The Senior Interprovincials were played out on Saturday 22^nd February at ALSAA in Dublin, with teams competing in Mens A and B from Leinster, Ulster and Munster. The winners of the Mens A were Leinster captained by Kevin Moore along with Oisin Logan, Pat Morrissey, Cillian Dunne and Ronan Peyton. The winners of the Mens B were Ulster whose team included Steven McAteer, Peter McNiece, Martin O’Neil, Michael McElroy and Ashley Black. Unfortunately Connacht were unable to field teams and there was no womens competition.

The 4 court venue proved very popular with both players and organisers alike allowing everyone to easily keep in touch with all the matches as they progressed.

The results of the matches were as follows:

Mens A

Match 1 – Leinster A 3-2 Ulster A

Match 2 – Munster A 3-2 Ulster A

Match 3 – Leinster A 5-0 Munster A

Mens B

Match 1 – Ulster B 3-2 Leinster B

Match 2 – Munster B 3-2 Leinster B

Match 3 – Ulster B 4-1 Munster B

SCHEDUELE OF PLAY

LEINSTER

A TEAM

 Kevin Moore

Oisin Logan

Pat Morrissey

Cillian Dunne

Ronan Peyton

Paul Byrne

B TEAM

Howard Gill

Philip Coleman

David Buxonat

Oisin Dunne

Kevin Ronan

Robert Fay

MUNSTER

 A TEAM

Jaime Balbuena

Johnny Hurley

Clive Morgan

Philip McSweeney

Dave Knox

B TEAM

Ken O’Keeffe

Conor O’Donoghue

Ray Crowley

Aidan McDonnell

Francis Power

Mark Furlong

ULSTER

A TEAM

M Craig

D Waring

N Pollock

J Hastings

C O’Kane

D Leeson (reserve)

B TEAM

A Megaw

M Gilliland

M McIlroy

S McAteer

P McNeice

A Black (reserve)

Interprovincial Scoring:  According to Irish Squash Tournament Rules, the Championship shall be decided as follows:

• · Firstly by:    Number of ties won (Connacht V Munster = ‘Tie).  Beat all other provinces and you win!

• · If equal, then by :  No. of Matches won plus bonus of 3 (No. 1 v No. 1 = ‘Match’)

• · If equal, then by:  Positive difference between games won and lost (No. 1 v No. 1 score of 3-1 gives a positive difference of 2)

• · If equal, then by: The result between the teams involved.

• · Order of play 5, 4, 1, 3, 2.

This years Squash Intervarsity Competition was  hosted by University College Cork (UCC) on the 21st and 22nd February 2014.

There are 18 Irish players playing in the French Junior Open being played in Lille from the 20th – 23rd February.

To view 1st round matches see here – http://www.irishsquash.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/French-Junior-Open-First-Matches-2014.xls

GOOD LUCK TO THEM ALL!

Mount Pleasant Men’s A Final – Derek Ryan vs. Michael Craig

14^th-15^th February 2014

                                                                  at the Belfast Boat Club

Tournament Director: Michele Jackson            Tournament Referee: Frank Marks    

The 2014 Ulster Masters took place the weekend of 14/15th February in Belfast Boat Club. With an entry of nearly 70 players in 11 events, there was some  some great masters squash over the 2 days. For the first time from Ulster,  Irish Squash TV streamed live. However we had broadband difficulties so only were able to stream half the play on the Saturday.  The matches are up on Irish Squash TV for viewing on demand so make sure to log on and look back at some of the matches – http://sportslive.aertv.ie/

For all the results and winners see here –

 http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=A6CCF685-CD52-4E7F-BC27-16A9ADF79A37

Irish Squash Federation Ltd

This weekend saw the highlight of the domestic Junior calendar with the playing of the Junior Nationals. There were events from U11 to U19 for both boys and girls. Dermot Dineen and his committee did a superb job with over 90 players taking part.

