Badminton is back in Offaly

The first Offaly badminton competition of the 2021-2022 season was played in Sacred Heart School, Tullamore. Six schools participated in the U19 Boys and Girls Offaly Blitz to select the teams to represent Offaly in the Leinster Post-Primary Schools finals in Dublin on 3 February.

GIRLS COMPETITION

Pool 1: Ard Scoil Chiarán Naofa’s team of Rachel Bracken, Eve Kelly, Abbie Fagan, Niamh Phelan, and Hannah Cronin led off against what proved to be a very strong Colaiste Naomh Cormac team of Sarah Meacle, Emily Rose Johnson, Caroline Meacle, and Emma Rosney. CNC’s first 3 singles players were very strong and scored resounding wins. Only when the experienced Niamh Phelan, ASCN, met Emma Rosney, CNC, playing her first competitive game, did ASCN score a win.

The doubles went the way of the singles. Caroline and Sarah Meacle outscored Rachel Bracken and Abbie Fagan in 1st doubles. In 2nd doubles, Niamh Phelan and Eve Kelly very cleverly played the less experienced player and defeated Emily Rose Johnson and Emma Rosney.

Game two pitted Sacred Heart 1 against Sacred Heart 3. Kerri Healion and Shannyn Healion, Sacred Heart 3, were the only experienced players on the teams. Other members of SHS 3 were Suzie Raben, Andji Plugchieva and Jamila Mokran. Sacred Heart 1 players were Ella O’Sullivan, Emma Dumpleton, Hannah Walsh, Hannah Fraser, and Caoimhe Hyland.

Sacred Heart 3 made a clean sweep of the 6 games. Hannah Walsh and Caoimhe Hyland took 10 points off Andji Plugchieva and Jamila Mojran for the highest SHS1 score. Ard Scoil Chiarán Naofa met Sacred Heart 1 in Round 2. The results were ASCN 6, SHS1 0. Again, Hannah Walsh and Caoimhe Hyland were the high point scorers for SHS 1, with 10 in their doubles against Eve Kelly and Hannah Cronin.

CNC versus SHS3 was the next game in Round 2. Kerri Healion led off for SHS3 with a narrow 15/13 against Sarah Meacle, CNC. Emma Rosney suffered the only other loss for CNC when Andji Plugchieva, SHS1 won 15/12. Going into Round 3, CNC, ASCN, and SHS3 were all level on 8 wins apiece in their 2 matches, so Round 3 was crunch. In the first game, Ard Scoil Chiarán Naofa met Sacred Heart 3, and the two teams played out a 3-3 draw. Kerri and Shannyn Healion won the singles games and their doubles game. Suzie Raben and Andji Plugchieva won singles, and Andji and Jamila Mokran won their doubles.

This left the two teams level on 11 wins. When CNC defeated SH1 6-0, Pool 1 had a definite winner, CNC with 14 points. To determine the runner-up, all points in all games were totalled. In badminton, only if games and total points are equal, does the head to head score determine the winner.

SHS 3 were ahead 147 to 135 going into the final game. ASCN outscored SHS 3 67-60, but the 7 point win was not enough to secure a place in a semi-final, and SHS 3 went through 207 points to 202 points.

Pool 2:

Pool 2 started much like Pool 1, with two teams level, this time both Banagher College and St. Brendan’s scored 5-1 victories. Banagher College were represented by Leanne Mahon, Emma Grogan, Aoibhe Dooley and Naoise Dooley against the Killina team of Edel Hickey, Kiela O’Toole, Áine Buckley, Leah Gleeson, Ella Rabbittee, and Aicha Chalouche. Sacred Heart 2 players were Eimear Cullen, Jennifer Pedro, Jessica Raben, Adriana Strembu, Rachel Gorman, and Ella Conneff. Killina won 4th singles against Banagher College.

Sacred Heart 2 was high scorer in obly 1st singles against St. Brendan’s. St Brendan’s CS fielded Denise Connor, Miriam O’Neill, Caoimhe Carroll, Aoibhinn Bergin, Claire Kennedy and Michelle O’Neill. Round 2 started to divide the teams. Banagher College dominated against Sacred Heart 2, scoring 6 wins.

Banagher College were clear front runners with 11 wins. St. Brendan’s held on to 2nd place even though they only scored 2 points against Killina, one being an exciting 15/14 win in 2nd doubles. In the 3rd round, Banagher College proclaimed their dominance. On the scoresheet against St. Brendan’s, Banagher scores are a list of 15’s except for 4th singles where Claire Kennedy, St. Brendan’s saved game point to win 15/14.

