Two of Ireland’s top young talents took part in the Malacky Open in Bratislava recently, and under the supervision of coach John Murphy performed outstandingly at a very high level of European competition.
In the 2002 Boys category, Owen Cathcart progressed all the way to the Quarter Finals before losing out to John Ouebode of Italy. Cathcart almost clinched a last four place and was 2-1 in games and 10-7 up in the 4th, before eventually going down 11-8 in the 5th. The Italian went on to claim a sliver. Coach Murphy was delighted with Cathcart’s performance which included wins over three Slovakian players and an impressive win over Israel’s Philipenko in the last 16. Cathcart will have benefitted tremendously from this experience, which came on the back of a week training with Europe’s finest young talents at the Eurokids training camp.
Katie McGlone also made it through her group and to the Quarter Finals of a very strong 2000 Girls Category, eliminating Austrian Lietner in the group and as well as accounting for local opposition. She eventually lost in the last 8 to Marta Nagypal of Hungary who went on the claim gold in this event. Katie’s goal before the tournament was very clear; leave with a medal. That is what she did in the 2000 girls doubles partnering Marta Nagypal. In the quarter finals they beat a strong Italian pairing before losing out to eventual winners from Slovakia 3-1. This was a good result for Katie as it is never easy to leave European events with medals.
Both of these young players have shown not only with the results but with manner of how they achieved these results that they are competing and beating the best players in Europe. Congratulations to both players and coach.