Click here to view the results from the Stiga Masters Munster Open. Full report to follow.
Earley Brothers on fine form at STIGA Banbridge Junior Challenger
A fantastic Challenger Tournament was held at Banbridge Table Tennis Club on Saturday 14th December 2013.
Young players from all over Ulster assembled in Banbridge to take part in the Stiga Junior Challenger Table Tennis Competition with players travelling as far away as Donegal and Monaghan. The event was sponsored by Stiga and Fitzgerald’s Table Tennis Shop in Dublin. Arnold Morgan was the event Referee and was assisted by John McFaul on the day.
The emphasis was on fun and participation. In Ranking terms, the top 15 Boys at Junior Irish level and the top 8 at Cadet level, and Girls ranked in the top 8 at Junior level or the top 5 at Cadet level were excluded from entering this tournament. The round robin format ensured players had lots of games against opponents of all levels from novice through to some of the rising stars in the sport.
Division 1 was hotly contested with the dangerous duo from Glenburn of Zak & Thomas Earley and Aditya Subramani from Valley TTC. In an absorbing match of blistering attacking shots from Zak and sublime returns from the defender Thomas Earley, it was the relentless attacking shots from Zak that prevailed to beat his twin brother Thomas. Aditya Subramani earned bronze defeating Conor Nugent in an exciting battle.
The home club Banbridge TTC tasted success in Division 2 with their star protégée Matthew McClimonds claiming gold in this division, defeating his Banbridge team mate Scott Dale in the final of this division. For both players, this was the highest result recorded in a Challenger event, and Club Head Coach Arnold Morgan can be very pleased with their achievements. Emyvale TTC player Eanna Fields excelled to finish in 3rd position in this competitive division.
Donegal’s Erin Pyper was dominant in Division 3 defeating the Valley’s Julian Kelly and Niall Connolly in straight sets to win gold. Julian Kelly was in fine form to defeat Emyvales Niall Connolly to win gold with Connolly claiming bronze. Special mention must go to seven year old Sophie Earley from Glenburn who topped the ‘b’ division in this category and finished in 16th position overall on the day. A fantastic result for Sophie.
Another young protégée won Division 4, with 8 year old Joel Smith (Ormeau TTC) claiming his first tournament win. Joel defeated Christopher Curry and William Orr in pulsating matches with Curry just pipping Orr into 2nd position.
Division 5 was a hotly contested division with Valley TTC player Kaiwen Liu coming out on top. Rory Pyper from Donegal in his first Ulster tournament played magnificently to finish in 2nd position in this division with Matthew McLaughlin excelling to finish in bronze position.
For many players, this was their first real taste of an Ulster competition, many of whom are relatively new to the sport. Tournament referee Arnold Morgan praised the players on the standard of play and thanked the various clubs and parents for transporting the players to the tournament.
Stiga Banbridge Junior Challenger Results
Division 1
1 Zak Earley
2 Thomas Earley
3 Aditya Subramani
4 Conor Nugent
5 Ryan Drayne
6 Danny McKenna
Division 2
7 Matthew McClimonds
8 Scott Dale
9 Eanna Fields
10 Connor Smith
11 Eoghan McCloughan
12 Fiona Drayne
Division 3
13 Erin Pyper
14 Julian Kelly
15 Niall Connolly
16 Sophie Earley
17 Ben McMillan
18 Lucy Johnston
Division 4
19 Joel Smith
20 Christopher Curry
21 William Orr
22 Oliver Loughridge
23 Wolfgang Muller
24 Alexander Baine
Division 5
25 Kaiwen Liu
26 Rory Pyper
27 Matthew McClaughlin
28 Mary McKenna
29 Luke Kelly
Special Mentions – Highest Finisher in Category
U15 Boys: Zak Earley
U13 Boys: Conor Nugent
U11 Boys: Eoghan McCloughan
U15 Girls: Fiona Drayne
U13 Girls: Sophie Earley
National Team Tournament: Queens Take Title
Queens University(pictured above with President of ITTA Leinster Branch Mr.Tony Martin) are the National Team Tournament champions following a hard fought event win last weekend in Roadstone. The event saw an entry of 15 teams, spread across 3 Divisions according to ranking position.
Premier Division Review
With a strong team of Daryl Strong, Phil Wallace and Peter Graham, Queens would have expected a strong performance and will be delighted with the victory. They were pushed all the way by both Club Donic sides and showed real steel to claim the National Team title with 4 wins from 4. The deciding match against Club Donic 1(Conor Nolan, Paul O’Toole, Conor Fahy) was an intriguing match, with Nolan claiming big wins over both Strong and Graham. This has been a solid season for Nolanand he went unbeaten at the NTT to further illustrate his current form. The match between the Number 3’s of both teams was pivotal, with O’Toole racing in to a dominant 2-0 lead. Phil Wallace fought back admirably, taking all 3 remaining sets in a titanic struggle to claim the win. The final match was a decider for both the match and the title, with Daryl Strong showing all his experience and ability to recover from 1-0 down to claim the win over Fahy.
