* Don’t think this ever got into the paper last week, so have taken out the outdated material on hockey and badminton. Aisling’s great win is still worth noting!
SQUASH: After many previous encounters, Aisling Blake from Sligo won her first national women’s squash title when she beat Irish No 1 Madeline Perry at Fitzwilliam LTC in Dublin. Her victory ended Perry’s 14-year reign as Irish champion. From the start of the match, Blake attacked the ball, and took full advantage when Perry was wrong footed. She won the opening game 11-8 and although Perry came back to win the second second 11-5, Blake then took command winning the next two games and scoring a famous victory. It has been a memorable few months for Blake, recently elected president of the Women’s Squash Association.
Next up for both players is KL Open in Malaysia, starting on March 26. Blake faces Omeny Abdel Kawy of Egypt in the opening round, while Perry, the No 12 seed, plays a qualifier.
BADMINTON: A Leinster badminton team heads to English County Championships in Guildford ON MARCH 23, aiming to retain their place in the first division of the league. After two rounds of matches, Leinster lies seventh of ten teams. With three matches to go, they face Surrey 2 and Middlesex, both ranked below them on the table, and Mid-Glamorgan, currently in fourth place. The team is: Women – Fiona Glennon, Valerie Martin, Fionnuala McCourt, Aisling Ryan, Grace Webster.Men – Nigel Boyne, David Gannon, Liam O’Leary, Daniel Magee, Owen Marron, Niall Tierney.
SNOOKER: Michelle Sherwin of the Q Club in Clondalkin consolidated her position at the top of the Irish women’s snooker rankings at the final rounds of matches last weekend, hosted by the Q Club. She maintained her unbeaten record this season by beating her Q Club team mate Claire Mills in the tournament final.
In the Celtic Links Ferries Open hosted by the 147 Club in Wexford, Colm Gilcreest beat George Tierney to win the title. Gilcreest had put out Martin McCrudden in the semi-finals, while Tierney beat Brendan O’Donoghue. High break of the tournament was a 130 potted by Davy Morris who also had a 122 to his credit.
TABLE TENNIS: A silver medal for the cadet girls team proved the highlight for Ireland at the Junior and Cadet Six Nations table tennis tournament in Preston, England.
Wins over Wales, Scotland and Guernsey, ensured second place for Rebecca Finn and Katie McGlone behind England, with McGlone also taking an individual bronze medal in the singles.
On a good weekend for the girls, Irish senior champion Ashley Givan and rising talent Hannah Lynch Dawson combined to win bronze for Ireland in a closely-fought junior girls competition. It could have been even better, with Givan and Lynch Dawson unlucky to lose 3-4 to England. Lynch-Dawson also took an individual bronze medal.
Closest scoring of the weekend came in the junior boys competition, where Ryan Farrell of Eastpoint and Kevin Hutchinson of UCD finished joint second on points but found themselves relegated to fourth on count-back. In the singles, Farrell won the consolation title.
Another bronze medal went to the cadet boys’ team, with Alex Gillen winning the consolation title in the singles.
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