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.

Ireland – Finland: 1-2

Match overview

Order	Event	Ireland	–	Finland	Score	Points			Duration
1	MS1	Michael Craig	–	Kristian Rautiainen	7-11 11-5 11-9 10-12 9-11	0-1
2	MS2	David Ryan	–	Miko Äijänen	9-11 11-8 11-9 11-3	1-0
3	WS	Fiona Power	–	Emilia Soini	2-11 9-11 7-11	0-1

Hungary – Ireland: 2-1

Match overview

Order	Event	Hungary	–	Ireland	Score	Points			Duration
1	MS2	Balázs Farkas	–	David Ryan	11-9 7-11 11-3 11-7	1-0
2	MS1	Lénárd Püski	–	Michael Craig	6-11 4-11 11-7 11-7 13-15	0-1
3	WS	Gabriella Csokasi	–	Griffin Gillanders	8-11 11-5 11-2 11-6	1-0

Israel – Ireland: 1-2

Match overview

Order	Event	Israel	–	Ireland	Score	Points			Duration
1	MS2	Roee Avraham	–	David Ryan	13-11 11-8 5-11 7-11 6-11	0-1
2	MS1	Daniel Poleshchuk	–	Michael Craig	5-11 10-12 11-6 11-7 11-7	1-0
3	WS	Maayan Rosenthal	–	Griffin Gillanders	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.

Ireland – Denmark: 2-1

Match overview

Order	Event	Ireland	–	Denmark	Score	Points			Duration
1	MS1	Michael Craig	–	Thomas Laursen	11-9 11-5 11-4	1-0
2	WS	Fiona Power	–	Mathilde Lauridsen	2-11 2-11 3-11	0-1
3	MS2	Oisin Logan	–	Jens Christian Wegeberg	6-11 11-9 12-10 11-5	1-0

Finland – Ireland: 1-2

Match overview

Order	Event	Finland	–	Ireland	Score	Points			Duration
1	MS1	Jami Äijänen	–	Michael Craig	9-11 7-11 1-11	0-1
2	WS	Emilia Soini	–	Griffin Gillanders	11-2 11-4 11-6	1-0
3	MS2	Kristian Rautiainen	–	David Ryan	11-9 11-6 7-11 7-11 10-12	0-1

Current state of play:

Current matches

	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/

• 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

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

Www.gltc.ie

Www.garavansbar.ie

Www.psaworldtour.com  

Andre Davies West of Ireland Tournament Director.

Last weekend saw  the start of the Under 19 individual and team championships. David Ryan was the sole Irish representative in the individual event.

David finished 5th in the U/19 European Individuals Championships, losing only to Angus Gillams, No: 2 seed. David seeded 5/6, played Petr Zatrepalek [25/32] in the first round winning 3/1. He then took on Finland No:1 player Jami Äijänen [13/16] winning 3/1 again and going forward to play the No:2 seed Angus Gillams from England. David lost this match in a tight 3/0 on the Glass Court and it was obvious that our players need more experience on the Glass courts.

He was now playing off for 5th – 8th Places. His next opponent was Baptiste Masotti [9/12] of France, which he won 11-311-96-1111-6 and his final match of the Tournament was against French No:1 Auguste Dussourd [7/8] who he lost to in the French Junior Open. David played excellent Squash on the Glass Clout having taken time to practice on it earlier that day.

Losing only one of 5 matches is a great result.  The U/19 European Squash Championships starts on Wednesday 16th April with the team consisting of Fiona Power, Griffin Gillanders, Michael Craig, Oisin Logan and David Ryan representing Ireland.

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Ireland who are 5th seeds, are in a pool with Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and Turkey. The first match was an easy 3-0 vs. Turkey. Finland who are seeded 4th are the team to beat in the pool for Ireland to advance to the semi finals. They play each other on Friday at 1.30pm Irish time on the glass court.

In their 2nd match Ireland beat Switzerland 2-1 on Thursday afternoon. Oisin Logan and Michael Craig had 3-0 victories but unfortunatly Griffin Gillanders lost her match 3-0.

The next match is vs. Finland on Good Friday afternoon while they play Denmark on Friday evening.

