Posts in category: National Events

Continental visitor Leo Stynen (Germany) was the toast of Ballymena at the weekend when he won the North Antrim Open title after beating Irish No3 Daryl Strong in a dramatic premier class final while the hard hitting Barry Dickson, resilient blocker Stephen Turkington and local hero Adam McIlmoyle all tasted victory in the supporting events.  The organisers were also delighted that former Irish international Jimmy O’Hara (Ballymena) competed, incredibly having represented Ireland as far back as the 1940’s.

The premier class was packed with incident and shocks galore as fancied runners Pawel Sulcowski (Poland), Gervis Knox (Trillick), Mark McGuigan (Rasharkin), Brian Devereux (Wexford) and Gary Crawford (Doagh) fell by the wayside but Stynen and Strong remained solid throughout the dangerous preliminaries. The Queens destroyer, who will be competing for Ireland at the upcoming world championships in Moscow, then pulverised “Fast Phil” Wallace with relentless jackhammer backhands in the first semi while the 26 year old German attacker Stynen had too much quality for East Down Churches champion Peter Clarke who snatched a game before his fate was sealed in four brutal sets.

The final saw Stynen launch attack after attack with pronounced forehand loops doing most of the damage while Strong countered at every opportunity.  With the former Ulster champion down 2-1 in sets but leading 4-2 in the fourth Stynen took a severe nose bleed and play was halted as tournament referee Brian Orr, a former Ballymena Open champion, allowed the German to take a medical break.  When the match recommenced Strong seemed to have lost his impetus while Stynen quickly got back into his rhythm to win the fourth and the title. 

Desperado Dickson is a firm crowd favourite with his no compromise approach to the game admirable but he had to show uncharacteristic patience before smashing his way to a hard earned success over combination bat magician Robin Agnew in the class A semi.  In the final slick topspin wizard Ricky Davies got caught up in pure trench warfare which suited Dickson who dispatched his worthy adversary in five entertaining sets.

Another Greystone league supremo, Stephen Turkington, who has been making waves on the rural table tennis circuit for some time grasped his opportunity to show his pedigree at provincial level with a three set demolition of experienced campaigner Ian Davies in the class B final and there was rapturous applause when Ballymena Academy player Adam McIlmoyle gained revenge over club colleague Peter Neeson in four close sets to take class C.  Event Organiser Norman McBride had devised a tournament format that due to its popularity amongst competitors could well become the template for future Ulster competitions.

Meanwhile University of Ulster, Jordanstown team of Keith Knox, Gervis “Razor” Knox and Robert “Sting” Fisher have been crowned Belfast and District Premier league champions after convincingly defeating nearest rivals Glenburn in a rearranged clash.   

North Antrim Open Results

Premier singles

Semi Finals

Leo Stynen (Germany) bt Peter Clarke (Annahilt) 3-1

Daryl Strong (Belfast) bt Phil Wallace (Ballyclare) 3-0

Final

Stynen bt Strong 3-1

Class A singles

Semi Finals

Richard Davies (Ballyclare) bt Mark Lynns (Ballymoney) 3-0

Barry Dickson (Portadown) bt Robin Agnew (Cookstown) 3-2

Final

Dickson bt Davies 3-2

Class B singles

Semi Finals

Ian Davies (Ballyclare) bt Arnold Morgan (Banbridge) 3-0

Stephen Turkington (Portadown) bt Jimmy O’Hara (Ballymena) 3-0

Final

Turkington bt Davies 3-0

Class C singles

Semi Finals

Adam McIlmoyle (Ballymena) bt James Dillon (Coleraine) 3-0

Peter Neeson (Ballymena) bt Thomas McCann (Dunloy) 3-1

Final

McIlmoyle bt Neeson 3-1

The second and final day of the Butterfly National Junior Championships saw Ireland’s top Cadet players play for the Cadet National titles, while some of the country’s youngest developing talent played off for the National Under 10 titles.

In the Under 14 Girls, all eyes were on Ashley Givan and Edel O’Reilly as they progressed through the rounds as expected to meet once again in the Final. These international team-mates have had many battles over the season and it was no different in the Nationals. Givan raced into an early lead, before O’Reilly fought back to win a good 2nd set 14-12. The 3rd game was a very nervy affair, which Givan clinched 12-10, before taking the title in the 4th set. O’Reilly battled for every point, but it was not be her day and Givan adds a second National Singles title to her National Senior win earlier in the season. Emily Burns belied her 7th seeding to progress to the semi-final and will be delighted with her 3rd place.

