BADMINTON: Three Offaly schools qualify for Leinster championships

Banagher College Colaiste Na Sionna was the venue when Offaly Post-Primary Schools U14 Badminton teams competed for the right to represent Offaly in the Leinster competition. Six girls teams, and two Pools of 4 boys teams each battled for top honours.

GIRLS COMPETITION: After the first round of the six teams, there was an obvious split in ability. Colaiste Naomh Cormac defeated St. Mary’s of Edenderry 6-0; St. Brendan’s CS outscored Sacred Heart School B 4-2; and Sacred Heart School A topped Gallen CS 5-1. The Colaiste Naomh Cormac team of Aisling Mooney, Saoirse Murphy, Ava Dunne, Siún Joyce, Aoife Feighery, and Alana Gellar only lost 2 of the 30 games they played. Against Sacred Heart A, Shruti outscored Siún in 4^th singles 15/9. In the final match against St. Brendan’s, Zoe Farrell got the best of Aishling Mooney 15/14 in 1^st singles. The battle for the second Leinster spot was fought out between St. Brendan’s and Sacred Heart A. The St. Brendan’s team of Zoe Farrell, Annie Rose Hogan, Mollie King, and Hannah Mulrooney outscored the Sacred Heart B team of Anna Mahon, Sierra Bankole, Hannah Parker, Afiya, Zaman, Madiha Rashid, and Emily Thunder, 4-2. Sierra won 2^nd singles and Anna and Sierra won 1^st doubles for Sacred Heart B. In their 1^st Round, Sacred Heart A, Evelyn Varghese, Bilha Traji, Bayley Conway Bracken, Shruti Yerradoddi, Rachel Ebenezer, and Maya Strade, met Gallen CS, Amber Kelly, Ella Kenny, Ebhlinn Lynam and Ellie Flynn. Ella Kenny prevented a perfect 6 wins for Sacred Heart A with a win, 15/14 score against Bilha. In Round 2, Sacred Heart A scored 5 wins against St. Mary’s, Ciara O’Meara, Yvonne Dazo, Vivenne Feeney, and Aoibhinn Ni Ainle. Again, Bilba was the Sacred Heart player that succumbed to Aoibhinn, 14/15. St. Brendan’s matched Sacred Heart A’s 5-1 win against Gallen. Ella Kenny, for Gallen, outscored St. Brendan’s Annie Rose Hogan 15/7. Round 3 saw Sacred Heart B play Gallen in one of the tightest matches of the competition. Amber, Gallen, outscored Anna, SHS B 15/10. Sierra, SHS B levelled against Ella, Gallen, 15/12. When Hannah, slipped past Ebhlinn 15/14, the match was swinging in favour of SHS B. When Ellie, Gallen, defeated Aafiya, SHS B, the match score was level at 2-2. Gallen won 1^st Doubles 15/12. Second doubles between Hannah and Aafiya, SHS B and Ebhlinn and Ellie, Gallen was back and forth. Neither pair could dominate. Would the match be a draw or would Gallen score a victory. At 14-all, Ebhlinn and Ellie got the shuttle to the floor for a game and match win for Gallen. Meanwhile, St. Brendan’s were scoring a 6-0 win against St. Mary’s. First doubles was St. Mary’s best game, scoring 12 points to St. Brendan’s 15. In the final Round, SHS B defeated St. Mary’s 6-0. Aoibhinn slipped up on the last point to permit Sierra, SHS B a 15/14 win. St. Mary’s also scored well in 2^nd doubles, but couldn’t break the magic 15. When SHS A and St. Brendan’s met head-to-head, the match started with an upset. Evelyn, SHS A, defeated Zoe Farrell, St. Brendan’s 15/6. Bilha, SHS A, could only score 6 against Annie Rose, St. Brendan’s. Then Mollie, St. Brendan’s, outscored Bayley, SHS A, 15/12. SHS A were not lying down. Shruti, SHS A, scored a whopping win against Hannah, 15/3. When the doubles split, with Zoe and Annie Rose winning 1^st doubles, and Bayley and Shruti winning 2^nd doubles, the match finished in a 3-all draw. The race for Runner-up was going down to the wire. Sacred Heart A, with 14 points, played Sacred Heart B, and St. Brendan’s with 18 played CNC. When Zoe, ST. B, defeating Aisling, CNC, St. Brendan’s hopes soared. On the other court, SHS B were making SHS A work for every score they got. Their fight got no positive results. SHS A won giving them 20 points. After Zoe’s win, St. Brendan’s were on 19. Unfortunately for St. Brendan’s, their lack of experience showed. They were held to low digit scores for the remainder of the match, so SHS finished in second, 20 points to 19 for St. Brendan’s. Colaiste Naomh Cormac will represent Offaly in Division 2 Leinster and Sacred Heart School A will represent in Division 3.

