Posts in category: TTI News

The Valley Leisure Centre Ulster Junior Invitation Event 2011/2012

The Valley Leisure Centre played the perfect host to the Ulster Junior Invitation Event or ‘Christmas Cracker’ as it is more affectionately known on 29^th December. After the Christmas festivities this was the perfect opportunity for players to work off the Christmas turkey and chocolates and back into a competitive table tennis environment.

Invited players were split into their own age category and played an energy sapping round robin event ensuring that all players did battle against one another.

This year for the first time, an U10 category was added for both girls and boys showing the increased numbers coming through at this age group.

U17 Boys

Kieran Reilly once again dominated this event going undefeated throughout to win this event for the second year running. Kieran was however made to work for his victory claiming a ferociously tight 5 set victory over Trevor Knox. Trevor in fact had match point at 10-9 in the final set, however Kieran showed excellent battling qualities to win 12-10 to secure the title. Kieran was also pushed to 5 sets by his younger brother Oisin who eventually finished in 4^th place. Knox was dominant in his remaining matches to finish in silver position with Kris Foster in bronze position.

U14 Boys

Zak Wilson really came of age in this event, defeating the higher ranked Jonathan Porter in 4 games.  Wilson won his remaining 7 other games fairly comfortably to remaining undefeated to clinch this title. Porter gained silver losing only to Wilson however had an epic 13-11 win in the 5^th set against Ryan McConkey who finished in 4^th place. Eric Shekleton had a successful tournament losing only to the top 2 finishers.

U12 Boys

Owen Cathcart despite still qualifying as an U10 played superbly to defeat the current Ulster number 1 Iain Dick in 4 sets. Cathcart was dominant throughout in this event, losing only 2 sets the entire day. An excellent display from someone so young. Dick was dominant in his remaining 6 matches, recording a series of 3-0 victories to win the silver medal. Ethan Duffy who incidentally also qualifies as an U10 player finished in bronze position losing out only to Cathcart and Dick. James Magrath had a good tournament finishing in 4^th position defeating the higher ranked Adam Barr in 4 sets.

U10 Boys

Castlerahans Jason Zhang proved to be the surprise package in the U10 boys making a name for himself in this new event. Zhang remained undefeated throughout, with his toughest match against Philip Montgomery whom he defeated in 5 gruelling sets. Jack Dick had an excellent tournament losing only to Zhang and grinding out a series of excellent 5 set victories against Conor Nugent, Matthew Cherry, Philip Montgomery and Joshua Murdock. Philip Montgomery did well to finish in 3^rd position losing only to Zhang and Dick, with Joshua Murdock finishing in 4^th position.

U17 Girls

Emma Ludlow was dominant in this category remaining undefeated and in fact was the only player on the day not to lose a set. A very competent display by this young lady. Sally McConkey was in outstanding form to defeat Erin Thompson in 4 sets and thus win a well deserved silver medal. Thompson defeated Annalise Walker in another close 4 set match to claim bronze.  

U14 Girls

Irish number 1 Hannah Lynch Dawson once again dominated in this age category remaining undefeated to win this title for a second year running. Laura Finn excelled losing only to Lynch-Dawson to successfully claim the silver medal. The greatly improved Elizabeth Cathcart defeated Emma McSorley for third position. It was a welcomed return for McSorley who has been out for several months with injury.

U12 Girls

This event went very much according to seeding with a repeat of last years results. Rebecca Finn defeated Leah Shekleton in 5 games in an excellent match. Both players proved to be too strong for the rest of the field with Finn triumphing to win gold, and Shekleton claiming silver. Megan Carson put in a sound performance to finish in 3^rd position with Lydia McConkey defeating Ellie Purdy in 5 close games to finish in 4^th position.

U10 Girls

Carys Mawhinney proved to be too strong for the rest of the field remaining undefeated to clinch gold. Lucy Craig displayed excellent potential losing only to Mawhinney to finish in 2^nd position with Jordyn Hazzard defeating her team-mate Lauren Matthews to finish in 3^rd position.