However, Killina matched the Banagher effort, with their own 5-1 win against Sacred Heart 2. The 5-1 win leap-frogged Killina over St. Brendan’s into the semi-final spot. Unfortunately, time constraints cancelled the semi-finals and catapulted the Pool winners, Colaiste Naomh Cormac and Banagher College straight into the final. The final: Even though Banagher College dominated their group and Colaiste Naomh Cormac were only competitive in their group, the final became a non-event.

Sarah Meacle, Emily-Rose Johnson, and Caroline Meacle hardly gave Leanne Mahon, Emma Grogan and Naoise Dooley a look-in. Aoibhe Dooley pulled a 15/10 win against Emma Rosney in 4th mixed, but CNC bounded back with wins in both doubles. Colaiste Naomh Cormac are scheduled to represent Offaly in Division 2 Leinster. Banagher College will represent in Division 2.

Boys Competition:

It is always a challenge to knock the champions off their throne, and the U19 Boys competition was no exception. Both Ard Scoil Chiarán Naofa and Banagher College Colaiste na Sionna were up for the challenge to dethrone Colaiste Naomh Cormac.

Round 1: The ASCN team of Neil Robbins, Conor McEvoy, Jamie Phelan, Eoghan Cornally and Ben Kennedy got a flying start when they defeated Killina 2 by the score 5-1. Only Alex Gleeson, Killina 2 was able to penetrate the ASCN armour, and he did that with a 15/14 win. Alex and Adam Brickland came close in 1st doubles, but lost on the last shot, 14/15. Other K2 team members were Jamie Leonard and Eoghan Neville.

Banagher College stayed level with ASCN when they defeated St. Brendan’s CS 5-1. Kieran Clancy, Cathal Flannery, and Conor Mahon all won their singles. Kieran and Conor, and Cathal, teamed with Martin Gorman, won the doubles. Patrick Cleary won 3rd singles for St. Brendan’s. His teammates were Lee Hogan, Simon Bracken, Gareth Bergin, Cian McDowell, and Simon Bracken.

The final game pitted Colaiste Naomh Cormac against Killina 1. The CNC boys made no mistakes. The team of Adam Screeney, Andrew Johnson, James Mahon, Richard Casey and Richard Bracken defeated Daniel Dunne, Luke Guinan, Joshua Tolbert, and Ruraí Pennick 6-0.

Round 2: ASCN showed they were vulnerable against St. Brendan’s. But for two 15/14 wins, the score could easily have been 2-4 instead of the 4-2 that ASCN won by. This round saw the introduction of Pablo Lopez and Antonio Paz for St. Brendan’s and Ben Kennedy for ASCN.

Killina 1 met Killina 2 and played out a 3-3 draw. Adam Brickland and Alex Gleeson won singles and Adam and Alex teamed to win doubles scoring Killina 2’s 3 points.For Killina 1, Joshua Tolbert and Ruraí Pennick won singles, and Ruraí and Joshua teamed to win doubles.

Banagher College put their challenge to the test against Colaiste Naomh Cormac. Conor Mahon outscored Richard Casey in 4th singles. When Cathal Flannery teamed with Martin Gorman, they nearly pulled a win in 2nd doubles, losing14/15. Match score, 5-1 to CNC.

Round 3: ASCN kept their challenge for top honours on track with a 6-0 win against Killina 1 in their 3rd match of the day. CNC matched them with a 6-0 win against St. Brendan’s. Banagher College didn’t falter in their challenge, scoring a 6-0 victory against Killina 2.

Round 4: Round 4 would determine if ASCN was still in the race to the top. They faced CNC in the head-to-head. CNC prevailed 6-0. Conor McEvoy and Eoghan Cornally fought hard, but fell short 13/15. Banagher College pulled themselves back into the race with a 6-0 win against Killina 1. In the final game of Round 4, St. Brendan’s and Killina 2 played out a 3-3 draw.

Round 5: Heading into the final round, CNC were on 23 points, Banagher College, 18, and ASCN on 15. With a game in hand against Killina 2, CNC would be hard toppled from the throne. Banagher College put in a massive effort to do just that, winning the first 5 games to earn them a score of 23. Only Eoghan Cornally and Conor McEvoy restored some honour for ASCN.

The days play finished with Adam Screeney and Andrew Johnson playing first and second singles against Adam Brickland and Alex Gleeson. With wins in both games, CNC were declared Offaly U19 champions 25-23, with Banagher College as runners-up. Due to time constraints the remaining CNC-Killina 2 games were not played. Since the match between Killina 1 and St. Brendan’s couldn’t influence the top two places, that match was also cancelled.

Coming Fixtures: The next event on the Offaly calendar will be the U14 Offaly Blitz on 27 January in St. Brendan’s Community School. This is followed on 3 February with the U19 Leinster finals in the Baldoyle Badminton Centre, Dublin.