The ITTA Ranking Committee has today published the Butterfly National Senior Rankings following the Connacht Open.

In the Men’s section, its as you were at the top as Paul McCreery remains Ireland’s No.1 ranked player. Big movers up the list include Tibor Pofok, who is up 7 places to No.6 on the list. Further down the list Marcus McDonnell makes huge strides following a strong performance in Breaffy House – he is now at No.21 from No.36 on his return to the sport.

In the Women’s list, as expected Na Liu retains her top spot, although Ashley Givan is not far behind on points and moves into 2nd position. Further down the list, Marta Zareba makes the biggest leap up to 14th from 26th.

See Rankings for full lists.

At a superb Stiga Connacht Senior Open last weekend, Paul McCreery and Hannah-Lynch Dawson beat all competitors to take Connacht Senior Open titles home with them. The Open was held at Breaffy Sports Arena, Castlebar, Co Mayo and proved to be one of the more memorable Open’s hosted by Connacht.

In the Women’s event, Hannah-Lynch Dawson defeated Ashley Givan in a 5 set thriller. Dawson won the first set 12-10 but Givan responded by winning the next 2 sets 13-11 & 11–8. Dawson fought back to take the 4^th set 11-9 to bring the Women’s Open decider to a 5^th set. Dawson’s composure got the better of her Ulster rival on the day taking the 5^th set 11–8 with some outstanding play. It was a fantastic performance from Dawson who showed from the Irish Senior Women’s classification signs of posing a serious threat this season. The 3^rd / 4^th place playoff went to the 5^th set with Jean Wyse the eventual winner over Marta Zareba from Pionners TTC, Dublin.

In the Men’s event, Paul McCreery defeated John Murphy in three straight sets. However, the first two sets proved to be a tight affair with McCreery winning 13-11 and 12-10. Spectators were anticipating a comeback from Murphy in the 3^rd set but that wasn’t to be case with McCreery reinforcing his dominance at the event by taking the 3^rd set 11-4. It is without doubt that McCreery has all the attributes of a National Champion and this could come sooner rather than later! Ashley Robinson proved too strong for Tibor Pofok on the day winning 3^rd / 4^th place playoff in three straight sets: 11-8, 11-9 and 11-5.

Before the Staged Men’s and Women’s Final, a special presentation was made to Kevin Devaney by our President Joseph Hickey and Irish Table Tennis legend Tommy Caffrey. Pictured above is the ‘Tommy Caffrey Trophy’ being presented to Kevin by both Joseph and Tommy for his performance at this year’s Senior Interprovincial Championship. Kevin was selected by the President(from a list nominated by NPCs) as ‘Player of the Championship’ for his performance on and off the table. Well done Kevin you have done Connacht proud!

The weekend kicked-off with the Men’s and Women’s doubles. With the Men’s top two seeds forming a partnership, it was inevitable that they would go all the way to the final. Both Kevin Mackey and Artur Lewanczuk have to be commended for their performance knocking out tough opposition on their way to the final only to be defeated by Murphy and McCreery. The Women’s doubles proved to be a tighter affair with Hannah-Lynch Dawson and Sarah Timlin taking the Women’s Doubles Title in a round robin format. They finished ahead of Ashley Givan and Annalise Walker which proved to be a close encounter! 

Saturday afternoon saw the Mixed Doubles Players taking control of the arena which proved to be a popular and exciting event. Marta Zareba and Dariusz Zatylny battled their way to the final to set up an encounter with hot favourites Ashley Givan and Ashley Robinson. The two Ashley’s were on fire and breezed through the opposition to be crowned Connacht Open Mixed Doubles Champions 2012. 

Class II started the proceedings on Sunday with Brian Devereux, Marcus McDonnell, Terry Dolan and Kevin Devaney progressing to the semi-finals. The two semi-finals produced 5 set thrillers with both Marcus and Kevin overcoming Brian and Terry respectively. Marcus McDonnell was in fantastic form defeating Kevin Devaney in the 5^th set 11-9. This is a major achievement for Marcus considering his absence from the Irish Table Tennis circuit for some time. 

In the Men’s U21 Conor Beades defeated Ryan McConkey in the Final. McConkey put in a good performance but experience got the better of the Junior. In the Women’s U21 event Sarah Timlin secured her third  Connacht U21 Open Title by beating her younger sister Orla. Orla Timlin has made a welcome return to Table Tennis and a player destined to follow her older sisters footsteps.

The Masters Final brought an exciting end to the Connacht Senior Open with some superb table tennis. The Final turned out to be the ‘match of the weekend’ with Connacht rivals Terry Dolan and Kevin Devaney battling it out for the Connacht Open Masters Title. It was sweet revenge for Dolan having been beaten by Devaney in the Class II semi-final. Devaney took Dolan to the fifth set but Dolan held his nerve and recorded yet another Open Title.

The Connacht Branch would like to thank both Joseph Hickey and Ken Strong for their valuable advice leading up to the event. Without the support of the ITTA, this event would not have been possible!

Full results available here.

Peter Graham (Glenburn) grabbed his first Ulster Senior Closed Men’s title with a tactical and sometimes explosive 4-set victory over Tyrone protégé Ashley Robinson.

Law graduate Graham (24 years), displayed composure gained from experience as an Irish junior and senior international, but was conscious that he has to be in top gear to overhaul the Clogher player who has already graced world events as Irish No. 4, and will soon take up a semi-professional position in the British League with the Gareth Herbert School in Peterborough.