Elsewhere in the Division, UCD’s Kevin Hutchinson had two really good wins over Pioneers’ Zatylny and Mackey as he continues to move up the Senior rankings. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was Donic 2’s Conor Mullally(Ranked 29) straight sets win over Peter Graham(Ranked 7). This was a big win for Mullally and capped a good weekend for a strong Club Donic outfit who claimed both 2nd and 3rd place in the top Division.
Division One Review
With Ulster’s Queens claiming the Paddy Berrigan Trophy, eyes turned to the 2nd tier with some very strong players and teams in action. It looked like a battle between Connacht’s Galway TTC and Munster’s Leeside TTC and that is the way it developed.
Galway had experienced campaigners Terry Dolan and Robbie Gavin with newcomer Dominik Greliki – they progressed cpomfortably through their first 3 matches before the title decider against Leeside TTC. Leeside TTC had Alan Walsh, Matt Haynes and late replacement Ben Haughton in action. This one was another match that went all the way, with Dolan and Grelicki registering two wins for Galway, Alan Walsh and Matt Haynes levelling matters for Leeside TTC. The final match pitted Grelicki against Walsh and this was a thrilling encounter with Walsh going two down before a change of tactics and a focus on big forehand returns saw him fight back to claim a big 3-2 win and the division title for Leeside. Grelicki looked a fine player over the course of the event and will be a player that could take some scalps at the upcoming Munster Open.
So Leeside claimed the Division One title, with Galway in 2nd and John Dennis and his Diamonds claiming 3rd spot.
Division Two Review
New South Dublin outfit Dundrum TTC were big favourites in this Division – a strong looking team of Barth, Szulcs and Marta Zareba looked a class apart. The deciding match was against Beechhill TTC, with Billion, Shaw and Victoriu representing the Munster club. Zareba got Dundrum off to a winning start with a win over Shaw and from there, Dundrum never looked back, going on to claim a 3-1 win and the Division Two title – a strong performance and one that they will look to replicate at a higher level next season.
Overall a great day of play at the Roadstone venue. As always thanks to the clubs and players who participated – this is the only National Club event and represents a great opportunity to players to represent their clubs at National level. Congratulations to Queens TTC, Leeside TTC and Dundrum TTC and thanks as always to our top class volunteer team, in particular Tournament Referee Tony Martin.
Munster Schools League
What a day of Table Tennis! 52 teams… over 200 players… 10 divisions… almost 500 matches in one day! It must be a record for any table tennis event in Ireland!
Day One of the Munster Schools’ League 2013-14 took place on 21st November in Leeside Table Tennis Club in the Sports Village in Cork.
Ben Haughton undertook the organisation of this massive event and the day went very well, finishing on time (although the third round matches had to be truncated to Best-of-Three to achieve this). There were very few complaints and almost no tears, and all the kids enjoyed the day, for many it was their first taste of table tennis competition.
Thanks to all who helped in the set-up and in the clean-up at the end. The Sports Village proved capable of staging a big event, with 26 tables going without a break!
Day two will see them all be back in Leeside in February… watch this space for details!
