Masters Interprovincial Championships 2013:
This tournament was run-off at Highfield and Sunday’s Well on Friday & Saturday 12th/13th April. There were some very close ties and all provinces had opportunities to win their events. Many thanks to the clubs for their help in staging this season’s championships and to Masters’ Secretary Martin McDonnell and Tournament Director, Eamonn O’Keeffe for organising another very successful tournament.
Ulster won the Ladies Over 40 and Over 50 with Leinster runners up in both. Ulster Won the Mens Over 45 again with Leinster Runners up. Great competition in this event with Munster losing narrowly 3 2 to both Ulster and Leinster . and Ulster beating Leinster 3 2 in the decider. Mens Over 55 was won by Connacht who stopped Munster from completing four in a row . A great win for Pat Hanley over Donal Coughlan levelled the match at 2 all Alf Kavanagh played the decider against Michael Conlon and saved 2 match balls in the 3rd and again in the 4th. Alf won the 5th to secure an historic win for Connacht. Mens Over 65 was won by Leinster ( Ciaran Roche, Seamus Daly and Colm Andrews) with Munster runners up.
Leinster O45 Team Pipped at the Post (by Tom Crowe)
First up was Connacht on Friday night, and Leinster registered a straight sets victory over the Westerners. Meanwhile, Munster and Ulster were battling hard for a first round victory which went down to the final hard fought match between George Hewitt (Ulster) and Tony Maher (Munster), with George Hewitt winning out on a 3-2 scoreline.
Leinster faced their southern opponents first thing on Saturday morning and when Karam Singh and Tom Crowe won the first two matches, the team were well set up for victory. Eddie Murphy (Munster) proved too strong for Dave Flynn at number one but the deal was sealed when Dave Borton(Leinster) had a superb victory over Kevin O Rourke (3-0). This was an impressive showing by Dave Borton who seemed to have the stronger hand all through, impressively volleying any wayward shots by his opponent and never letting up even when approaching the finishing line in the third game. In the final game, Kevin Ronan (Leinster) fought gamely but was ultimately beaten by the shot making and experience of Tony Maher (3-1).
So it was all down to the final match-up between Leinster and Ulster for the honours. Karam Singh (Leinster) started proceedings with a capable (3-0) victory in the first match. Tom Crowe was next up for Leinster against John Mc Keagh. John won the first set exhibiting some deep drives into the back corners. Tom came back and won the second with some more assertive drives to the back mixed with some good drops to the front. The Ulster man appeared to be tiring at this stage. Not to be, however, because victory was sealed for Ulster in this match with John winning the next two hard fought matches. One-all and all to play for. Dave Flynn(Leinster) matched up against Shaun McKee in the third match and from the get-go, seemed to struggle with the pace put on the ball by Shaun who continually drove hard and low to the side walls near the back corners. The Ulster man won the first two games convincingly and a 3-0 score seemed on the cards. But credit to Dave Flynn who upped his game and pulled one back in the third. A determined push by Shaun in the last, saw him get through to a 3-1 win. The next match between Dave Borton and Mike Ellis was eagerly anticipated, especially as Mike Ellis had a very good win over Kevin O Rourke the night before. But Dave Borton continued the impressive form of earlier matches and executed his game plan extremely well, not giving his opponent any opportunity to showcase his deft back-hand drop and dealing very comfortable with the high lobbing game of the Ulster man. Dave secured a 3-0 victory and with the score in matches now at 2-2, it was all down to the final battle between Kevin Ronan (Leinster) and George Hewitt. The form book didn’t favour Kevin as he had lost to Tony Maher on a 3-1 score-line and George had beaten the same player 3-2. And so it proved to be – Kevin as always and to his credit, gave it everything he had but the Ulster man proved too strong, registering a win and the Interpro honours.
Congrats to Ulster and well done to Leinster who came so close.
OVERALL RESULTS
LADIES
Over 40 – Winner Ulster/Runner Up Leinster
Over 50 – Winner Ulster/Runner Up Leinster
MENS
Over 45 – Winner Ulster/Runner Up Leinster
Over 55 – Winner Connacht/Runner Up Munster
Over 65 – Winner Leinster/Runner Up Munster
Panels in Alphbetical order
Munster
Men’s over 45
J.Dineen. T.Maher. E.Murphy. C.O’Neill. K.O’Rourke B.O’Sullivan. G.Wales.
Men’s Over 55
M.Conlon. D.Coughlan. H.Laaksonen. D.MC Carthy. M.McDonnell. J.MC Sweeney. M.Mulhall. J.O Callaghan. E.O’Keeffe . N.O’Sullivan
Men’s Over 65
J.Donovan. N.Murphy. T.Murphy. B.Ryan. J. Whelan.
Ladies Over 40
M. Collins. C.Cullen. C.Jones. D.Reardon. A.N Other.
Ladies Over 50
A.Grey. E.Healy. B.Murray. C.O’Sullivan. D.Reardon.
Ulster
Men’s Over 45
M.Ellis. G.Hewitt. D.Lorimour. P.McCrisken. S.McKee. A.N.Other.
Men’s Over 55
B.Burke. J.Campbell. S.Campbell. D.Connory. D.Early. R.McIlroy.
Men’s Over 65
H.Cullen. C.Gilmore. J.MCBRide. M.Evans.
Ladies Over 40
S. Abernathy. C.Coyle. M.Jackson.
Ladies Over 50
R.Coates. M. Shannon. L.Tavakoli.
Leinster
Men’s Over 45
D.Flynn. K .Ronan. D.Borton. J.Flynn. T.Crowe. A.N.Other.
Men’s Over 55
G. Delaney. C.Mallon. A. O’Connor. J.Dowley. A.N.Other. A.N.Other.
Men’s Over 65
C.Andrews. S.Daly. C.Roche.
Ladies Over 40
J.Dillon. R.Barry. J.Murphy.
Ladies Over 50
A.Costelloe. C.Lowry. C.Mooney.
Connacht
Men’s Over 45
D.Lalor. P.Murphy. K.Padden. A.Power. T.Treacy.
Men’s Over 55
M.Cowley. G.Fahy. A.Kavanagh. J. Kielty. A.Larkin. T.J.Mullins.
Mens Over 65
T.Cantwell. F.Fahy. M.J.Hynes. A.N.Other
