Offaly teams versus the rest of Leinster in badminton

To paraphrase a quotation, “it was the best of day and it was the worst of day” for Offaly Post-Primary Schools U19 Badminton teams. Four U19 teams represented Offaly in the Leinster finals: Ard Scoil Chiaráin Naofa, Boys; Banagher College, Boys, Banagher College, Girls, and Sacred Heart School, Girls. Three of the teams reached finals, and three teams came home runner-up.

Banagher College Colaiste na Sionna Girls: BCCNS girls competed in Pool A in Division 2 along with St. Joseph’s of Cluny and Ard Scoil Trionoide, Athy. BCCNS had a bye in the first round so got to watch their two opponents in action. St. Joseph’s was their first team to meet on court. Emma, an Offaly inter-county badminton player, started slowly, but gradually picked up the pace and went on to win 30/21. Molly McDermott met an opponent equally as skilful as herself. The score was up and down with first one ahead and then the other. Finally, in a burst at the end, Molly prevailed 30/27. Kasey Delaney played third for BCCNS and played to her strengths. She demonstrated a good backhand and the ability to clear the shuttle long and earned a 30/23 win. Ciara Staunton was evidently very nervous playing in her first competitive match outside of Offaly. Ciara never showed the form she exhibited later in the day and lost. Emma and Kacey teamed up for first doubles. Even though both had won their singes games, they had to work hard to secure a 30/20 victory. In the final game, Ciara hit her stride playing with Molly. Ciara was able to return high shuttles longer and higher than was hit to her. Molly roamed the front of the court, whipping shuttles back at her opponents from both the forehand and backhand sides. The girls won 30/21. BCCNS emerged match winners 5-1. V Ard Scoil Trionoide, Athy. Again Emma Grogan led off for BCCNS, and again she showed her skill, winning 30/16. Molly McDermott was up next, but couldn’t get to grips with the way her opponent sprayed the shuttle around the court, and lost. Kacey Delaney displayed great fortitude as she went down by 5 points before the changeover. After that, she switched into topgear and went on to win 30/17. Ciara Staunton played fourth for Banagher. Ciara was scores down at the 15-point changeover. She promptly broke her opponent’s serve and went on to score 7 unanswered points. This gave Ciara the boost she needed and she went on to win 30/21. Ard Scoil played very cleverly against Kacey and Emma in doubles. They played shot after shot to Kacey and then dropped in front of her, or smashed at, Emma, catching her off-guard. Ard Scoil won 30/21. Molly and Ciara had to win second doubles to guarantee a BCCNS win, and they did—BIG! Again Molly took the front and Ciara played back, and played shuttle after shuttle back into her opponent’s court, often setting up a smash finish for Molly or herself. The final score was 30/8 to Banagher. Two wins catapulted them onto top of the group and a place in the final. V Kilkenny College. Kilkenny College were in a different league than the teams Banagher College had met. The girls were tall, mobile, and could smash. Emma’s opponent had reached the 15 point changeover before Emma realized how she was playing and began to neutralize her scoring shots. Emma managed to pull the score back to 20/30 but had let the game get too far away from her to really challenge. Molly, Kacey, and Ciara all went down fighting, but were no match for their opponents. The girls played better in the two doubles games, but were no match for Kilkenny College, and with the score 6-0 to Kilkenny, Banagher had to settle for the Runners-up medals. Kilkenny College had previously defeated Wilson’s Hospital School, Multifarnham and Holy Faith, Clontarf.