Ireland – Turkey: 3-0

Match overview

Order	Event	Ireland	–	Turkey	Score	Points			Duration
1	WS	Fiona Power	–	Büsra Dokgöz	11-3 11-3 11-2	1-0
2	MS1	Michael Craig	–	Ergin Yörükoglu	11-1 11-2 11-1	1-0
3	MS2	Oisin Logan	–	Ahmet Uğurlu	11-3 11-0 11-5	1-0

Ireland – Switzerland: 2-1

Match overview

Order	Event	Ireland	–	Switzerland	Score	Points			Duration
1	WS	Griffin Gillanders	–	Céline Walser	5-11 4-11 9-11	0-1
2	MS1	Michael Craig	–	Dimitri Steinmann	11-7 11-9 11-5	1-0
3	MS2	Oisin Logan	–	Dennis Grüter	13-11 11-5 11-9	1-0

The Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014 Facebook page

Dublin’s premier squash event – the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014 – are beginning on April 23rd, boasting a plethora of great international and Irish squash professionals! With only a few more days to go, we are happy to announce a couple of ways through which you can stay up to date on the latest news and information all around the upcoming Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014 Squash tourney. While we’ll be posting a daily report on this very website, we’ll also be spreading the word (as well as photos, links, and other tidbits) via these channels:

+ Facebook

+ Twitter

+ Google+

+ Squashsite.co.uk

+ Live Aertv.ie streaming 

We’d love to gather a bit of a following, so please help us by sharing these resources. And don’t forget, we will be providing live streams on aertv.ie, including live commentary! – Dan Z.

The Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014 Facebook page

Dublin’s premier squash event – the Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014 – are beginning on April 23rd, boasting a plethora of great international and Irish squash professionals! With only a few more days to go, we are happy to announce a couple of ways through which you can stay up to date on the latest news and information all around the upcoming Cannon Kirk Homes Irish Open 2014 Squash tourney. While we’ll be posting a daily report on this very website, we’ll also be spreading the word (as well as photos, links, and other tidbits) via these channels:

+ Facebook

+ Twitter

+ Google+

+ Squashsite.co.uk

+ Live Aertv.ie streaming 

We’d love to gather a bit of a following, so please help us by sharing these resources. And don’t forget, we will be providing live streams on aertv.ie, including live commentary! – Dan Z.

Thanks to Trinity College Squash Club – 37 children from City Quay got a taste for Squash thanks to the hard work and efforts of Elvy Da Costa and his team of six Trinity student coaches who volunteered their time and squash skills over the past 8 weeks to help teach 37 children from City Quay 5th and 6th classes the foundations of Squash.

This was a group of fifth and sixth class primary school children who have been getting squash coaching at TCD. Elvy Da Costa with the help of six Trinity students has given them a great grounding in the sport teaching all sorts of ball skills as well as how to score and ref the game. Elvy was recently voted Trinity Coach of the Year beating stiff competition across a wide range of sports.

‘Watching the coaches playing was a great experience for them,’ their teacher said. ‘They saw how to implement the skills which they were learning’.

These children are now leaving Primary School and may not get another chance to play squash for years to come, but having had such an excellent grounding at a very impressionable age there is a good chance that some of them will come back to it in the future.

This is a great initiative and a great credit to all those involved. Irish Squash are keen to see similar programs run in other Universities and Colleges throughout Ireland so that squash is exposed to a wider audience. If you think you could help in organising such a program – please e-mail the Irish Squash office at [email protected]

[nggallery id=40]

On Saturday 5th April  the All Ireland Club finals took place at Sutton LTC, Dublin. Organised by Ed Dunne & Eoin Ryan there were some great matches played.

In the morning Fitzwilliam played Leinster CC where despite Derek Ryan losing to Mike Harris Fitzwilliam won to get through to the final where they played the host club Sutton.

Fitwzwilliam came through to win the club championship again for 2014.

The event was Live Streamed on IRISH SQUASH TV HERE and matches will be available to view shortly  – http://sportslive.aertv.ie/video/?bctid=3426757432001

ALL IRELAND CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS – SATURDAY 5th APRIL 2014

The weekend of 28th – 30th March 2014 saw the 5 Nations international between the top Under 13 & 15 players from Ireland, France, Wales, England & Scotland played.

Ireland had a super silver medal in the Under 13s and a very credible bronze in the Under 15s. The Under 13’s team (pictured on the right) of Conor Moran, Sam Buckley, Gavin L’Estrange, Hugh Tobin, Emma McGugan, Katherine Bolger & Roisin Kirwan had 3 great wins over Wales, Scotland and France, 3-2 in all matches.

The under 15’s had 2 good wins over Wales and Scotland. The team(pictured below) was: Scott Gillanders, Stephen Hearst, Sean Dineen, Ryan Kelly, Ellie McVeigh, Sophie O’Rourke & Victoria White.

The matches were being played in Mount Pleasant where Ireland played all their matches and also in Leinster CC

FOR GALLERY OF PHOTOS OF THE WEEKEND

KINDLY TAKEN BY HENRY GILLANDERS SEE BELOW

FULL RESULTS