In the Under 14 Boys competition, perhaps the match of the weekend took place in the quarter-final. Club Donic’s Conor Mullally faced top seed Ryan Farrell and took a 2-0 set lead. Some astonishing rallies and great back court play by Mullally set up a potential shock result. However, Farrell produced a great fight back to take the next 3 sets and progress. Farrell then faced Jonathan Porter and was clinical in a straight sets win. Neil Irwin progressed to the Final with wins over Michael Lagan and Under 12 National Champion, Kevin Hutchinson. Fireworks were expected, and it was Farrell who delivered in style with a comfortable 3-0 victory to claim his first National title. Hutchinson claimed 3rd with another impressive performance against Porter.

In the Under 10 competition, the emphasis was on providing lots of matches to the stars of the future. Lots of fun was had with Kerry O’Mahoney eventually claiming the Girls title with a win over Marie Williams. In the Boys, Martin Williams claimed the title with a victory over Donie Mullally.

Many thanks to all the players and spectators who took part in another fantastic National Championships – congratulations to the new Champions and thanks to sponsors Butterfly and to all the volunteers who made the event so enjoyable for the players.

At the Butterfly National Junior Championships in DCU, Day One proved to be a day of highly entertaining table tennis, with some titanic struggles, some wonderful play and some surprises along the way.

The Under 12 Girls was always a difficult one to call with some great young talent being developed around the country. The first semi-final pitted the McGlone sisters Elayna and Katie together. Both players were members of the Silver medal winning squad at the Six Nations Primary Schools Championships and a keen battle was sure to ensue. Katie took the first set but Elayna showed tremendous battling qualities to eventually clinch an enthralling five setter and progress to the Final. The other semi-final saw Laura Finn, the top seed, progress past Valentina Puotkalis to set up a Finn v McGlone Final. This Final saw some great attacking play and the match swayed one way and then another, with a final set decider required. The final set went to 7-7 and the title was there for the taking. Finn stood up to the plate to claim the win to great cheers from the appreciative crowd.

In the Under 17 Girls, National Senior Champion Ashley Givan was many people’s favourite. She faced Roisin O’Reilly in the semi-final, and despite dropping the first set looked comfortable enough recording a 3-1 victory. In the other semi-final, Sara Dolan raced into a 2-0 lead over Rebecca Kenny and despite dropping the 3rd set 11-3, showed good resolve to close out the match 3-1. So Dolan and Givan in the Final, and again the crowd was treated to a classic 5 set match. This was Dolan’s last National Junior Championship and she showed steely resolve and produced some fantastic shots to take the last set 11-8 and become the deserved National Junior Champion, adding to her National Under 21 title and National Senior Doubles title to round off a pretty spectacular year for the Eastpoint player.

In the Under 12 Boys, Tom Davis of Club Donic emerged from the pack and produced the goods under pressure to progress to the Semi-Final – a fantastic achievement. Here, he ran into Eric Sheckleton who recovered from slow starts in the 2nd and 3rd set to come back and win in straight sets. Davis will be delighted with his display and we should expect to see more from him next season. The other semi-final had a familiar look to it, as Jonathan Porter faced Kevin Hutchinson. Both players really know how to attack and soon drew the attention of the large crowd. Hutchinson was just too good today, closing out the match in straight sets, to set up a Leinster v Ulster Final. The Final was a nervy affair, with the 3rd set going to 17-15, but Hutchinson was not to be beaten and again was a deserved National Champion.

So to the Junior Boys – many of whom have lit up the Senior scene this season. With Logue, McCreery and Robinson just returned from the Luxembourg Open, the standard of play was high as expected. From team-mates to rivals so quickly! Logue was paired with McCreery in the semi-final and the two produced some great rallies – McCreery eventually won through despite Logue displaying great fighting spirit. Robinson was paired with Declan O’Brien and was just too good today for the Munster player in a reverse of their match at the National Seniors where O’Brien eliminated Robinson in the last 16. An all-Ulster Final saw McCreery produce some sparkling play – he looked dominant throughout , eventually winning in 4 sets. 