Results
| Division 11. Mixed Bag A2. Presentation College A3. Tralee CBS A4. Coláiste Choilm ALast year’s winners from Coláiste Choilm were always going to struggle to retain their title without their anchorman, and that proved to be the case, they ended up propping up the top division, with surprise package “Mixed Bag” (Usaamah, Kerry, Zofia & Jack) leading after the first round of matches. Does Kerry never get tired of winning?! | Division 21. Schull Community College2. Tralee CBS B3. Coláiste Choilm B4. Kinsale CCWith two champions from last week’s Munster Ranking in the team, it was no surprise to see Schull CC leading with three wins out of three. Tralee’s second string are next, just ahead of Coláiste Choilm B. The experience of James Barry and Conor O’Callaghan was not enough to lift Kinsale who managed just one draw. | Division 31. Tralee CBS C2. Scoil Eoin A3. Bandon Grammar A4. Mixed Bag 2Tralee’s strength in depth was shown by the fact that their third team leads the third division, with comfortable wins in all three matches. Bandon Grammar played in the Premier Division last year, they were better suited to this level and seemed to enjoy every shot! |
| Division 41. Coláiste Choilm C2. Bandon Grammar C3. Rushbrook NS B4. Bandon Grammar BThe exceptionally polite (!) young men and ladies’ from Bandon were incredibly sporting in all the matches they played, a credit to their school! But neither of their two representatives in this group was good enough to topple Coláiste Choilm’s third team. Great credit to Rushbrook, who were not intimidated by the difference in size between them and their opponents (“He’s about ten feet tall”, one of them said about one of the Grammarians!) | Division 51. Bandon Grammar D1. Mercy Heights Skibbereen3. Coláiste Choilm D4. Rushbrooke NS BAt last, a win for Bandon! Well, almost, joint first with Mercy Skibb at the half-way stage of the tournament. Watch out for Amy, Aoibhinn, Caoimhe and Demelda in February lads, they’re training several nights a week and have you firmly in their sights! | Division 61. Kerry Pike NS A2. PBC B2. Scoil Eoin B4. Rushbrooke NS CWith all four players experienced at Munster Ranking level, indeed at least one potential interprovincial player, Kerry Pike A were going to be difficult to beat in this division. They could have competed a couple of levels up! They only dropped one point, and a draw between Scoil Eoin B and PBC B leaves those two rivals deadlocked in joint second. |
| Division 71. Gaelscoil Bheanntraí2. Kinsale CC B3. St. Finbarr’s 4. Lower Glanmire NS AThree wins with only one set dropped left Micheál, Labhaoise, Alisha and Dylan from Bantry in pole positon. | Division 81. Ballinadee A2. Kinsale CC3. Schull CC4. Coláiste Choilm ENo team was “pointless” after the first round, with all matches finishing on 4-2 scorelines except for the draw between Kinsale and Col. Choilm. Nothing to choose between them and all to play for in February! | Division 91. Kerry Pike NS B1. Summercove A3. Cloghroe A4. Rushbrooke NS DHonours even at the top, with a 3-3 draw between the top two and easy wins in their other matches. |
Division 101. Lower Glanmire NS B2. Rushbrooke NS E3. Cloghroe B4. Kinsale CC DGlanmire’s second team were unstoppable, only Kinsale managing more than one win against them. The others were much more closely matched. | Division 111. Cloghroe D2. Ballinadee B3. Summercove B3. Cloghroe CCloghroe teams top and bottom here, and it was the “D” team rather than the “C’s” that won all their matches. Well done to Rachel, Andrew, Scott and Joseph! | Division 121. Ballinadee C2. Cloghroe E2. Cloghroe F4. Rushbrooke FAnother division win for Ballinadee, showing that not all the best table tennis in West Cork is down in Goleen! Neck-and-neck for the two Cloghroe teams for joint second place. |
| Division 131. Mixed Bag 32. Cloghroe H3. Summercove C4. Cloghroe HStill more Cloghroe teams fighting for glory, but the last of the “mixed bags” was too good for them. D.J., Jessica, Claire and Eoin won two matches and drew one to lead the last of the thirteen divisions! Unlucky for some? |
National Junior League 2013
Here is the final tables from the National Junior League held in Roadstone Sports and Social Club
Swedish Open: McCreery Claims Doubles Scalp
Irish International Paul McCreery scored a huge win at the Doubles event at the ITTF World Tour Swedish Open this week. Partnering with England’s David McBeath, McCreery took the scalp of Turkish pair Ahmet and Bora with a scoreline of 11-4,9-11,11-4,14-12. This was a major result – Bora is World Ranked 93 and Ahmet is WR 119. In the next round(last 32), the Irish/English partnership were eliminated by Swedish duo Nordberg and Brodd which denied them an opportunity to challenge China’s Zhou Yu(WR.34) and France’s Lebesson(Wr:60).
In the Men’s Singles, McCreery lost out to Indian Ghosh(WR:154) and Belgian Allegro(WR:527), both on a 2:4 scoreline. In the Under 21’s, McCreery claimed a victory over Jiminez(WR:1073) of Puerto Rico before losing to Slovakia’s Novota(WR:355).
McCreery moves on to the Finland Open next week, where he will have a larger Irish squad joining him – watch out for event preview and review.
Congratulations to Liam O’Ceallaigh
One of our sport’s most productive and revered volunteers Liam O’Ceallaigh was in quiz action on the new Sunday night RTE quiz show Division last night. Liam is a prominent member of the Irish Table Tennis community, with decades of service as coach, administrator, team manager, hall set-up and generally being a ‘doer’ on the table tennis scene. Liam has a long history as a quiz master and was recently involved in this role for a Leinster Branch fundraiser which raised significant funds for the Branch. On Sunday the roles were reversed, with RTE’s Anne Doyle asking the questions.
