Olivia Blatchfor, the young American who beat Madeline Perry in five close games
On a day that started with three Irish players in the men and women’s draws, Arthur Gaskin was the only one to stay in contention of a title. The Carlow man held off his steely opponent Mark Fuller in a tight 3:1 encounter, and was delighted to win a tense tie-break in the fourth. Arthur has now reached the semi-finals for the first time, and faces number four seed of Scotland Alan Clyne. Asked about his opposition, Alan Clyne, who had a battled out a tough five-setter against countryman Greg Lobban, said: “I played Arthur before, last time here at this tournament and it went to five. Unfortunately for me, he always tends to play really well in front of a home crowd!” With almost fifty places between the ranking Clyne will go in the clear favourite, but Gaskin will give it his best shot come 6pm tomorrow.
It was a bad day for the Irish women, with both Madeline Perry and Aisling Blake losing in five games. Madeline Perry found herself 2:0 down against her tricky opponent Olivia Blatchford, and despite leveling the match at 2:2, lost the decider 11:8. Olivia surpised everyone, including Madeline, with some outrageous drops from all over the court: “I did have a game plan to begin with: I watched Madeline play Laura Massaro on SquashTV earlier today, and kind of looked for patterns. Madeline is a great attacker, so i really wanted to be the first to attack, to prevent her from attacking me!” The likeable American now faces Nouran Gohar of Egypt, who swept away her countrywoman Yathreb Adel in three games. Fact of the day: Olivia’s opponent Nouran is five years her junior – and Olivia is only 21!
Nouran Gohar and Yathreb Adel - teenage Egyptian Squash phenomenons
With Madeline Perry out of the tournament it was up to Aisling Blake to keep hopes alive, but her opponent Tesni Evans of Wales dug deep to recover from 0:2 games down, to win not only the third and fourth game, but the fifth decisively 11:3. The match was neck and neck throughout and Aisling held matchball in the third, but Tesni’s perseverance paid off. She now faces number two seed Sarah Kippax, who beat Lucie Fialova of the Czech Republic 3:1.
Matches start at 5pm tomorrow, as always streamed on aertv.ie!
Arthur Gaskin, slightly more relaxed than during his match.
In the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014 75% of the Irish contingent made it through to tomorrow’s quarterfinals. The day started brightly with Carlowman Arthur Gaskin making his way past Scot Douglas Kempsell in an epic 3:2 encounter. Arthur went 2:0 up playing to his strengths, but lost his length and his focus. The fifth was touch and go, but Arthur prevailed: “He also really hung in there and made things tough for me, but luckily I found my length again in the fifthh, and got a really good start as well.” Gaskin faces qualifier Mark Fuller next, after Fuller’s opponent and top seed Tom Richards pulled out injured midway through the first game. “Last year I got to the quarters too, so this year I am obviously hoping to do one better. Though Mark Fuller is a great player, a real seasoned professional who will give anyone a tough game.” Arthur’s match is on at 3pm tomorrow, and will be streamed live on aertv.ie.
Aisling Blake, just after beating Sarah Cardwell 3:0
Irish number one and two, Madeline Perry and Aisling Blake, also overcame their opposition with slightly less trouble than Gaskin. Perry beat qualifier Falcione of Argentina in straight games, conceding only 11 points while doing. Perry faces talented American Olivia Blatchford, who beat the umber seven seed Camilleri 3:0. Aisling Blake, Ireland’s number two, also recorded a 3:0 game, but had her work cut out against Australian Sarah Cardwell.
“Yep, that was a tough 3:0, that puts it pretty well. Sarah used to train in Amsterdam so I know her from there (Aisling is based in Amsterdam), and she has improved a lot since. She has great coverage and is very quick, so you need to find the corners against her.” Blake faces Tesni Evans, the Welsh player who is just behind Aisling in the world ranking and the event’s number five seed. “We played each other in Orange County last year and I lost in five, but tomorrow is a new day. Also, we are playing on the center court tomorrow in front of a home crowd, so I am looking forward to the match!” Madeline’s match will be on at approximately 6pm, while Aisling is on at 8pm – both live on aertv.ie.
Lastly, yesterday’s hero Bryan Byrne lost to number three seed Ryan Cuskelly, who was too strong for Ireland’s number two. Byrne was close to winning the fourth, but ultimately the Australian, a world top 50 player, was too strong. Bryan had a great run though and will be supporting his Irish compatriots throughout the rest of the tournament. Dan Z.
Some photos taken during the recent European U19 Championships in Finland.