Sacred Heart School, Tullamore: Sacred Heart met Christ Rí, Portlaoise, in their first Pool Game. Kerri Healion, the most experienced player on the team, led off with a resounding 30/7 win for Sacred Heart. Andzhelina Plugchieva was the only blip in the Sacred Heart performance. The King Co. ruled the Queen Co. in the remaining games. Adriana Strembu scored another emphatic victory in 3rd singles, 30/16, and the scores just got more one-sided. Jamila Mokrani held her singles opponent to only 8 scores, 30/8. Kerri and Jamila only allowed 9 scores, 30/9. In second doubles, Andzhelina and Adriana scored the biggest margin, 30/5. Sacred Heart secured a 5-1 win. V. Nass Community School: Kerri Healion again led the way for Sacred Heart with another big 30/11 win. Big wins are important in case the match is a 3-all draw and total points scored have to be counted as happened to Sacred Heart in Offaly. Andzhelina Plugchieva quickly got points off her Naas opponent and built up a score that was never seriously challenged, and went on to win 30/18. Naas Community School made a break-through against Adriana Strembu in 3rd singles. Adriana battled hard, kept her opponent under pressure, but finally conceded 25/30. Jamila Mokrani got Sacred Heart back on track, but really had to put her heart into the game to pull out a 30/26 win. Even though Kerri and Jamila both won their singles, their doubles opponents managed to outplay them and won the 2nd game for Naas, 30/17. Adriana and Andzhelina teamed up for Sacred Heart 2nd doubles, and scored another big win, 30/13. The resulting win for Sacred Heart, 4-2, propelled them to the top of the pool and into a Division 3 final against Scoil Aireagail, Kilkenny. Kerri Healion played one of the best games of her career against a strong Aireagail 1st singles. First one girl went ahead and then another. Neither girl could stamp her authority on the game. Finally, on the last shuttle, Kerri lost 29/30. Andzhelina put Sacred Heart back winning with a resounding 30/18 score. Unfortunately, Adriana and Jamila couldn’t keep the momentum going and lost 30/20 and 30/17. Kerri and Jamila were playing a blinder in a very close first doubles, matching Scoil Aireagail point for point until an incident threw them off. The girls quickly recover and levelled the score at 29-all, but again, heartbreak on the final point. Sacred Heart lost 29/30. Adriana and Andzhelina could only manage 20 points in their 20/30 second doubles. On the scoreline of 5-1, Sacred Heart finished as Leinster Division 2 Silver Medallists.

Ard Scoil Chiaráin Naofa: Ard Scoil Chiaráin Naofa were the third Offaly team to reach a final when the team of Liam Flynn, Greg Byrne, Myles Handy and Eoghan Cornally topped their pool. Things looked bleak for Ard Scoil when Liam Flynn lost 1st singles to a strong Ard Scoil Trionoide opponent. Greg Byrne, 2nd singles, Myles Handy, 3rd singles, and Eoghan Cornally, 4th singles, all put ASCN on the winning track with. The doubles pairs of Liam and Greg and Myles and Eoghan all carried on where the singles left off and finished the match with two more wins, scoring a 5-1 victory for ASCN. Next up for ASCN was Grennan College, Kilkenny. Liam reversed his previous score and won 1st singles for ASCN. Greg was the player whose game stuttered against Grennan’s. Greg lost 2nd singles. Myles and Eoghan followed up with wins in 3rd and 4th singles. When Liam and Greg won 1st doubles and Myles and Eoghan won 2nd doubles, Ard Scoil Chiaráin had played their way into a final. Sandford Park College reached the final from Pool B. Dublin schools have an advantage over provincial schools because they play a league, so have more games played than Counties that select teams in a Blitz. The first two singles players for Sandford defeated Liam and Greg. Myles stepped up and showed his class with a win. However, Eoghan couldn’t repeat his feat and lost 4th singles. Liam and Greg showed why they are Division 3 Offaly champions when they won the 1st doubles against the players that had defeated them in singles. When Myles and Eoghan lost, ASCN had to settle for the Runners-up medals in Division 3 Leinster.

Banagher College Colaiste na Sionna Boys: Banagher College played in a Pool with High School, Rathgar, and Kilkenny College. The boys had a bye in the first round so got to study their two opponents. High School looked very strong and when BCCNS took to the court to play them, they found out how strong they were. Kieran Clancy could only score 19 points against the High School 1st singles player that looked like he could be on a Leinster squad. Conor Mahon was totally outclassed in his singles game. Shane Rigney put up a great fight for BCCNS and managed 24 points. Lee Hogan, in 4th singles, could do no better than the others and also lost his game. Kieran and Conor proved very tough doubles opponents for High School. Conor controlled the net with quick returns of flat shots and deadly smashes of any shuttles loose above the net. Kieran was able to cover the back of the court and returned shuttles long and high, or with a smash, whichever shot was needed. Unfortunately, they lost 30/28. Shane and Lee also fought well, but lost 20/30. BCCNS faced Kilkenny College net. Kieran showed why he is Offaly U18/20 singles champion in this match. He was down 9/11 at the changeover, not an insurmountable deficient. The boys exchanged points as the score moved into the 20’s. Kieran started to drop behind, and was down 22/25. He lost a point, but gained 4 to level at 26 all. His Kilkenny opponent sprinted ahead 26-29. Kieran steadied himself and scored a point. Then his opponent made two unforced errors and the score stood at 29-all. In the rally following Kieran’s serve, he put up a high shuttle, but his jittery opponent smashed the shuttle into the net, Kieran smiled and punched the air in victory, 30/29. Conor, Shane, and Lee all won their singles, but not quite in such dramatic fashion, 30/17, 30/20, 30/21. Kieran and Conor scored another 30/20 win, but the BCCNS bubble burst when Shane and Lee lost 19/30. Since High School also defeated Kilkenny College, they topped the group and played the final and Banagher College Boys had to go home without a medal.