Paul McCreery finishes the season sitting at the top on the Butterfly National Senior Rankings which have been released by the ITTA today. This illustrates a meteoric rise for the young player, who began the season ranked 10 in the Ranking List. After a strong showing at the Senior Classification way back in August ’09 when he was just pipped in the Final by Sam Hanley, he has had a real breakthrough season at Senior level, winning both the Munster Open and the Fermanagh Open and finishing Runner-up in the Butterfly National Seniors. Daryl Strong has also had a fantastic season, moving from 9^th to 3^rd in the National Rankings and earning a call-up to the National Squad for the World Team games in Russia. Another big mover was ALSAA’s Sam Logue who moved up eight places and will start next season at 6 in the Ranking list. First year Junior Declan O’Brien has also made remarkable progress up the list and now sits in 12^th place, from 31st at the start of the season – this developing talent will be one to keep any eye on in 2010/11.

In the Butterfly National Ladies Rankings, 14 year old newly crowned National Senior Champion Ashley Givan tops the rankings and could be in line to finish top of the Senior, Junior and Cadet National rankings which would be a remarkable achievement for the Clogher youngster. Again, youth is on the rise in the Ladies list and Connacht’s Sarah Timlin has been the faster mover at the top end of the rankings, moving from 17^th place to 6^th – again one to keep an eye on next year. Balgriffin’s Lavinia Maties has also had an impressive season, moving from 24^th to 13^th as has Clodagh McCullagh of York Road who moved from 35th to 14th in the list.

 Final End of Season Ranking lists are available to download here.

Ulster retained the Senior Inter-provincial table tennis title at Breaffy House, Castlebar in fine style with a brilliant final 6-4 victory over old enemy Leinster, with no less than three of the five player squad being still in the junior ranks.

Ashley Robinson (15 years) from Clogher was the star of the show with a massive victory over National Senior Champion John Murphy in the deciding match, before defeating leading junior Sam Logue of ALSAA TTC.  Robinson’s raw talent was recognised by the ITTA at the Championship Dinner when he was awarded the new Tommy Caffrey ‘Player of the Tournament’ Trophy. Following the presentation of the trophy, Caffrey, who has now played in over 50 Interprovincial tournaments, enthralled the crowd with a speech covering some of his many memories of this wonderful event.

Irish No.1 and top Ulster player Paul McCreery (17 years) was equally impressive as he continued his meteoric rise, also scoring  vital wins over Murphy to reverse the 2010 National Championship Men’s final score line, and over the 2009 Irish champion Gavin Maguire. Ulster anchor Daryl Strong (Queens) gave his customary consistent performance by taking out Maguire, with Ulster’s female starlet Ashley Givan (14 years) from Dungannon securing the Ulster gold medal with an impressive win over Sabina Devereux.

In the Veterans event, Leinster were pushed very hard to retain their title for the 10^th Year running. A dogged home performance from Connacht saw the title deciding match go to a final Singles battle between Kariem Sabir of Connacht and Dave Pemberton of Leinster. This was an enthralling 5 setter which Sabir looked to be favourite to win having taken a 5-3 lead in the 5^th set. Pemberton was not to be beaten however, and displayed some top class table tennis to fight back and claim the 5^th set and the title for the Leinster Veterans.

In the Under 21’s, Leinster also claimed Gold and indeed were the dominant province, dropping very few matches on their way to gold. With 9-1 victories over Munster and Connacht and a 6-2 victory over Ulster, the young Leinster players were deservedly crowned as Interprovincial Under 21 Champions. Munster finished in 2^nd position following a 6-5 victory in a closely fought match with Ulster.

Butterfly Irish Inter-provincial Table Tennis Results Summary(Click for full):

Senior: 1. Ulster; 2. Leinster; 3. Munster; 4 Connaught.

Veteran: 1. Leinster; 2. Connaught; 3. Ulster; 4. Munster.

Under 21: 1. Leinster; 2. Munster; 3. Ulster; 4. Connaught.

Ulster Junior Team Event                            

Ballymena Academy                     

Saturday 27 March 2009

Division 1

1^st           Glenburn 1         Annalise Walker, Emma Ludlow, Laura Finn          4-0

2^nd          AS Legends         Adam McIlmoyle, Peter Neeson, Jack Neeson   3-1

3^rd           Glenburn 2         Andrew Hopkins, Zak Wilson, Ben Sullivan            2-2

4^th           AS Wizz                Thomas McCann, Connor White, Philip Martin    1-3

5^th           AS Median          Darren Tweed, Aaron Steele, David Barnes          0-3

Division 2

1^st           Glenburn 3         Rebecca Finn, Megan Carson, Adam Barr              4-0

2^nd          Islandmagee      Iain Dick, Mark Tweed, Jonathan Armstrong        3-1

3^rd           AS Thunder        Jonny Wilson, Andrew Herbison, Adam Steele   2-2