Thanks go to the Valley Leisure Centre who very generously sponsored this event. Thanks also go to Jennifer Thompson and Andrew Dennison who ran the top table ensuing the smooth running of the event.

Results

U10 Boys

1. Jason Zhang (Castlerahan)
2. Jack Dick (Islandmagee)
3. Philip Montgomery (Ballymoney)
4. Joshua Murdock (Castlerahan)
5. Conor Nugent (Valley)
6. Nicholas Martin (Academy Strongtower)
7. Matthew Cherry (Glenburn)
8. Mark McDowell (Valley)

U12 Boys

1. Owen Cathcart (Glenburn)
2. Iain Dick (Islandmagee)
3. Ethan Duffy (First Monaghan)
4. James Magrath (Glenburn)
5. Adam Barr (Glenburn)
6. Taidgh Hazzard (Castlerahan)
7. Daniel Murdock (Castlerahan)
8. William Love (Castlerahan)

U14 Boys

1. Zak Wilson (Glenburn)
2. Jonathan Porter (Fivemiletown)
3. Eric Shekleton (Castlerahan)
4. Ryan McConkey (Newbliss)
5. Ben Sullivan (Glenburn)
6. Dylan Duffy (First Monaghan)
7. Harry McGoldrick (Craigavon)
8. Ryan Drayne (Emyvale)
9. Dylan Murdock (Castlerahan)

U17 Boys

1. Kieran Reilly (Castlerahan)
2. Trevor Knox (Fivemiletown)
3. Kris Foster (Drung)
4. Oisin Reilly (Castlerahan)
5. Dylan Scott (Newbliss)
6. Stephen Fawcett (Newbliss)
7. Peter Neeson (Academy Strongtower)
8. Jonathan Wilson (Academy Strongtower)

U10 Girls

1. Carys Mawhinney (Glenburn)
2. Lucy Craig (Glenburn)
3. Jordyn Hazzard (Castlerahan)
4. Lauren Matthews (Castlerahan)

U12 Girls

1. Rebecca Finn (Glenburn)
2. Leah Shekleton (Castlerahan)
3. Megan Carson (Fivemiletown)
4. Lydia McConkey (Newbliss)
5. Ellie Purdy (Banbridge)

U14 Girls

1. Hannah Lynch Dawson (Drung)
2. Laura Finn (Glenburn)
3. Elizabeth Cathcart (Glenburn)
4. Emma McSorley (Glenburn)
5. Emily Hill (Islandmagee)

U17 Girls

1. Emma Ludlow (Glenburn)
2. Sally McConkey (Newbliss)
3. Erin Thompson (Glenburn)
4. Annalise Walker (Fivemiletown)

92 Players turned out for the first Connaught Junior Classification event of 2011/12, held in De La Salle Hall, Castlebar, Mayo on Saturday the 17^th December 2011.

Players from Mayo, Sligo, Galway, and Roscommon all took part in what was an exciting day for table tennis in the west of Ireland there were some fine performances from players. Brian Dunleavy  won the under 12 Boys and Daragh Egan was sensational is winning both the Under 14 and Under 17 Boys. Meanwhile Marie Williams was in outstanding form and also doubled up, taking both the Under 12s and Under 14s Girls titles. Breakthrough performance of the event was Roscommon’s Yasmin Barry(pictured above) – hopefully a sign of the continued development of the game in Roscommon.

