Killoughey-Kilcormac are Leinster badmintion champions
Mucklagh-Rahan-the Island beaten in Leinster final
Killoughey/Kilcormac are Community Games Leinster Champions. The KK team of Ava Dunne, Alana Gellar, Anna Corroon, Jess Mahon, Kate Doyle, Katelyn Guinan, and Lisa-Marie Newton, travelled to Mullingar to meet the Gainstown-Milltownpass girls in the semifinal and if they won, Lucan, in the final.
Semi-final:
Ava Dunne led off for KK in 1st Singles. Ava used long clears, hard smashes and the occasional drop to win 21-11, 21-8. Alana Gellar played 2nd singles. Anna quickly sussed that her opponent struggled to go in for shorts shots and back for long shots, and if she moved to one side, struggled to reach the shuttle on the other side. Alana won the 1st set 21-10, let her concentration slip in the 2nd set, but still won 21-13.
Lisa-Marie Newton and Kate Doyle made winning hard for themselves. The girls continually lifted long to their opponents. When they did hit a short shot, they usually won the point. KK won the 1st set 21-17. Second set was a different story. Gainstown-Milltownpass scored a quick 3-1 lead and held the margin for several scores until KK managed to reel them in and level, but GM quickly pulled ahead again. KK fought back and levelled. From this point until 18-all, GM would go ahead, KK would level. The match got tighter after 18-all. 19-18 GM. 19-all. 20-19 GW. 20-all. 21-20, GM. 21-all. 22-21 GM. At 22-all KK went ahead the for the first time, 23-22.
KK served. that started a long rally, back and forth the shuttle flew, and the KK girls started to cover for each other. KK ended the rally and the game with a shuttle on the Gainstown-Milltownpass floor. Final score 24-22 and a 3-all win for Killoughey/Kilcormac.
Final
KK met Lucan in the final. Again Ava led off for KK, but the Lucan player proved much stronger than the Gainstown-Milltownpass girl. Lucan went ahead, but Ava clawed her way back into the match. One she got within 2 points of her opponent, she couldn’t narrow the gap, and lost 19-21. The second set was different. Lucan built up a 3-0 early lead, then Ava made her move. Wherever the shuttle went, Ava stretched to reach it. She made mistakes, but Lucan made more. Final score, 21-14 to Ava.
In the final set, Ava’s legs deserted her, and she struggled to reach the shuttle. On a scoreline of 21-8, Lucan won set and match.
Alana was up next. Her opponent looked equally strong. Alana quickly found her weaknesses and exploited them. Alana won the 1st set 21-12 and came back stronger in the 2nd set to win set and match 21-8. With the match score at 1 set apiece, Kate and Lisa-Marie met their Lucan opponents. In warm-up, one of the Lucan girls was very strong and the other looked very quick around the court. Lisa-Marie and Kate changed their tactics from the high lift defensive game against Gainstown-Milltownpass, to an attacking smashing game. They attacked the smaller, weaker player, and tried to play the stronger player out of the game. The plan worked. Kate covered mid-court and front and nailed her smashes to the floor, and Lisa-Marie played deeper. Their strategy worked with wins of 21-12, 21-6.
Kilcormac/Killoughey finished the match Leinster champions, 2 games to 1 for Lucan. The All-Ireland finals will be held on the week-end of 23-24 May.
Boys Leinster final
Mucklagh-Rahan-The Island, as Offaly winners, were straight through into a Leinster final against Westmeath winners, Gainstown-Milltownpass. Due to a soccer final, MRI found themselves without their two singles players Óisín Coleman and Evan Craven. The remaining 4 boys, all still in National School went into battle against far older and bigger GM boys. As well as being bigger, three of the older boys were left-handed which posed problems for MRI.
Max O’Rourke stepped into Óisín’s position as 1st singles. Max did his best and the amount of sweat running down his face was testament to the effort he put it. However, effort was enough for the bigger, stronger player who could hit long and short and move the shuttle side-to-side. Max lost 9-21, 9-21. Conor Kenny played second singles. Conor’s opponent wasn’t as skillful as Max’s had been. Conor stayed close the first set. He was able to run and cover the court well, but was often off-balance so his returns weren’t the best. In the 2nd set, Conor scored better and was ahead 14-12, but the bigger, stronger Westmeath opponent prevailed. Final score, 17-21, 18-21.
Charlie Larkin and Daithi Boyle played the doubles for MRI. The boys ran and hit and chased down shuttles in the first set and gave everything they had to give, but although they stayed close, they never got close enough. Final score, 16-21. The effort the boys exerted in the first set told in the second set when their legs gave out and they weren’t able to reach the shuttles that they had recovered in the first set. The score of the 2nd set was 7-21 to Westmeath. Match score 3-0 to Gainstown-Milltownpass.
Players on this young MRI team have two more years in Community Games Badminton, and even though they are disappointed at the outcome of this match, they will only learn from the experience.