Missing from the Ulster’s line up in the Valley Leisure Centre were current Irish No. 1 and UK Grand Prix winner in Liverpool was Paul McCreery, soon to return to studies in Nottingham and Keith Knox who was on French club duty. Nevertheless the Knox family were well represented by elder brother Gervis, finishing 4th ahead of Polish immigrant Pawel Sulkowski (Ballymoney).

Emma Ludlow, also Glenburn, showed why she has caught the eye of the Ulster Junior Selectors by winning the Class 2 event ahead of Mark Gordon (Ballyclare).

Once again the round-robin format, designed by Ulster President Tony Phillips, has the players’ approval.

Ulster Senior Closed Championship Final Places:

1. Peter Graham; 2. Ashley Robinson; 3.Gervis Knox ; 4. Pawel Sulkowski; 5. Pat McClaughan; 6. Jack Porter; 7. Stephwen Slater; 8. Kris Foster; 9. Zak Wilson; 10. Philip Jamison; 11. Hannah Lynch-Dawson; 12. Gary Crawford.

Class 2: 1. Emma Ludlow; 2. Mark Gordon; 3. Andrew Loane; 4. Patsie Gallagher.

For full results please click here

Summary of the Results from Day 1 of the Irish Junior Classification 2012

Cadet Boys

Champion – Zak Wilson (Glenburn TTC)

2nd – Brian Dunleavy (Kilkelly TTC)

3rd – Evin McGovern (Club Donic)

4th – Donie Mullally (Club Donic)

5th – Alex Gillen (UCD)

6th – Gearoid O’Donoghue (Leeside TTC)

7th – Karl Walsh (Leeside TTC)

8th – Daragh Egan (Kilkelly TTC)

Cadet Girls

Champion – Katie McGlone

2nd – Rebecca Finn (Glenburn TTC)

3rd – Chloe O’Halloran (Leeside TTC)

4th – Kate Whelan (Ballyroan TTC)

5th – Valentina Poutkazyze (Kilarney TTC)

6th – Kerry O’Mahony

7th – Jessie Hayes (Mountrath TTC)

8th – Brielle Brady (Kilkenny TTC)

Under 10 Boys 

Champion – David Taylor (Collooney TTC)

2nd – Art McLoughlin (Club Donic)

3rd – Tommy Ngugen (York Road TTC)

4th – William Hou (Club Donic)

Under 10 Girls

Champion – Jackie Xue (Club Donic)

2nd – Mia Egan (Club Donic)

3rd – Sophie Kenny (Carlow TTC)

4th – Natashya Barry (Athlone TTC)

Plate Events:

Cadet Boys Plate

1st – Bernard O’Sullivan (UCD)

2nd – James Doyle (York Road TTC)

Cadet Girls Plate 

1st – Justyne Fabian (Carlow TTC)

2nd – Yasmine Barry (Athlone TTC)

Under 10 Boys

1st – Ravi Seth (Club Donic)

2nd – Cillian Mullaly (Club Donic)

Under 10 Girls

1st – Grace Hodgins (Collooney TTC)

2nd – Orlagh O’Toole (Yotk Road TTC)

Summary of the Results from Day 1 of the Irish Junior Classification 2012 

Junior Boys

Champion – Ryan Farrell

2nd – Kevin Hutchinson (UCD)

3rd – Tobias Wolfe (UCD)

4th – Kris Foster (Fivemiletown Academy)

5th – Trevor Knox

6th – Tom Davis (Club Donic)

7th – Zak Wilson (Glenburn TTC)

8th – Kieran Reilly (Castlerahen TTC)

Junior Girls

Champion – Chloe O’Halloran (Leeside TTC)

2nd – Katie McGlone

3rd – Hannah Lynch-Dawson (Fivemiletown Academy)

4th – Meadhbh Slattery

5th – Emma Ludlow (Glenburn TTC)

6th – Laura Finn (Glenburn TTC)

7th- Annalise Walker (Fivemiletown Academy)

8th – Claire Heller (York Road TTC)

Under 12 Boys 

Champion – Owen Cathcart (Glenburn TTC)

2nd – James Kelly (West Cork TTC)

3rd – Dylan Grace (Mountrath TTC)

4th – Eddie Ditchburn (Kilkelly TTC)

5th – James McGrath (Glenburn TTC)

6th – Isac Ghenadie (Club Donic)

7th – Ethan Duffy (Fivemiletown Academy)

8th – Niall Brown (Ballincollig TTC)

Under 12 Girls

Champion – Kate Whelan (Ballyroan TTC)

2nd – Rebecca Finn (Glenburn TTC)

3rd – Marie Williams (Kilkelly TTC)

4th – Devon Brady (Killarney TTC)

5th – Ciara O’Toole (York Road TTC)

6th – Jessie Hayes (Mountrath TTC)

7th – Nadia Krawczun (Mountrath TTC)

8th – Sophie Kenny (Carlow TTC)

Plate Results

Junior Boys Plate

Winner – Eoin Foran (Killarney TTC)Runner-Up – Donie Mullaly (Club Donic)

Junior Girls Plate

Winner – Amy Rock (ALSAA)Runner-Up – Kerry O’Mahony

Under 12 Boys Plate

Winner – Daniel ViegasRunner-Up – Joe Proudfoot (York Road TTC)

Under 12 Girls Plate

Winner – Catherine Doyle (Carlow TTC)Runner-Up – Hanna Proudfoot (York Road TTC)

Keep up to Date with Day 2 of the Irish Junior Classification on Twitter