview

Order	Event	Czech Republic	–	Ireland	Score	Points			Duration
1	MS1	Jan Koukal	–	Arthur Gaskin	11-7 11-9 2-11 0-11 6-11	0-1			1:02
2	MS2	Martin Svec	–	Brian O Broin	6-11 11-4 4-11 9-11	0-1			0:37
3	MS3	Daniel Mekbib	–	Michael Craig	11-9 11-6 11-8	1-0			0:38
4	MS4	Jakub Solnicky	–	Steve Richardson	10-12 11-6 9-11 5-11	0-0			0:45

Standings of Men’s Team Division 2 – Group D

		Points	Played	Won	Draws	Lost	Rubbers			Games			Points
1	Ireland	2	1	1	0	0	3	–	1	9	–	7	149	–	128
2	Czech Republic	0	1	0	0	1	1	–	3	7	–	9	128	–	149

Show draw…

WOMEN