BOYS POOL A: Banagher College Colaiste Na Sionna A, Colaiste Naomh Cormac A, St. Brendan’s CS B and St. Mary’s, Edenderry competed in Pool A. CNC A, Sean Lambe, Harry Heffernan, Aran Kelly, and Charlie Lock led off against St. Brendan’s B, John Fogarty, Tom Smyth, Rory Milne, and Duke Makim. Duke Makim scored the best for St. Brendan’s with 9 points against Charlie Lock. CNC recorded a 6-0 win. Banagher College A, Ronan Kehoe, Jack Doorly, Conor Moran, and Conor Donoghue met St. Mary’s, William Ryan, Cian Karstel, Oliver Osip, and Sam Power. St. Mary’s competed strongly in 1^st singles, with William losing to Ronan 13/15 and William and Cian scoring 14 points in 1^st doubles against Ronan and Jack. Banagher A won the remaining games by bigger margins, 6-0 to Banagher A. John Fogarty showed his strength again for St. Brendan’s B when they met Banagher A. With scores of 12 in 1^st singles, and 13 with Tom in 1^st doubles, they still couldn’t break the Banagher A defence. Banagher A racked up another 6-0 win. St. Mary’s took on CNC A in their second match. High scorer for St. Mary’s with 10 was Oliver Osip in 3^rd singles against Aran for CNC, but that wasn’t enough for a win. CNC A scored a 6-0 win. St. Mary’s and St. Brendan’s B fought the first exciting match of Pool A. William led off for St. Mary’s with a 15/14 last gasp win against John of St. Brendan’s. Tom from St. Brendan’s levelled the match for his school with a win against Cian from St. Mary’s. Rory put St Brendan’s B ahead with a win over Oliver, St. Mary’s in 3^rd singles. Sam from St. Mary’s squared the scores with a win against Duke from St. Brendan’s B. William and Cian, St. Mary’s and John and Tom, St. Brendan’s B, fought a cliff hanger in 1^st doubles that determined the outcome of the match. First one pair and then the other scored. The lead shifted back and forth, until the two pairs reached 14 each. William and Cian showed great determination and heart when they scored the 15^th point for a St. Mary’s win. Oliver and Sam secured an outright victory for St. Mary’s with a win in 2^nd doubles against Rory and Duke, St. Brendan’s B. Match score 4-2 in favour of St. Mary’s. If the St. Mary’s v. St. Brendan’s B was close, Banagher A v CNC A was even closer. Each team had won 12 games going into this match, so the head-to-head would determine who finished first and who finished second. Sean, CNC A, played 1^st singles and scored 15 against Ronan’s 10 for BCCNS A. Jack took the court next for BC A and outscored Harry H. for CNC 15/11. Conor M. for BC A scored another win for Banagher with a 15/7 score against Aran for CNC A . Charlie, CNC A’s 4^th singles, outscored Conor D, BC A to leave the match score 2-2. When Sean and Harry H scored a big win for CNC A against Ronan and Jack, BC A, their supporters heaved a sigh of relief. This was short-lived as Conor M and Conor D scored Banagher College A’s third win against Aran and Charlie, CNC A to level the match. In badminton, if two teams are level on wins, total points scored are counted, if this is the same, points in the head-to-head are counted. When scores were checked in the Banagher A-Colaiste Naomh Cormac A match, a discrepancy was discovered. The match official was consulted and the scores adjusted, 74 points apiece. So 1^st doubles had to play again to determine who would finish on top to meet the runner-up in Pool B and who would meet the winner of Pool B. The results were the same as in the Pool game. Sean and Harry H outscored Ronan and Jack for a CNC A win.