U19 Inter-county: The U19 players were back in Baldoyle two days later for the U19 Inter-county, and for 5 of them, it was a return journey. This was the first U19 Leinster played since Offaly hosted an invitational U19 in 2018 and Offaly were determined to be there. The players hardly had time to recover from the schools before they were back on court again. In the Pool Round, Offaly were pitted against Kildare and Meath. Kildare, in all black, were first up for Offaly. Kieran Clancy played outstanding for Offaly, but when met a very strong opponent in Boys singles he lost his only game of the day, 12/21. Caroline Meacle lost by the same score, 21/12. Wyatt Winston and Robert Maher, Offaly Senior (Juvenile) Doubles champion could do no better. Emma Grogan and Caroline Meacle made a slight improvement, losing 13/21. Greg Byrne and Shane Molloy hardly got s serve in their game. Adriana Strembu and Andzhelina Plugchieva, 2nd ladies, had the best results thus far, 14/21. Then up stepped Kieran Clancy and partner Emma Grogan for mixed. Kieran controlled the game from the back. Emma dropped slashed and smashed from the front. Together they won—it wasn’t easy and often not pretty—but 21/18 was a brilliant results. Meath provided a different challenge. Meath had a mix of strong and average players. Kieran started with a smashing win, 21/8. However, Caroline’s opponent was great at cross smashing and often wrong-footed Caroline, and secured an easy victory. Wyatt Winston and Robert Maher didn’t make the game easy for themselves, but pulled out their first win of the day, 21/19. Meath girls were exceptionally strong and Emma and Caroline in 1st girls’ doubles scored only slightly higher than Caroline had in her singles. With the scores level and 3 games to play, Offaly had to win two more to reach their goal of Division 2. Greg and Shane put in a good performance but too many unforced errors cost them the game, 21/13. Kieran and Emma had to be in top form to score at least one more win for Offaly, and they did, 21/14. With two losses, even though Offaly had a strong showing in the Meath match, their place was in Division 3. Louth met Offaly in the Division 3 final. Louth lost to Carlow and Dublin in their Pool games. Division 3 Final v Louth: Kieran Clancy again led off for Offaly in singles against a very tall, rangy Louth player with very good footwork and shuttle control. Kieran managed to stay level with his opponent and was actually ahead 11/9 at the changeover. The players continue to exchange points, staying within 1 or 2 points of each other until Kieran managed 3 in a row. His lead was short lived as Solomon levelled the score at 19-all. Usually when a player is on a roll near the end of a game, he is hard stopped, but stop Solomon Kieran did, and scored the next two points for an Offaly win. Caroline Meacle had an easy run in her singles, winning 21/8. Louth men were strong when compared to their women. Robert Maher and Wyatt Winston tried hard and played some good badminton, but still came up short, losing 19/21. Caroline and Emma put Offaly back in the driving seat with comfortable 21/12 victory. Now Offaly had 3 chances to score one more win and cinch the match. Solomon, the singles player, played in 2nd Doubles against Greg Byrne and Shane Molloy. Even though the boys played their best game of the day, and Greg’s smashes were lethal, the boys lost 21/14. Adriana Strembu and Andzhelina Plugchieva played well they weren’t able to get the elusive 4th win for Offaly, so now all Offaly’s hopes were pinned on Kieran and Emma. Kieran hates to lose and Emma hates to let Kieran down, so the two were in a fighting frame of mind when they took to the court. And fight and score is what they did. A 21/15 victory secured the match win for Offaly. Offaly travelled home as Leinster Division 3 Champions. Carlow won Division 1 and Dublin won Division 2.