Posts in category: TTI News

A great day’s table tennis was hosted on Tuesday 27th April by Colaiste Choilm, Cork, as school teams from all 4 provinces travelled South to the home of last year’s 3 time National Champions to play off for the six 2010 National Secondary Schools titles on offer. Under 13 Events
In the Under 13 Girls, Guardian Angels from Dublin faced off against St.Angela’s, Cork for the National title. With top Under 12’s Elayna and Katie McGlone on the team, the Dubliners were always favourites and they duly delivered with a fantastic 8-1 victory. The St.Angela’s girls are to be credited for their battling qualities with Grace Boylan taking their sole singles victory with a five set win. In the Boy’s event, defending champions Ballyroan recorded a 5-4 victory over Monaghan in the semi-final, with Rob McGarry and Barry O’Toole taking the crucial Doubles decider. In the Final, St.Finbarr’s of Cork faced Ballyroan and produced a battling performance but were just not good enough for the experienced Dublin side who retained their title in style. Under 15 EventsSt Angela’s from Cork also made it to the Under 15 Final – they triumphed in this age category in 2009. Here they faced Royal School, Dungannon. The Ulster school raced into an early lead with wins by Ashley Givan and Kerry Jones, but the Cork girls did not want to give up their title easily, and fought back to level 3-3, with wins by Cliodhna Ni Grada, Clara Donnelan Daly and Ceire McCarthy. The match was to be decided on Doubles and Royal School were crowned champions with three victories here, with Ashley Givan and Jayne McClements particularly dominant. In the Boys, home side Colaiste Choilm looked favourites to retain the title. They were drawn against a very tough St Fintan’s Sutton team in the semi-final, containing Ireland’s top ranked Cadet Ryan Farrell and top 10 National Junior Conor Beades. Farrell, Beades and Daniel Murphy opened up a 3-0 lead for the Sutton side, before Irish Junior International Declan O’Brien led a spirited Cork fightback to level at 3-3. Once again, the importance of Doubles at this level was apparent – the defending champions held their nerve to record a 5-4 victory with two doubles wins. In the Final, Colaiste Choilm looked more in control against High School Ballinahinch. Shance O’Connor, Colm and Eoin Murphy and Declan O’Brien all recorded straight sets victories to establish an unassailable lead and the home school were once again National Under 15 Champions. Under 18 EventsAs the Colaiste Choilm Under 15 Boys defended their title, it fell to their school colleagues at Under 18 level to follow suit. In the Girl’s Final, a strong Colaiste Choilm, with wins by Edel O’Reilly, Emily O’Reilly, Dawn Gleeson and Aisling Healy were in command against Victoria College in Belfast, and ultimately recorded a 6-3 victory. In the Boys event, Blackrock College progressed to the Final with a 7-2 victory over Collegiate School, Monaghan. Colaiste Choil also looked in top form as they defeated St.Aloysius of Athlone 9-0 to set up an eagerly anticipated Final. In the Final, Will Gallagher recorded a victory for Blackrock, but that was not enough to stem the tide of Cork victories, with Scott Shellard, Andrew Reck, Ben Ahern, Ian Brown and Alex Cooney all recording wins. A remarkable feat once again by Colaiste Choilm under the guidance of coach Ivan Shorten as they take 3 National titles of the 6 on offer. Congratulations to all participants and thanks to Colaiste Choilm and tournament officials Claire and Michael Healy.

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.