The 2014 Irish Open is streaming live for the full time of the event from Wednesday 2pm – 9pm, Thursday 2pm – 9pm, Friday 5pm – 9pm and for the Womens final @ 3pm and the Mens final @ 4pm. Go to http://sportslive.aertv.ie/video/?bctid=3495352511001
There will be full commentary with Dan Zilic and other guest commentators.
There are 4 Irish players in the main draw – Brian Byrne who made it through the qualifiers and plays no. 3 seed Ryan Cuskelly from Australia at 7pm on Wed and Arthur Gaskin who plays qualifier Doug Kempsell from Scotland at 3pm. In the Womens event No. 1 seed Madeline Perry plays Antonelle Falcione from Argentina with Aisling Blake playing Australian Sarah Cardwell.
There is a vacancy for a Club Development Officer within Ulster Squash. See job description and application form below.
Job Description http://www.irishsquash.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/2014-Club-Development-Officer-Job-Description.docx
Application Form http://www.irishsquash.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/2014-Development-Officer-Application-Form.doc
JOB TITLE Club Development & Coaching Officer
REPORTS TO Director of Development
JOB BASED Northern Ireland
OVERALL PURPOSE Increase the number of players participating in Ulster Squash Programmes and Club competitions
Background
Ulster Squash is the governing body for the sport of squash in Northern Ireland. As part of our ongoing strategic development in partnership with SportNI, we wish to appoint a Club Development & Coaching Officer with responsibility to develop squash with clubs and schools, including the continuation of an Ulster Squash Clubmark scheme.
Birgit Coufal makes the main draw thanks to some vociferous support from fellow Austrian Jakob Dirnberger
On the second day of the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014 the crowd were treated to some exciting qualifying finals. Birgit Coufal of Austria had the honour of kickstarting proceedings with a superb match against Victoria Temple Murray of England. Temple Murray is a tough customer hitting tight crisp shots, but Birgit outwitted her younger opponent with her varied game of drops and flicks. She also said that it helped having some home support in form of Jakob Dirnberger, who supported and coached her throughout her 3:2 victory. The following matches remained at a very high quality, with Tamika Saxby of Australia beating young German Franziska Hennes 3:0, and then Carrie Ramsey of England beating Anna Kilmundokcva of the Czech Republic three games to one. Argentinian Antonella Falcone rounded the day of with a convincing 3:0 victory over Chloe Mesic of France. Looking at the quality on display today it was no wonder that the Irish locals had lost in yesterday’s matches, though they gave a good account of themselves and we were thankful for the ladies making their way down to compete. In particular Griffin Gilanders and Fiona Powers had to come straight from the airport following the European junior team Championships in Finland. While the young girls had their work cut out against strong opposition, we look forward to seeing them come back stronger next year.
In the men’s field local lad Sean Conroy began the day against Douglas Kempsellof Scotland. Sean fought
Today's hero Bryan Byrne, backed in the background by Spaniard Carlos Cornes
valiantly and took the second game thanks to a change of tactics, varying the pace more and using better height (Derek Ryan was in Sean’s corner). The third and fourth were hard fought and Kempsell looked nervous, but he ultimately pulled through 3:1. While Sean was disappointed with the loss, he was happy to have given the good crowd plenty of reason the cheer. Ireland’s number one Arthur Gaskin faces Kempsell tomorrow at 3pm. Next match between Mark Fuller and Steven London was more straight forward, with Mark emplyoing the lob and boast to great effect, finally frustrating his opponent sufficiently and wrapping up the match 3:0. He faces top seed Tom Richards tomorrow. Young Spaniard Carlos Cornes was the next to qualify for the main draw, beating the young Belgian van de Herrwegen 3:0, after a tight tie-break in the first game. The last match was the most dramatic of the day, with Bryan Byrne, who retired from professional Squash some eight years ago, overcame all odds by beating Tom de Mulder of Belgium in five exciting games by three games to two. Byrne’s mobility and quickness were the key here, and he retrieved shot after shot, oftentimes balls the crowd had given up long ago. Byrne faces Australian Ryan Cuskelly at 6pm tomorrow evening.
The busy day begins early tomorrow at 2pm, with all men’s matches being streamed live on aertv.ie. From Thursday on both women’s and men’s matches will be streamed – lets hope there’ll still be some reason to cheer on the Irish then! Admission is, as always, free! Dan Z.
Sean Conroy, one of two Irish heroes on Monday
The two qualifying round of the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014 began on Monday at 2pm in Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club. Professionals in both the men and women events battle it out for the eight open spaces in the main draw, with some local players mixed in. Now normally the locals have a tough time playing full-time professionals, oftentimes not used to the pace and skill level professional players have to offer. This was true for the women: neither Griffin Gilanders, nor Ciara Moloney, Fiona Power or Jody Hannon were able to trouble their opponents, all losing out in less than twenty minutes each. As a matter of fact: of seven matches, only one crossed the twenty minute mark.
