Offaly Badminton celebrate rare Leinster title win

Offaly U13 Team are the Champions of Leinster Division 3 Badminton. The team of Jennifer Winston, Lucy Hanlon, Bláthnaid Collins, Cara McEvoy, Faye Dunne, Kyle Newton, Liam Conroy, Fergus Conroy, Max O’Rourke, and William Keenan travelled to Dublin’s Baldoyle Badminton Hall with great expectations and they didn’t disappoint.

In their seeding group to determine which Division the counties should play in, Offaly were drawn against Kildare A, Meath, and Dublin B.

Dublin B were Offaly’s first opponents. With a huge pick of players, Dublin are always strong, and this team was no exception. Kyle more than met his match in Boys’ Singles and could only score 4 points. Jennifer levelled the match with an excellent 21/15 win in Girls’ Singles. First Boys’ Doubles, Liam and Kyle, scored in double digits, but were no threat to Dublin.

Girls power bloomed in 1^st doubles when Jennifer and Lucy won 21/11. Second Boys’ Doubles, Fergus and William, hit a brick wall and never reached double digits, but Bláthnaid and Cara fought back and won 2^nd Girls’ doubles 21/15. With the score 3 apiece going into the Mixed game, Offaly had high hopes, but they were more than dashed when Liam and Cara were soundly defeated. Final match score was 4-3 to Dublin B, but Offaly had shown they were no pushovers.

Kildare have a development squad in the county, so Kildare A were expected to be the strong team in the group. However, Offaly stepped up to the plate and hit a home run! Kyle had a tough battle on his hands in singles, but emerged the winner 21/17. Jennifer won girls singles in style, 21/5. Liam and Kyle struggled in doubles, and could only score 17 points in their loss. Jennifer and Lucy kept the pressure on, but just, for Offaly with a hard fought 21/19 win in controversial circumstances.

Fergus and Max scored Offaly’s 4^th win in 2^nd Boys’ Doubles with another 21/17 win. Bláthnaid and Faye scored the same in 2^nd Girls’ Doubles, 21/17. When the Mixed lost 21/10, Offaly were unhappy, but with 5 wins, the match was theirs.

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Meath proved disastrous for Offaly. Offaly lost all 7 games, with only four games in double digits,, Boys Singles, Girls’ 1^st Doubles, Girls 2^nd doubles, and the high point of the match, William and Max in 2^nd Boys’ Doubles with 13 points. With one win in the 3 matches, Offaly were placed in Division 3 for the Championships. By a quirk of fate, Kildare A were also in Division 3, even though they had won no games. Wexford were the third team in the group.

Kildare A were Offaly’s first opponents in their fight for the Championship. Kyle won his singles game the first time round, but Kildare changed their singles player, and try ass hard as he could, Kyle could only score 19 points. Jennifer had streaked through her previous singles game against Kildare, but this time she had to use all her strength and knowledge to win 21/17. Kyle made up for his previous loss when he and Liam won their doubles 21/18. Jennifer and Lucy had a resounding win in 1sr Girls’ Doubles, 21/11. Then the wheels came off Offaly’s wagon in the 2 second doubles. Fergus and William lost 21/14 and Bláthnaid and Cara lost 21/15. The outcome of the match depended on the Mixed Doubles and Lucy and Liam were not found wanting. They won 21/11, providing Offaly with a 4-3 win. As winners, Offaly got to sit out while Kildare A and Wexford did battle. Wexford won the match, so the Wexford/Offaly match was a Championship Final.

The Championship Final v Wexford got off to a shaky but flying start for Offaly. In the Boy’s Singles, Kyle was down 4/11 at the changeover. However, he fought back with racket, brains, footwork, and heart in the second half, only allowed the Wexford player 4 more points, and won 21/15. Jennifer scored a 21/7 win in her game. Kyle and Liam met strong opponents, but played smart and won 1^st Boys Doubles 21/10.

Offaly were sailing with a 3-0 lead and four more games to go and only 1 win needed. However, their wind dropped. Jennifer and Lucy suffered a surprise defeat 16/21. Fergus and Max looked like winners, but Wexford pulled the match out 21/18. Bláthnaid and Faye never got out of 1^st gear in their doubles, and lost 21/13. With another match at 3-all, the Mixed had to win for Offaly, and Lucy and Liam stepped up. They made mistakes, but so did Wexford. They made some super recoveries and shots, but so did Wexford. When the final score was shouted, jubilation rose from the Offaly players as Liam and Lucy jumped up and down celebrating their Offaly victory and the Championship title for Offaly.

Post primary schools

St. Brendan’s Girls (Birr), Colaiste Naomh Cormac Boys (Kilcormac), Sacred Heart School Girls (Tullamore) and Killina Boys went to Dublin for the Leinster finals.

St. Brendan’s Girls played in the only Division 3 Girls Pool against Loretto, Foxrock; St. Mary’s; and Kilkenny College. After just emerging from their bus, St. Brendan’s were straight away into their match with Loreto. But without adequate warm-up, St. Brendan’s team of Eabha McDowall, Sarah Tierney, Siofra Ginty, and Katie Standish didn’t do themselves justice. Only Siofra could win 3^rd singles, 21/10. Katie probably left her game behind, losing in the final rallies 19/21. The remaining games were one-sided to Loreto.

St. Brendan’s did much better against St. Mary’s. Eabha was unlucky to lose her singles on the final score of the game, 20/21. Her teammates, Sarah, 21/16; Siofra, 21/5; Katie, 21/2; and the doubles, 21/16 and 21/14, all were victorious for St. Brendan’s earning them a 5-1 victory.

