SQUASH: Madeline Perry won her 13th national title and Arthur Gaskin his first at the Irish Squash National Champions in Fitzwilliam, Dublin.
In her final against perennial rival Aisling Blake, Perry had to work hard after Blake won the opening game 11-7. Perry came back to win the next two both at 11-8, but Blake then found a second wind winning the fourth 11-9 and forcing a tie-breaking fifth game. It meant the World No 4 had to be at her best to seal her 13th title 11-7 in the fifth.
Carlow’s Arthur Gaskin won his first title with victory over John Rooney of Galway, champion for the past two years. Gaskin got off to a blistering start winning the opener 11-7. Rooney, currently assistant squash coach at Yale University in the USA, dug deep to win the second 15-14, but Gaskin was a man on a mission and wrapped up the match in the next two sets. Winning the play-off for third place was the ageless Derek Ryan, who beat young pretender Rory Byrne in straight sets.
SWIMMING: Barry Murphy broke the Irish record for the 50m butterfly on the final day of the Irish Short Course Swimming Championships in Lisburn. Murphy knocked half a second off the old record when he swam 24.03 seconds in the heats and then improved that to 23.95 in the final.
In the 1500m final, Brendan Gibbons from Athlone and Conor Turner of Aer Lingus went under the existing Irish junior record. Gibbons swam a time of 8 minutes 12.35 seconds with Turner just behind on 8:12.73.
Sycerika McMahon finished off her weekend with another Irish junior and senior record in the 200m breaststroke of 2 mins 27.18 secs. She also picked up gold in the 400m individual medley.
In the men’s 400m individual medley Andrew Meegan of Aer Lingus just touched the finish ahead of Philip Duffy from St Paul’s and Galway’s Cian Duffy.
Meegan, along with Turner, Sean O’Brien and Barry Murphy was part of the Aer Lingus quartet that won the 4×100 medley relay. With Gavin Truman replacing O’Brien, the team also picked up gold in the 4×100 freestyle.
TARGET SHOOTING: Ray Kane broke the Irish air rifle record at the RIAC Meet in Luxembourg not once but twice. On the first day of shooting, Kane clocked a score of 585, improving that to 589 a day later, when he shot one perfect 100. Also competing was Mark Dennehy who equalled his personal best score of 568 on Day 2 having shot 585 on the opening day of competition.
BADMINTON: Chloe Magee and Scott Evans will lead the Irish men and women’s teams at the European Team Championship in Amsterdam starting February 14. Also selected for the men’s team are Sam Magee, Tony Stepehen and Niall Tierney. Backing up Chloe Magee on the women’s team are Sinead Chambers, Jennie King and Alannah Stephenson.
HOCKEY: Hockey highlight for the holiday period is the Neville Cup on St Stephen’s Day (2.30) when Railway Union and UCD face each other at the Pembroke Wanderers grounds in Ballsbridge. In the semi-finals, UCD beat Glenanne 4-2, while Railway beat Final 3-2. Defending champions Clontarf went out to Portrane on penalties in the opening round of the competition.
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