Liam was superb on TV, managing a few mentions for table tennis, and he also emerged as the quiz winner from 32 competitors. All at the ITTA are delighted for him – congratulations Liam and enjoy the prize money!
Midland’s Stiga Challenger Event
Midland’s Stiga Challenger Event
The first Junior Challenger held in the South Midlands area took place in Trumera Community Hall, home of Mountrath TTC last Sunday. The 12 table venue provided excellent competition for the 45 players. A closely fought 1st Division saw recent Leinster Metro U15 winner Leanne Delaney win from Jessie Hayes, with George Goodson taking 3rd place.
There were many young players for whom this was their first experience of tournament play. Cloughjordan and Newbridge only started their Junior clubs in the past three months so used this event to find their way into competition. They acquitted themselves very well.
Thanks to Tommy Fotzgerald and Stiga for their assistance in providing a number of playing shirts as prizes. Trophies were awarded to 1st and 2nd division winners. Thanks also to Scot Jestin and Amylou Hayes for their assistance in running the event and to all who helped to steward stables.
Results
Division 1
Winner: Leanne Delaney (Mountrath) Runner Up: Jessie Hayes (Mountrath) 3rd: George Goodson (Mountrath)
Division 2
Winner: Jack Carroll (Ballyroan) Runner Up: Amy Jestin (Mountrath) 3rd: Joseph Stanley (Killermogh)
Division 3
Winner: Amna Mandal (Athlone) Runner Up: Richard Thompson (Mountrath) 3rd: Ross Handcock (Mountrath)
Division 4
Winner: Sief Ramadan (Newbridge) Runner Up: Corinna Hayes (Mountrath) 3rd: Eoin Fitzgerald (Mountrath)
Division 5
Winner: Fionnan Mohoney (Ballyroan) Runner Up: Conor Carroll (Ballyroan) 3rd: Tom Larke (Cloughjordan)
Division 6
Winner: Adam Shirley (Killermogh) Runner Up: Grace Kirkfoot (Killermogh) 3rd: Donnacha Speigh Burns (Cloughjordan)
Division 7
Winner: Andrew Hayes (Cloughjordan) Runner Up: David Conway (Cloughjordan) 3rd: Oisin Berry (Crosspatrick)
STIGA Challenger Tralee
STIGA Challenger
Tralee, 23rd November
Tralee Table Tennis Club hosted a STIGA Challenger event for the third time on Saturday, 23rd November.
Most of the players were from Tralee, but there were half a dozen from nearby Knocknagoshel, as well as others from Killarney, West Cork and Cork City.
Forty five players took part, with four divisions each divided into “A” and “B”. On each of the previous two occasions, the Division One winner has come from neighours and rivals Killarney, but this year finally saw a Tralee winner for the first time. Only Roman Puotkalis from Killarney came close to spoiling the party for the home club, and an unexpected loss to Darragh Boyd ment he was relegated to playing off with Michael Creagh for third place. Darragh was playing is best ever table tennis, and pushed Alan Hobbart all the way in the final (all matches were best of three) before losing 11-8 in the decider.
In the second division, Matthew Pop from Killarney beat Gitas Marcisauskas, who plays in Tralee. Matthew is only ten, but is Munster’s top player in his age group and was well up to the challenge of playing players five or six years his senior – standing beside Gitas he was only up to his chest! In the third place play-off, it was another Tralee vs Killarney battle, this time the “local” boy José Miras (from Spain, but playing in Tralee while he is here on exchange!) overcame Matthew’s club-mate Nykyta Puotkalis.
No Tralee players made the final of the third division, but Damien Bourke and Alex Flynn finished third and fourth respectively. Erik Olsson from West Cork overcame Ciarán O’Donoghue (Ballincollig) in the final, both had been unbeaten in the round-robin stages.
Many of the players in the lowest of the four divisions were playing in their first ever tournament, but coped well with the pressure. James Friel (Tralee) won out against Jack McElligott (Knocknagoshel) in the final. The third place play-off saw Andrew Hurley (Leeside, Cork) beat Jack’s brother Cathal. Thanks to Micheál Herlihy, teacher and manager, for bringing along the Knocknagoshel contingent!
All players got at least seven matches, and sixteen went home with STIGA-sponsored prizes!
These tournaments can’t work without the co-operation of the players, and there were smaller umpiring awards for Samuel Pituch, Cian Barden and Michael Guerin, who despite their young age, officiated in matches with aplomb!