St. Brendan’s played well against Kilkenny College. By now they were well-warmed up, and they played with passion, winning three of the singles games and splitting the doubles with Kilkenny College. When the games won in the group were totalled, St. Brendan’s and Kilkenny College finished on 10 wins apiece, but because St. Brendan’s won the head-to-head, they were declared Division 3 Runners-up. Foxrock were declared the Division Champions.

Colaiste Naomh Cormac were seeded into a group of 3 with St. Patrick’s, Meath, and Ard Scoil na Trionóide, Athy in their Division 2 championship. With 3 groups of three in the division, the CNC team of Cian Dillon, Stephen Newton, Rogan Stirrat, Eoin Lambe, and Michael Kilmartin had to top the group to progress to the Championship finals and a berth in the All-Ireland finals, but they had to win.

Cian led off for CNC and put them on their way to victory with a 21/11 win. Stephen met his match in 2^nd singles. In a match fought point for point, Stephen made a mistake at 20-all and lost 20/21. Rogan never got going in 3^rd singles and lost 11/21. Eoin stepped up in 4^th singles and reversed the trend, winning 221/16. When Cian and Eoin scored a big win in 1^st doubles, CNC couldn’t be caught. Eoin and Rogan went on to win 21/18 to clinch a 4-2 victory for Colaiste Naomh Cormac. Ard Scoil Na Trionóide were the next opponents. They too had defeated St. Patrick’s so were never going to be simple. Cian scored well in 1^st singles, but 18 points wasn’t enough. Rogan went one better with 19 points, but still fell short.

Rogan stepped up and balanced Cian’s loss with a 21/18 win. When Eoin won 21/15, CNC hearts were lighter. But that didn’t last long when Ard Scoil won 1^st doubles 21/9. But, the 18 and 19 CNC scored in the first 2 games proved decisive. Ard Scoil had to score at least 13 points in their doubles. When Rogan and Stephen held them to 8, CNC were through to the Championship finals trio.

Opponents in the Championship final were Mr. Temple, Dublin and De La Salle, Dundalk. Mt. Temple’s 1^st singles lad was tall and obviously a squad players. With low serves in singles and hardly more than one step in any direction to cover the court, Cian didn’t have a chance. He lost heavily. Stephen did better, but came up short, 17/21. Rogan was next, but still didn’t get a win for CNC with a 15/21 score. When Eoin got the final shuttle to the floor in 4^th singles for a 21/20 win, CNC’s pulse quickened. Cian and Eoin played a smart game, isolating the 1^st singles player and hammered his parter, but their 17 points wasn’t enough.

When Stephen and Rogan also lost 17/21, CNC’s hopes of an All-Ireland died. At this stage, Stephen had to leave for home, and Michael stepped into the line-up at 4^th singles, 1^st doubles. With the revised line-up and new doubles partnerships, only Rogan, in 2^nd singles, could score a win for CNC against De La Salle. Going home with nothing, after giving your all, even though you were third in the championship was no consolation for the downhearted Colaiste Naomh Cormac team.

The Sacred Heart School team were in a very tough group with Mount Temple, Dublin; St. Joseph’s Mercy School, Navan; and St. Mary’s CBS, Naas. The SHS team of captain and 1^st Singles, Shannyn Healion; 2^nd Singles, Shibani Venugopal; 3^rd Singles, Amna Asif; and 4^th Singles, Kelly Shirley came up against tough opponents in their first match of the day against Mount Temple.

Kelly was unfortunate to lose her singles 20/21 and Kelly and Amna suffered the same fate in their doubles, 20/21. Two very closely fought games that came down to the final shot. Match score, Mt. Temple, 6-0. The match against St. Joseph’s Mercy, was a more evenly fought battle with Kelly recording a win in her singles and Kelly and Amna recording a win in their doubles. St. Joseph’s 4, SHS 2. The final opponent on the day was St. Mary’s. Shannyn opened the match for SHS with a win in 1^st singles, and teamed with Shibani to win their doubles game.

The 4-2 win for St. Mary’s meant a two-way tie for lead in the group. St. Joseph’s and Mount Temple had to replay a first doubles game to determine who would progress to the final. The Leinster finals proved a tough day for the team, especially for Shannyn, Shibani, and Amna, who were playing their last games for SHS. These three girls have been fantastic ambassadors for badminton, both within the school and with Offaly.

Killina, Shane Thompson, Liam Grennan, Fionn Corcoran, and Adam O’Meara, played in a qualifying pool with East Glendalough and St. Joseph’s Mercy, Navan. The team were missing David Gibbons who was out with an injury.

Against East Glendalough, Shane led off with a 21/17 win. Liam followed in 2^nd singles, losing 16/21. Fionn stood up for Killina on the last shuttle of the game, winning 21/20, and Adam followed with a 21/16 win. First doubles were lucky in their game, with another 21/20 win, but 2^nd doubles lost 10/21. The match score read Killina 4, East Glendalough 2.

St. Joseph’s was the reverse of the first match. Shane lost his singles 18/21. Neither Liam or Fionn could score a win for Killina, losing 17/21 and 14/21. Adam broke the duck for Killina with a 21/14 win in 4^th singles. First doubles proved two is stronger than one. After losing their 2 singles, the boys teamed up to win the doubles 21/18. However, when 2^nd doubles lost 16/21, the score stood 4-2 in favour of St. Joseph’s. T

he East Glendalough/St. Joseph’s game also finished 4-2 for East Glendalough. With all three teams level on 6 wins apiece, total points scored were added. East Glendalough went through on points even though Killina had defeated them in their head-to-head in part aided by the two 20 point losses to them.

February will see the Offaly Post Primary Schools U14 competition, the U17 Offaly Leinster team play in the Inter-counties, the U16 Leinster PPS competition and the Offaly National Schools competition.