Madeline Perry - through to another final

RESULTS: Women’s Tub O’Towels Cleveland Classic, Pepper Pike, Ohio, USA

1st round:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [Q] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) 11-2, 11-8, 11-3 (40m)
[5] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [Q] Sarah Kippax (ENG) 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 (54m)
[3] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt Kasey Brown (AUS) 11-8, 10-12, 11-5, 11-7 (40m)
[Q] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [6] Joelle King (NZL) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5 (30m)
Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY) bt [8] Low Wee Wern (MAS) 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8 (49m)
[4] Alison Waters (ENG) bt Dipika Pallikal (IND) 12-10, 11-4, 11-9 (35m)
[Q] Annie Au (HKG) bt [7] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) 11-5, 11-9, 11-3 (30m)
[2] Laura Massaro (ENG) bt Madeline Perry (IRL) 15-17, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5

The last match of the night went the full distance when England’s No2 seed Laura Massaro twice had to come from behind to see off Irish rival Madeline Perry 15-17, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5, 11-5.

“I am just happy to get through that match as it was a tough first round for me to have,” said Massaro, the world No2 from Preston. “Madeline is a very tough competitor!”

Perry, the 14 times Irish champion and a Cleveland Classic semi-finalist for the past three years, said: “It is a shame because I played well all though the match but I came off the pace a little in the last two games. Laura played a great match.”

Qualifiers Nour El Tayeb and Annie Au produced sensational upsets in the opening round of the Women’s Tub O’Towels Cleveland Classic to claim unexpected places in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Squash Association Gold 50 event celebrating its fourth year at Cleveland Racquet Club in Pepper Pike, Ohio, USA.

Egyptian El Tayeb, the former world junior champion making her debut in Cleveland, brushed aside sixth-seeded New Zealander Joelle King 11-6, 11-6, 11-5.

“El Tayeb played a fantastic match, being aggressive and retrieving really well,” reported tournament director Joe Russell, the club’s Director of Squash. “She was not making any errors and was anticipating much of King’s shots. King did not have a great match. She did not seem comfortable on the court making errors on easy shots.”

Au, the reigning Asian champion from Hong Kong, took on No7 seed Jenny Duncalf, the former world No2 from England who held an unbeaten 2/0 Tour head-to-head record over the 24-year-old.

The Hong Kong number one despatched Duncalf in straight games, winning 11-5, 11-9, 11-3 to achieve her career breakthrough.

“Au (pictured above) was very good today at slowing the pace down and lobbing the ball into the back corners,” explained Russell. “It was clearly giving Duncalf trouble. Duncalf was down 9-5 in the second game and it looked like she was about to gain control of the match. However, Au had enough of a cushion to take the game 11-9. The third game was all Au as she cruised to the 3/0 victory.”

Top seed Nicol David, the world number one from Malaysia expected to reach the final for the fourth year in a row, was in sparkling form as she defeated Nour El Sherbini – the second Egyptian qualifier in the draw – 11-2, 11-8, 11-3.

“She was very methodical, moving the ball on court, not making any errors,” said Russell. “Nicol’s only scare was in game two, when she went down 7-2, before storming back to take the game 11-8.”

There was further unexpected Egyptian success when unseeded Omneya Abdel Kawy ousted Malaysia’s No8 seed Low Wee Wern 11-4, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8.

Quarter-final line-up:
[1] Nicol David (MAS) v [5] Camille Serme (FRA)
[3] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [Q] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
[4] Alison Waters (ENG) v Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY)
[2] Laura Massaro (ENG) v [Q] Annie Au (HKG)

The Boys under 19 panel have been fundraising for the last few weeks where they were selling tickets to a draw for 2 tickets for the Ireland v Wales 6 Nations match taking place on February 8th at Lansdowne Road.

The draw took place on Sunday 2nd February in Sutton LTC. The draw was made by Patrick Murray of Leinster Squash and the winner of the 2 tickets is Bernard McSweeney from Cork.

Irish Squash and the fundraising committee would like to thank all the people who gave their support to this fundraising effort.

The World U19 team championships take place next August in Namibia so with such an expensive trip this fundraising is invaluable.

So THANK YOU ALL AGAIN and well done to all the squad members who sold all the tickets.

Entry form for Dutch Junior Open here – http://www.europeansquash.com/juniors/junior-calendar/details/314-dutch-junior-open-2014-ss.html