There was a special award for Aaron Olsson (West Cork) for “Youngest Player” – at just over eight years old he is hoping to follow in his brother Erik’s footsteps! The future of West Cork table tennis looks bright indeed!
Full reports on Tralee web-site www.traleetabletennis.com
Full results:
(Tralee unless indicated: KIL = Killarney, BAL = Ballincollig, WES = West Cork, LEE = Leeside, KNO = Knocknagoshel)
Division 1
1. Alan Hobbart
2. Darragh Boyd
3. Michael Creagh
4. Roman Puotkalis (KIL)
5=. Bogdan Pop (KIL)
5=. Niall O’Driscoll (WES)
7=. Adam Buckley
7=. Kevin Browne
9=. Joe Slattery
9=. Reece Sugrue
11=. Stephen Browne
11=. Kevin Johnson-Horgan
Division 2
1. Matthew Pop (KIL)
2. José Miras (Spain!)
3. Gitas Marcisauskas
4. Nykyta Puotkalis (KIL)
5=. Fiachra Ryan-Browne
5=. Ronan Magee
7=. Daire Kennelly
7=. Nemanya Ramisanjevic
9=. Liam Magee
9=. Darragh Sheridan
9=. Josh Hayes
Division 3
1. Erik Olsson (WES)
2. Ciaran O’Donoghue (BAL)
3. Damien Bourke
4. Alex Flynn
5=. CIan Barden
5=. Samuel Pituch
7=. Jordan O’Shea
7=. Andrew Breen
9=. Sam Hawe
9=. Michael Dowling
9=. Graham Moriarty-Flynn
Division 4
1. James Friel
2. Jack McElligott (KNO)
3. Andrew Hurley (LEE)
4. Cathal McElligott (KNO)
5=. Eoin McSweeney (KNO)
5=. Michael Guerin
7=. Aaron Olsson (WES)
7=. Erina Cotter (KNO)
9=. Bronagh Browne (KNO)
9=. Daniel Daly (KIL)
9=. Katelyn Curtin (KNO)
Obituary: Mervyn Scott
Obituary: MERVYN SCOTT
Mervyn was a very keen and talented table tennis player. He progressed through the lower divisions to play in the first division of the Bangor and District league, and subsequently in Division 1 of the Belfast and District senior league, which he represented against the Leinster league on several occasions. Recently he conceded that he should compete in veteran competitions and 2 weeks ago he reached the final stages of the Ulster Senior Championships after defeating a number of Ulster ranked players.
As an avid Manchester United supporter Mervyn loved to pull on his red and black table tennis shirt – no coincidence in the choice of colours for his team’s shirts. He thoroughly enjoyed playing table tennis on a Saturday and then head off with his mates to watch Man Utd on the telly. Mervyn was never shy of voicing his advice to premier league players on TV as the game progressed.
On Monday Mervyn was back in the club again coaching the younger members. Mervyn was a stalwart member of Kingsland Table Tennis Club and carried out many roles including secretary, captain, development officer, press officer, coach and caretaker. He was also very fussy about keeping the club premises tidy, and players would sometimes be startled when a mop or brush swished around their feet while they were playing.
Mervyn would be the first to admit that he was no handyman but was always keen to help when the club premises needed minor repairs or repainting. He was the main man behind all the fund raising activities in the club. His determination to maximise fund raising opportunities has helped to keep the Kingsland club in existence.
Mervyn had unwavering enthusiasm and a huge commitment to the development of table tennis in the North Down area. He was always keen to promote the sport and develop the younger players. His organisational skills and commitment to table tennis were evident when he took on the role as chairman of the Bangor and District league.
He regularly attended meetings and always contributed to the discussions to promote table tennis in the North Down Area. Mervyn loved table tennis. He loved to run tournaments and attract some of Ulster’s top players to the Kingsland club. Recently he was organising a Christmas tournament and was determined to ensure there was a Christmas atmosphere in the club so he bought a load of Christmas decorations to erect before the competition. He also contacted some of Ulster’s top players to take part in the tournament.
As well as organising events Mervyn loved to travel to see the best table tennis players in the world. With some of his club mates he went to see table tennis at the LondonOlympics. He also has been to the world championships in Manchester and Paris. His room mate will always remember when Mervyn unwittingly locked him in the bedroom.
Mervyn was a modest man who loved his food. However, the cusine in Paris was not to his liking. He was glad to get back to his sister’s cooking and the occasional chicken Maryland from the chippy in Millisle. There is no doubt that Mervyn will be missed as a person who always gave of his best in work and in play. His legacy to table tennis and particularly to Kingsland Table Tennis Club will always be remembered.
Funeral will is to be held at 11.00am on Friday in Church of Ireland, Donaghadee.