POOL B: Pool B didn’t have the same drama as Pool A. Ard Scoil Chiaran Naofa, Clara, were run-away winners, dropping only 2 of their 18 games to finish on top of the Pool. CNC B took one of the games from the ASCN team of Jake Cornally, Dean Bracken, Lewis O’Neil, and Jack Cornally. The Colaiste Naomh Cormac B team of Conor Doyle, Isaac Holland, Rían Gralton, Harry Bracken and Luke Guinan, competed well with 3 12/15 losses. Conor and Luke scored at 15/7 win in 1^st doubles against Jake and Dean, ASCN to prevent a whitewash ASCN 5, CNC B 1. St. Brendan’s A was the other team to score a win against ASCN. Charlie DeForge won 4^th singles 15/10 for the team of Ryan Kelly, Michael Conneely, Gearoid Oakley, Charlie DeForge, John Fogarty, and Rory Milne. Banagher College B felt the full force of ASCN. The best the Banagher team of Noah Swan, Charlie Flaherty, Patrick Larkin, Oisin Molloy-Berry, John Searson, and Seamus Corberry could do was the 13 Patrick scored in 3^rd singles against Lewis O’Neill. With ASCN sitting on 16 points the real race was for the runner-up spot. St. Brendan’s A got off to a flying start with Ryan, Michael, and Gearoid scoring wins against the Banagher College trio of John, Seamus, and Charlie Flaherty. Patrick again stepped up for BC B and scored a massive win against Charlie DeForge, St. Brendan’s A. St. Brendan’s A answered with a win in 1^st doubles when Ryan and Michael outscored John and Seamus, BC B, 15/13. Banagher B retaliated with a win for Patrick and Charlie Flaherty 15/12 against Gearoid and Charlie DeForge, St. Brendan’s A. Match score, 4-2 in favour of St. Brendan’s A. Colaiste Naomh Cormac met Banagher in the battle of the Bs. The teams fought one of the best games of their Pool with only one of the losing players not reaching double digit scores. Conor, Isaac, and Rian CNC B all finished on top against John, Charlie Flahery, and Seamus with scores of 15/12,15/11, and 15/12. Patrick again scored a win in 4^th singles against Luke, CNC B. Conor Teamed with Luke for a win in 1^st singles, then Patrick and Seamus, BC B, defeated Isaac and Harry B 15/13. St. Brendan’s A and Colaiste Naomh Cormac B were level on 5 points apiece going into the final match of the competition, the outcome of which would determine the runner-up. Conor scored the first win for CNC B in 1^st singles. Michael, Gearoid, and Charlie DeForge followed with 3 wins for St. Brendan’s A. The doubles game were close and hard fought, with St. Brendan’s A winning both, 15/13 and 15/14, to score a 5-1 win and a place in a semifinal.

THE PLAY-OFFS; SEMIFINAL 1 pitted Colaiste Naomh Cormac A against St. Brendan’s A. Sean Lambe CNC A defeated Ryan Kelly, St. B A 15/14; Michael Conneely followed with a win for St. B A against Harry Heffernan, CNC A 15/11. Aran Kelly put CNC ahead with an 15/11 win against Gearoid Oakley. Charlie DeForge St. B A finished the singles with a win against Charlie Lock, 15/6. Sean and Harry, CNC A teamed to win another 15/14 game, 1^st singles against Ryan and Michael. CNC A closed the match with a 15/10 win in 2^nd singles against Gearoid and Charlie DeForge for a 4-2 CNC A win. St. Brendan’s were left to rue one or two points which could have swung the match to them. Ard Scoil Chiaran Naofa met Banagher College A in SEMIFINAL 2. Jake Cornally, got ASCN the start they wanted with a big win against Ronan Kehoe, Banagher College A. Dean Bracken followed with another big win for ASCN against Jack Doorly, BC A. Conor Moran and Conor Donoghue answered for Banagher A with 15/7 and 15/12 wins against Lewis O’Neill and Jack Cornally, ASCN. Jack and Dean, ASCN scored a 15/12 win against Ronan and Jack, BC A . Then Conor and Conor scored a 15/8 win for BC A against Lewis and Jack, ASCN. With the game score 3-all, points were counted. The big wins in 1^st and 2^nd singles was enough to award the victory to ASCN, 72/62. The FINAL between Ard Scoil Chiaran Naofa and Colaiste Naomh Cormac A started like the two semifinals with the score level after the singles at 2-2. CNC drew first blood with a Sean Lambe win against Jake Cornally, 15/12. Dean Bracke , ASCN, outscored Harry Heffernan, CNC , 15/8. Lewis O’Neill put ASCN ahead by outscoring Aran Kelly, CNC, 15/6. Charlie Lock, CNC only allowed Jack Cornally, ASCN, 1 more point in a15,7 win. When Jake and Dean won 1^st doubles against Sean and Harry for ASCN, the match swung towards ASCN. Lewis and Jack finished the match with another win for ASCN against Aran and Charlie, to claim the U14 winner’s trophy for Ard Scoil Chiaran Naofa. They will go forward to represent Offaly in Division 2 Leinster. Colaiste Naomh Cormac will represent in Division 3.