Silver for Offaly U17’s badminton outfit in Leinster inter-counties

THE Offaly U17 Badminton team returned home from the Leinster inter-counties with silver medals won in Division 2.

The team of 4 boys and 4 girls, as they appeared on court were Wyatt Winston, Phoenix; Aisling Farrell, Killoughey; Don Paul, Phoenix; Aisling Mooney, Killoughey; Eoin Lambe and Stephen Newton, Killoughey; Hannah Dunne, Killoughey; and Kelly Shirley, Clara. In their divisional qualifying group, Offaly were drawn with Dublin 1, Kilkenny A, and Kildare B. The match play was kind to Offaly, with their 1^st game against the weakest team in their pool.

KILDARE B provided a good starting point for Offaly, allowing them to work themselves into the intensity of the competition and the size and height of the Baldoyle Badminton Centre where they were playing. Wyatt Winston was the first on court for Offaly. The Leinster and Irish player scored a resounding 21/5 victory. Aisling Farrell played next and scored another victory for Offaly, 21/9. Wyatt was back on court for 1^st Boys’ Doubles with clubmate Don Paul. The boys held Kildare B to only 4 points for the third Offaly victory, with Don serving shuttle after shuttle which fell to the floor untouched by his opponents. For the 1^st Girls’ Doubles, Aisling was joined by Aisling Mooney. The pair played to win, 21/12. Stephen Newton and Eoin Lambe were leading 11/10 when the teams changed sides, but lost their rhythm and lost the game, 17/21. Kelly Shirley and Hannah Dunne could only manage 2 points in the first half of the game when they were getting used to playing with each other, but managed 12 points in the second half, but 14 wasn’t enough to match the 21 scored by Kildare B. Eoin and Hannah played the Mixed Doubles and scored a 5^th win for Offaly, but were pushed to the limit in a 21/19 victory.

KILKENNY A has proved troublesome for Offaly in previous competitions, so the team were challenged to up their game. Wyatt did, holding his Kilkenny opponent to only 3 scores for a 21/3 victory. Aisling Farrell was leading 11/3 at the changeover and only allowed 4 more scores to win 21/7. Wyatt and Don met slightly stronger Kilkenny opposition, but still won 21/10. Aisling and Aisling were on fire, only allowing 3 points in the 1^st half and 4 in the 2^nd, for a 21/7 victory. Again, Eoin and Stephen struggled. Down by 2 points at the half-way changeover, the boys could only muster 4 more points and lost 13/21. Kelly and Hannah could only do one better, and lost 14/21. Eoin and Hannah were last on court against Kilkenny. The match was close and competitive. Their teammates got behind them with plenty of support. The pair were down 9/11 at half-time, but stayed focused. When the last shuttle hit the floor, Eoin and Hannah won 21/20.

DUBLIN A were another class altogether. Wyatt knew many of the players as he was their teammate on the Leinster training panel. Prior to the match beginning, Shea O’Connell, Dublin came over to the Offaly bench to remind Wyatt that he had defeated him 2 years ago in U15 singles, 21/20, and he was going to do it again. When the boys met in the match, Wyatt went 10/4 up with a flying start. Shea came back with 6 unanswered points, and Wyatt was only ahead 11/10 at the changeover. After that the boys played point for point, and even though Wyatt was being heckled by the Dublin A bench behind him, he continued to concentrate on the game. Wyatt got victory and revenge, but just, 21/20. The remaining games were won by Dublin, with their higher level of training showing through. Aisling lost singles, 8/21. Wyatt fought hard in doubles with Don, trying to cover for his less experienced partner, but was often pulled out of position and Dublin attacked into space with no answer from Offaly. Dublin won 21/14. From there the scores went downhill, Aisling and Aisling scoring 6, Eoin and Stephen, 5, and Hannah and Kelly 3, until Eoin and Hannah stepped up and made a game of Mixed Doubles before losing 14/21. With 2 wins and 1 defeat, Offaly would play in Division 2 for the awards session.

Following a lunch and rest break while the tournament organisers, Brian Kelly, David Hogan, and Shanthini Chandra, placed the county teams into their qualifying group, Offaly returned to play against Meath and Carlow, who like Offaly, had only entered 1 team and suffered 1 loss in the qualifying games.

CARLOW, who had defeated Louth and Westmeath and lost to Kildare A were first to face Offaly in what was a semifinal. The loser would go forward to play Meath in the next match, while the winner would have a break to scout Meath before playing them. Wyatt was absolutely ruthless against his Carlow opponent, winning 21/0. Aisling Farrell struggled with a leg problem in her singles losing 14/21. In 1^st Doubles, Don was the main focus of the Carlow attack, but his play was adequate and his serving was especially vital in his and Wyatt’s win, 21/14. Aisling Mooney really stepped up to the mark in 1^st Girls Doubles, as her play compensated for the loss of form of Aisling Farrell. The girls won 21/17. Eoin and Stephen were behind 8/11 at the half-way stage of the 2^nd Doubles, but found another gear and won the vital 4^th game of the match, 21/16 to ensure Offaly a place in the group final. Hannah and Kelly also played inspired badminton and were slightly ahead at the changeover 11/9, and held their lead to win 21/17. Carlow had apparently sacrificed a weaker singles player in order to hold their stronger boy for the Mixed Doubles. Hannah and Eoin had no answer to the Carlow pair and lost 10/21, but with 5 of the 7 games won, Offaly were comfortably into the final.

MEATH finished their match against Carlow with a win, so came into the match against Offaly on equal terms. Equal terms describes the singles match between Wyatt and Yuwou Neh of Meath. First one and then the other would go ahead. There might be 3 winners in a row on one side, but the other would reply with the same. The boys ran each other side to side and up and back with breathtaking speed and amazing returns. On the last shuttle, Yuwou won 21/20. Wyatt’s comment when he came off the court, “I could have won that,” but even so, his play was superb. Aisling Farrell got off to a very slow start in her singles and was behind 4/11 at the changeover, but in the 2^nd half she was back better than ever. With several runs of 3 and 4 points in a row, Aisling finished with huge applause from her teammates, 21/17. Wyatt and Don fought hard in 1^st Doubles, with Don again the focus of attack. Don’s play improved in this game with some tremendous smashes, and his excellent serves, and Wyatt’s play carried on from his singles, but in the end, Meath won 21/15. Aisling and Aisling was another epic encounter. Ashling Farrell was back to her best. Both girls covered the court well in tandem with each other. Unfortunately, they fell short 19/21. After their success in the previous match, Eoin and Stephen had little match for Meath and lost 8/21. Meath now had 4 wins which guaranteed them victory. They went on to win the final games 21/9 and 21/3.

AWARDS CEREMONY: This Offaly team can hold their heads high, knowing they fought hard, supported each other and came home with Silver Medals in Division 2. In the absence of David Murphy, President of the Leinster Branch, Badminton of Ireland, the medals were presented to the Offaly team by Brian Kelly, one of the tournament organisers.