The men’s event was a different story though, with Sean Conroy, currently ranked 261 in the world and playing his first year on the professional tour, beating seasoned pro Jakob Dirnberger (world number 220, Austria) in straight games.
“The rallies at the beginning of each game were really tough, but luckily I was able to keep the pressure up, and Jakob tired slightly towards the end of each game. I am really delighted, especially since I was a bit disappointed with my performance in the qualifying round last week in Galway, where I lost to Anthony Brindle 3:1.”
Sean faces the highest ranked player in the qualifying event, Douglas Kempsell of Scotland, the world number 125.
“I have never played him gut he looks like a very strong and steady player. But I hope I can repeat today’s perfomance with some good local support!”
Sean kicks proceedings off tomorrow at 2pm on Fitzwilliam’s center court. Connor O’Hare, who recently qualified for the Irish national team for the European Team Championships, showed a gritty performance against Belgain Jan vd Herrewegen, but ultimated lost 0:3, despite extending two games to tie-breaks.
Last on court was Bryan Byrne, who will have been very happy beating Englishman Reuben Phillips, world number 132, by three games to two. Bryan has had some busy squash days recently: he played the qualifying event in Galways, as well as the Irish tour event (where he finished second to John Rooney). Inbetween he had some quality training sessions with Irish number one Arthur Gaskin that seem to have paid off, for what amounts to one of Bryan’s best wins in recent times. Byrne, also a national team player, faces de Mulder of Belgium tomorrow, who won a thrilling yet borderline ugly encounter against Joe Green of England, also 3:2.
Men and women kick off tomorrow at 2pm – fingers crossed that one of the Irish lads can repeat today’s heroics and qualify for the main draw! Dan Z.
Ireland finish in a credible 6th place at the U19 European Team Championships after losing 2-1 to Finland in the 5/6 play-off. Over the last few days Ireland had impressive victories over Finland, Turkey, Switzerland and Norway to win their group stage to enter the last eight, unfortunately a 2-1 defeat to Hungry in the quarter finals had us playing for 5th place. We had Israel in the first tie of 5/8 play-off to set up the return match against Finland.
The result is a major improvement on previous years, however we were aiming for a top 4 finish. It is amazing to think that most members of this strong Irish team will be available to participate in this competition again next year where a top 4 finish must be a real possibility.
– 
Finland: 1-2| Time: | Sun 20/04/2014 12:30 |
|---|---|
| Draw: | Under 19 Team – Under 19 Team 1-8 |
| Score: | 1-2 |
| Order | Event | Ireland |
– | Finland |
Score | Points | Duration | ||||||
| 1 | MS1 |
|
– |
|
7-11 11-5 11-9 10-12 9-11 | 0-1 | |||||||
| 2 | MS2 |
|
– |
|
9-11 11-8 11-9 11-3 | 1-0 | |||||||
| 3 | WS |
|
– |
|
2-11 9-11 7-11 | 0-1 |
– Ireland: 2-1| Time: | Sat 19/04/2014 10:00 |
|---|---|
| Draw: | Under 19 Team – Under 19 Team 1-8 |
| Score: | 2-1 |
| Order | Event | Hungary |
– | Ireland |
Score | Points | Duration | ||||||
| 1 | MS2 |
|
– |
|
11-9 7-11 11-3 11-7 | 1-0 | |||||||
| 2 | MS1 |
|
– |
|
6-11 4-11 11-7 11-7 13-15 | 0-1 | |||||||
| 3 | WS |
|
– |
|
8-11 11-5 11-2 11-6 | 1-0 |
– Ireland: 1-2| Time: | Sat 19/04/2014 15:00 |
|---|---|
| Draw: | Under 19 Team – Under 19 Team 1-8 |
| Score: | 1-2 |
| Order | Event | Israel |
– | Ireland |
Score | Points | Duration | ||||||
| 1 | MS2 |
|
– |
|
13-11 11-8 5-11 7-11 6-11 | 0-1 | |||||||
| 2 | MS1 |
|
– |
|
5-11 10-12 11-6 11-7 11-7 | 1-0 | |||||||
| 3 | WS |
|
– |
|
2-11 2-11 3-11 | 0-1 |
Ireland beat Finland and Denmark in the European U19 Championships in Finland – With the victory over 4th seeds and host nation Finland we win our current group. – click here to watch streamed matches.