4^th           Glenburn 4         Glenn McCormack, Zach Ng, James McGrath, Matthew Borne    1-3

5^th           Glenburn 5         John Smith, Daniel Bell, Elizabeth Cathcart, Owen Cathcart           0-4

Report by Tony Martin

The Leinster Premier League which was staged in a central venue at ESB Sportco, Ringsend, Dublin has its final session of matches where the leaders Eastpoint 1 (Daniel Keenan, Mark O’Flynn, John Bowe) and there closest rivals UCD 1 (John Murphy, Sam Logue, Ryan Flood) met to decide who wins the title. Eastpoint only needed a draw to clinch the title and UCD 1 needed a win. Eastpoint got off to a great start saw Daniel Keenan beating Sam Logue but John Murphy levelled the match beating Mark O’Flynn.

John Bowe then accounted for Ryan Flood in a five setter but John Murphy levelled the match 2-2 beating Daniel Keenan. UCD went into the lead by Sam Logue having an easy win over John Bowe so it was up to the final match to decide where the title goes. This match was between Mark and Ryan which saw Ryan winning 3-1 and the holders UCD 1 retaining their title.

In the individuals Mark O’Flynn (Eastpoint) was the winner and Kevin Mackey (Pioneers) was runner-up, see individual results and final league table below.

Results from Sunday 21^st March 2010

UCD 1 beat UCD 2                          6 – 0

Eastpoint 1 beat Athlone 1           5 – 1

Pioneers 1 beat UCD 2                  6 – 0

Pioneers 1 beat Athlone 1            5 – 1

UCD 1 beat Eastpoint 1                 4 – 2

Individuals after Session 3

Mark O’Flynn (E/Point)          12/16  – WINNER

Kevin Mackey (Pioneers)        11/16  – R/U

Sam Logue (UCD 1)                         10/16

Dave Pemberton (Pioneers)    10/16

John Strange (Pioneers)               9/16

Daniel Keenan (E/Point)               7/16

Sam Hanley (E/Point)                    7/16

Ryan Flood (UCD 1)                         7/16

Kieran Burke (Athlone)                 6/16

Brian Finn (Athlone)                       6/16

John Murphy (UCD 1)                   6/16

M. Szymanski (UCD 1)                   6/16

Li Shizhao (UCD 1)                            4/16

Niall McDonnell (UCD 2)                4/16

Conor Fahy (UCD 1)                        4/16

John Bowe (E/Point)                      3/16

Gavin Maguire (E/point)               3/16

Ryan Farrell (E/Point)                    3/16      

Robbie Becker (UCD 2)                 2/16

Sarah Dolan (E/Point)                    1/12

Kariem Sabir (Athlone)                  0/16

Will Gallagher (UCD 2)                   0/16

Robert Gavin (Athlone)                  0/16

Matt Finlay (UCD 2)                       0/16

A fantastic day of table tennis saw John Murphy claim his 3rd National Senior Mens title in 4 years and 14 year old Ashley Givan becoming the youngest ever Senior Women’s Champion…For event photos check out:

http://www.sportsfile.com/more-images/10030059/5000/

For full results…click here

Men

1.John Murphy

2.Paul McCreery

3.Keith Knox

3.Daryl Strong

Women

1. Ashley Givan

2. Rebecca Kenny

3. Clodagh McCullagh

3. Sara Dolan

U21 G

1. Sara Dolan

2. Rebecca Kenny

U21 B

1. Paul McCreery

2. Daniel Keenan

3. Gavin Maguire

3. Sam Logue

Restricted Singles

1. Kevin Devanney
2. Conor Fahey

Doubles Men

1. Murphy/Nolan
2. McCreery/Graham

Doubles Women

1. Dolan/Dennett
2. Kenny/Kenny

Wheelchair Singles

TBC(Final deferred)

Leinster Junior Masters

Junior Boys
1 S Zhao Li
2 W Gallagher
3 M Finlay

Junior Girls
1 S Byrne
2 M Slattery
3 A Rock

Cadet Boys
1 S Zhao Li
2 C Mullally
3 C Kelly

Cadet Girls
1 M Slattery
2 A L Hayes
3 K McGlone

U12 Boys
1 K Hutchinson
2 T Davis
3 B’O Toole

U12 Girls
1 E Dolan
2 K Hayes
3 S Cashen

U10 Boys
1 D Mullally
2 C Gallagher
3 E McGovern

U10 Girls
1 K Hayes
2 N Nguyen
3 J Hayes