BADMINTON: Offaly U-17 team strikes gold

With long, high clears, hard smashes, and strategic drops, the Offaly U17 badminton team won Gold in Division 3, Leinster, but they had to dig deep, and have a bit of luck, to do it. The team of Wyatt Winston and Troy Feery, Phoenix, Conor McEvoy and Tiernan Donnelly, Killoughey, and Aisling Farrell, Aisling Mooney, Hannah Dunne, Zoe Farrell, Saoirse Murphy and subs Ava Dunne, Siún Joyce, and Alana Gellar, all Killoughey, travelled to the Baldoyle Badminton Centre in Dublin to play in the Leinster inter-county badminton competition. Offaly had a long road to the Gold. They were in a qualifying group with Dublin 2, Meath 2, and Kilkenny to determine the Division they would play in for the medals.

V KILKENNY: After their arrival in Baldoyle, Offaly had very little court space to warm up, but that didn’t bother Wyatt Winston, who plays for Leinster and Ireland, as well as for Offaly. Wyatt made short work of his Kilkenny singles opponent, winning 21/6. Aisling Farrell had a much tougher job against her Kilkenny opponent. Aisling lost her singles game 13/21. Wyatt played with Troy Feery, and Aisling Mooney joined Aisling Farrell for the 1^st Boys’ and 1^st Girls’ Doubles. Both pairs won by identical scores, 21/15. With 3 of the first 4 games won, Offaly players needed only one more win to gain victory in the match. That was not to be. Hannah Dunne and Saoirse Murphy lost 13/21. Conor McEvoy and Tiernan Donnelly went one better, but still lost 14/21. The outcome of the match rested on the Offaly mixed Doubles pairing of Saoirse Murphy and Conor McEvoy. Neither had played a competitive Mixed match before, and even though they fought hard, they lost 15/21. Match to Kilkenny, 4-3.

V DUBLIN 2: Playing Dublin strikes fear into most players hearts, but Offaly rose to the occasion. Wyatt Winston played a lad he had played before in competition and in squad training. Wyatt got it hard, and had to use all his skill and brains, but the final score was in Wyatt’s favour, 21/19. Aisling Farrell, with one game played, was ready for the challenge. Her game was much better than against Kilkenny, but Aisling still came up short, 18/21. Wyatt and Troy Feery and Aisling and Aisling Mooney both won their doubles, 21/16 for the Boys and 21/11 for the Girls. At this stage, the Offaly coach notices that Dublin were playing and illegal line-up. After getting the tournament referee involved, the decision reached was, either keep the doubles win for Offaly and let the Dublin 1’s play the Offaly 2^nd, or replay 1^st doubles with the proper pair and let Dublin’s 2^nd doubles play Offaly’s 2^nd doubles. The decision was made to keep the win, and let the second doubles do their best. Now Offaly were in the same position they had been in against Kilkenny, 4 games played and 3 wins, 3 games to go and needing one win. Offaly’s second boys’, Conor McEvoy and Tiernan Donnelly could only score 7 points against Dublin’s 1^st. Hannah Dunne and Zoe Farrell, were up next. In training, the girls have defeated Aisling and Aisling, and their experience paid off. Hannah and Zoe won 21/19. Troy Feery and Zoe Farrell played Mixed against Dublin and didn’t fare well, losing 12/21, but the important score was a 4-3 match victory against Dublin 2.

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V MEATH 2: The last opponent for Offaly in the qualifying group was Meath 2. Offaly didn’t know at the time that Dublin had defeated Meath 7-0 and Kilkenny had defeated Meath 6-2. This was to become important later. Now Offaly’s job was another win. Wyatt Winston got Offaly off to a great start with a 21/3 win. Aisling Farrell met a strong Meath player and lost 14/21. The doubles followed the same pattern. Wyatt and Troy Feery won 21/9 and Aisling and Aisling Mooney won 21/10. Conor McEvoy and Tiernan Donnelly lost 13/21. Two games to go, and Offaly needed one more win. Instead, they got two. Hannah Dunne and Saoirse Murphy won 21/10, and Saoirse and Conor won the Mixed 21/10. Match score 5-2 to Offaly.

THE PLAYOFFS; With 2 wins, the Offaly coach was sure the team would be in Division 2, but this was not to be. Dublin 2 and Kilkenny also had two wins each, and it all came down to the results against Meath 2. Dublin defeated Meath 7-0, defeated Kilkenny 4-3, and lost to Offaly 3-4. Kilkenny defeated Meath 6-1, lost to Dublin 4-3, and defeated Offaly 4-3. Offaly defeated Meath 5-2, lost to Kilkenny 4-3, and defeated Dublin 4-3. Each team had 2 wins, so games won had to be counted. Add them up, Dublin won 14, Kilkenny won 13 and Offaly won 12, so Offaly played in Division 3 with Louth and Wexford.

V LOUTH: With 3 teams in the group, Offaly drew a bye in the first round so they watched Louth and Wexford fight for honours. Wexford looked stronger, and this proved true, with Wexford winning. So, for their 1^st match for medals, Offaly met Louth. This was a revenge match for Offaly since Louth had defeated the last two Offaly teams that had played them. After watching Louth play Wexford, Wyatt Winston went out with one goal, winning 21-0. Unfortunately, he slipped up 3 times and won 21-3. Aisling Farrell made only one mistake in her singles, and won 21-1. Wyatt and Troy Feery and Aisling and Aisling Mooney kept the scores low in their doubles matches, winning 21/6 and 21/5 respectably. Hannah Dunne and Zoe Farrell kept the pressure on, winning their doubles 21/5. Offaly had 2 hiccups. Conor McEvoy and Tiernan Donnelly played their closest doubles of the day, but still lost, 19/21. Troy and Zoe lost the Mixed 15/21, but with 5 wins, Offaly were safely through to the final against Wexford.

V WEXFORD: The Wexford boy’s singles player was much better than Louth’s and Wyatt Winston could only win 21/11. The Wexford girl was much stronger than Louth’s girl, and Aisling Farrell lost 15/21. Wyatt and Troy Feery were lucky. The match was very closely contested, and at one point, Offaly lost 4 points in a row. Wyatt and Troy fought back and slowly closed the gap. At 19-all, Troy made a spectacular return of a low shuttle which gave the Offaly pair a 20-19 lead. Wexford levelled. On the last rally, Wyatt nailed a smash to the floor, to give Offaly the win, 21/20. The girls’ 1^st doubles was less dramatic. Aisling and Aisling Mooney won 21/9. This match followed the same pattern, with Offaly winning 3 of the first 4 games. Again the 2^nd Boys’ doubles, Conor McEvoy and Tiernan Donnelly fought hard, scored well, but not well enough, and lost 17/21. Hannah Dunne and Saoirse Murphy stepped up in doubles and won 21/10, guaranteeing the Gold for Offaly. Conor and Saoirse finished on a high note, winning 21/14. A 5-2 victory for Offaly and the coveted GOLD medal.

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COMING EVENTS: The next event on the Offaly calendar is the National Schools competition to be held in Mucklagh Community Centre on Sunday, 22 February. The five  10 and Under teams will commence play at 9 a.m. The twelve O10 teams will come at 10.30 to begin when the 10 and U are finished. On the 26^th, St. Brendan’s Boys and Girls, Cistercian College Roscrea Boys and Colaiste Naomh Cormac Girls will travel to Dublin for the U16 PPS competition.