– 
Denmark: 2-1| Time: | Fri 18/04/2014 19:00 |
|---|---|
| Draw: | Under 19 Team – Pool D |
| Score: | 2-1 |
| Order | Event | Ireland |
– | Denmark |
Score | Points | Duration | ||||||
| 1 | MS1 |
|
– |
|
11-9 11-5 11-4 | 1-0 | |||||||
| 2 | WS |
|
– |
|
2-11 2-11 3-11 | 0-1 | |||||||
| 3 | MS2 |
|
– |
|
6-11 11-9 12-10 11-5 | 1-0 |
– Ireland: 1-2| Time: | Fri 18/04/2014 14:30 |
|---|---|
| Draw: | Under 19 Team – Pool D |
| Score: | 1-2 |
| Order | Event | Finland |
– | Ireland |
Score | Points | Duration | ||||||
| 1 | MS1 |
|
– |
|
9-11 7-11 1-11 | 0-1 | |||||||
| 2 | WS |
|
– |
|
11-2 11-4 11-6 | 1-0 | |||||||
| 3 | MS2 |
|
– |
|
11-9 11-6 7-11 7-11 10-12 | 0-1 |
| Time | Draw | Home | – | Away | Score | |
| Thu 17/04/2014 10:00 | Under 19 Team – Pool D | Ireland [5] |
– |  Turkey [20] |
3-0 | |
| Thu 17/04/2014 17:00 | Under 19 Team – Pool D | Ireland [5] |
– |  Switzerland [12] |
2-1 | |
| Fri 18/04/2014 14:30 | Under 19 Team – Pool D | Finland [4] |
– | Ireland [5] |
1-2 | |
| Fri 18/04/2014 19:00 | Under 19 Team – Pool D | Ireland [5] |
– | Denmark [13] |
Watch the Garavan’s ‘Paddy Whack Walsh’ West of Ireland Open Squash Championships Live!
http://sportslive.aertv.ie/broadcasters/irishsquash/
Read Arthur Curran’s riveting accounts of the matches here.
PSA draw and results available here.
Galway Lawn Tennis Club will again be playing host to this year’s ‘Paddy Whack Walsh’ West of Ireland Open Squash Championships. The club is preparing for what promises to be a really exciting tournament with some of the best professional squash players coming to the west of Ireland to compete for the coveted west of Ireland trophy.
For the first time the event will be streamed live on IRISH SQUASH TV HERE: http://sportslive.aertv.ie/broadcasters/irishsquash/
The event is again sponsored by Garavan’s Bar. Our sole sponsor has supported the event for many years and is the only reason why the event can go ahead. It is one of only two events that sees professional squash players compete on these shores. GLTC is extremely grateful to Paul Garavan of Garavan’s Bar for his incredible support.
This year is going to be particularly exciting. As the event continues to grow we are seeing players with higher and higher rankings come to play the event which is a huge compliment to us at GLTC. This year’s number 1 seed is Ryan Cuskelly from Australia who has a world ranking of 36! He is scheduled to meet Alan Clyne in the final if all goes to plan. Clyne, the number 2 seed from Scotland has played and won the event before. It’s always great to see past champions re-visit the club to compete again. However it’s not all written in stone, thinking back to last year’s event, the top seeds went out in round one which is nearly unheard of so anything can happen. All in all it should be a really exciting event. The first round of qualification kicks off on Tuesday 15th April. Another exciting bit of news this year is that local boy John Rooney is making a very welcome return to Galway and this event. Although not on the PSA scene currently John rose to an impressive world ranking of 52 in his prime and won this tournament in 2007 and was national champion in 2009 & 2010. He is currently playing and coaching in Buffalo USA and is going to be a real threat and certainly going to be getting a lot of support from the locals who will be hoping for an upset I’m sure. Please try and get down to the event to give John your support.
As far as other Irish contenders are concerned we have Arthur Gaskin in the main draw. Gaskin had a terrible time last year when he had to withdraw due to illness so I’m sure he’ll be keen to give a better account of himself this year. Sean Conroy from Dublin who is training and playing full time as a PSA player now has made the qualification draw so hopefully he can do well and qualify for the main draw too. We also have Keith Moran from Sligo and Brian Byrne from Claremorris competing in the ‘local spot’ positions so good luck to them too!
The schedule for the event is as follows: Tuesday 15th April: first round qualification Wednesday 16th April: final round qualification Thursday 17th April: main draw first round Friday 18th April: PSA quarter finals and first round for the graded events Saturday 19th April: PSA semi finals with second day for the graded events Sunday 20th April: PSA and graded finals day.
For tournament entry and information see here: http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=892EFAEC-4469-4A88-8418-2E3E8CFE3F76
LINKS
Andre Davies West of Ireland Tournament Director.
