BADMINTON: Down to the wire in Boys' Offaly Doubles Championships

Down to the wire—how often in sport do we hear that expression whether it’s about a race or a match—it means there was a close finish and that was the norm when the second round of the Boys’ Offaly Badminton Doubles was played out in Mucklagh Community Centre.

Division 4: Division 4 was the only competition with two divisions which meant there were semi-finals, final and a play-off for third and fourth. Scott Mannerings and Tadhg McGrath, Clara, met Eoin Lambe and Harry McQuade from Killoughey. Scott and Tadhg got off to a flying start, going 7-1 up before Eoin and Harry got a look in. The Killoughey pair kept chipping away at the lead. Scott and Tadhg would score a point, then. Eoin and Harry would reply with 2 or 3. Tensions on both sides of the net rose. Eoin and Harry left it late, but they finally levelled the score at 14-all. Following the serve, the shuttle flew back and forth, until one of the Clara boys put the shuttle into the net rather than over it. Score, 15-14 to Eoin and Harry. The second semi-final pitted Isacc Gellar and Shane Thompson, Rahan, against Stephen Newton and Charlie O’Donoghue, Killoughey. Stephen and Charlie started very steadily, gradually building up a 10/5 lead. Then they stuttered or else Isacc and Shane shifted into a higher gear. The Rahan pair didn’t just chip away at the lead, but sprinted past it. As their points increased, Stephen and Charlie started to panic. They pulled themselves together when the score was 11/14. A series of unforced errors by Isacc and Shane levelled the score at 14 all. There followed a disputed line call and net call. The referee stood her ground and awarded the point to Shane and Isacc, 15/14. The final and third place game were anticlimactic following the two semi-finals. In the final, Eoin Lambe and Harry McQuade kept setting the shuttle up for Isacc Gellar and Shane Thompson. Shane obliged them by smashing down the sidelines. The Killoughey’s got to grips with returning smashes, but couldn’t close the gap. Shane and Isacc won on a scoreline of 15/12. In the third place game, Stephen Newton and Charlie O’Donoghue never recovered from the loss of the semi-final and had no answer to Scott Mannerings and Tadhg McGrath. Scott and Tadhg won 15/8.

Division 5: With only four pairs competing in Division 5, only six games were played, and of these, three games finished 15/14. Conor Doyle and AJ Bracken were kings of close encounters. Conor and AJ defeated Conor McEvoy and Joe Leonard 15/14 in their first match. This was Conor and Joe’s first foray into competition and they both displayed class even though they lacked experience. Conor and Joe got their own back against Sean Lambe and Gearóid Molloy when they defeated them 15/14. The last game of the competition was played as a final. Conor and AJ and Daniel Lambe and Theo Kilmartin both came into the match with two wins. The boys fought a close match exchanging scores through-out the match. First one pair would go ahead, and then the other. Finally the score stood at 14-all. Conor and AJ played a shot that Daniel and Theo couldn’t return to claim the victory, 15/14. When the wins from both rounds were added together, Conor and AJ finished the winners. Daniel and Theo were runners-up. Sean and Gearóid claimed third place. All players were from Killoughey.

Division 3: Attrition due to exams and other sports cut the entries in Division 3 from 7 down to 4. Conor Lambe was the hard luck story on the day. His original partner had earlier withdrawn, and the partner he had been reassigned to play with didn’t appear. Division 3 was the least exciting and competitive of the competition. Liam Flynn and Greg Byrne, Clara, were undefeated over the two rounds of the competition, and in the 9 wins, only allowed two opponents to score double figures. Cian Dillon and Eamonn Molloy, Killoughey, finished in second place with a total of 6 wins. Conor Lambe, playing with Mikey Kilmartin, Killoughey, finished in third with the carry-over of the 3 wins from the first round. The other pair in the competition, Rogan Stirrat and Ryan Moloney, Killoughey, finished on 2 wins.

John and Catherine Duffin Club Trophy: Known affectionately as the “Green Trophy”, it is awarded to the club whose players scored the most wins in all the games played in all four rounds of the doubles competition. If a pair is made up with players from 2 different clubs, each player gets ½ point. Killoughey, the largest club in the county, was able to flood all competitions with players so it wasn’t too surprising that the John and Catherine Duffin trophy was presented to them even though they won only 2 of the 7 competitions. Chair of the Offaly Juvenile Badminton, Frances O’Connor, presented the trophy to Eoin Lambe on behalf of Killoughey Club. Runners-up was claimed by Clara with 46 points. Rahan finished in third with 30 points.

Remaining Fixtures: February 8 will see the Offaly Post-Primary Schools U14 Blitz played out in Sacred Heart School to select the winners to represent Offaly in the Leinster finals. Offaly National Schools’ badminton teams will play in Mucklagh Community Centre on 12 February. On Sunday, 26 February, the U13 Offaly Intercounty team will travel to Dublin. Then it’s the action of the Offaly winners of the Post-Primary School Blitzes. March 2 the U16 winners will be in Dublin, followed by the U14 winners on March 9. If any of the schools score a win in Leinster Division 2, they will represent the province in the All-Ireland finals on Wednesday, the 22nd of March in Gormanstown, Co. Meath. One other event occurs in March, the Leinster U17 Intercounty on March 18. The Offaly badminton season wraps up on Saturday, April 8th with the U15 Intercounty in Dublin.