Full Results

Under 10 Boys:

1st David Taylor Sligo

2nd Thomas Joyce Mayo

3rd Daniel Veigas Mayo

Under 10 Girls

1st Sarah Dunleavy Mayo

2nd Aiofe O’Dowd Sligo

3rd Anna Tigue Mayo

Under 12 Boys

1st Brian Dunleavy Mayo

2nd Martin Williams Mayo

3rd Eddie Ditchburn Mayo

Under 12 Girls

1st Marie Williams Mayo

2nd Amanda Taylor Sligo

3rd Yasmin Barry Roscommon

Under 14 Boys

1st Daragh Egan Mayo

2nd Brian Dunleavy Mayo

3rd Martin Williams Mayo

Under 14 Girls

1st Marie Williams Mayo

2nd Amanda Taylor Sligo

3rd Niamh Molloy Galway

Under 17 Boys

1st Daragh Egan Mayo

2nd Mark Melynchuck Mayo

3 Martin-Edward Ditchburn Mayo

Under 17 Girls

1st Niamh Molloy Galway

2nd Chloe Durkin Mayo

3rd Michelle Hodgins Sligo

DOLLY GAVIN MEMORIAL TEAM EVENT 2011

Report by Sean Gavin.

The second running of the Dolly Gavin Memorial team event was held in Galway last weekend with a fantastic turnout.  Twelve teams from around the country battled it out for the Dolly Gavin Memorial cup.

There was a great mix of teams in action in two groups of six. The top two teams from each group progressed to the semi-finals.

After an exhausting round of group matches the semi-final places were decided, Anthony Redmond and John Murphy topped group A, setting up a semi-final against group B runners up and defending champions Kevin Mackey and Dave Pemberton.

Robbie Gavin and Anthony Redmond played some stunning rallies in their group match with Anto absorbing the trademark Gavin torpedoes and coming out on top. Terry Dolan rolled back the years taking a set off John Murphy.

The second semi-final saw Group B winners Tibor Pofok and Zatylny Darius square off against Group A runners up Robbie Gavin and Terry Dolan.

Tibor and Zatylny had topped the group having earlier seen off Sam Logue and Sarah Timlin and then Dave Pemberton and Kevin Mackey in the group decider.

In the first semi final Anthony Redmond and John Murphy were in top form with “Anto” chopping like a young Chen Xinhua and throwing in the odd backhand down the line that host Robbie Gavin would have been proud of. John Murphy was in his usual clinical form seeing off Kevin Mackey in a match which had plenty of TV worthy rallies with Kevin throwing in some devilishly disguised drop shots testing the speed and footwork of Murphy. Anto and John would eventually progress with the minimum of fuss, knocking out the defending champions.

The second semi final saw Tibor Pofok and Zatylny Darius see off local lads Robbie Gavin and Terry Dolan 3-0. They played superb table tennis all day with Tibor looking particularly sharp. Robbie and Zatylny had a closely fought match with Robbie losing out 3-2.

The final was well contested with John defeating Tibor 3-1 and Anthony defeating Zatylny 3-1. The eventual champions survived a bit of a scare by securing the doubles after losing the third set from 10-5 up. This proved to be a short lapse with John and Anto securing the match and becoming Dolly Gavin memorial cup champions for 2011.

There were notable performances from Sarah Timlin in her 3-2 loss to Kevin Mackey, from Galway based Florent Letendre in his 3-2 loss to Sam Logue and from Sam Logue who was in great form in the group stages before being eliminated and of course from Anthony Redmond and John Murphy who both remained unbeaten throughout the day. Dave Pemberton and Kevin Mackey put up a stern defence of their title by reaching the semi finals.

Big thanks to everyone who took part and supported the event. We look forward to seeing you all next year.

Photo: Zatylny Darius, Tibor Pofok, Catherine Gavin, Robert Gavin Senior, John Murphy and Anthony Redmond 

UCD TTC has been crowned as the new top team of Irish table tennis, with a comprehensive defeat of all-comers at the National Team Tournament 2011/12 held in IWA, Clontarf on Saturday 19^th November. The college team taught all of their opponents a lesson in claiming the ‘Paddy Berrigan’ Trophy with some outstanding play – with National Squad players John Murphy and Gavin Maguire joined by Will Gallagher – this was a team that looked to be favourites from the outset and performed to expected levels in claiming the title.  In claiming the title, they were undefeated, indeed only conceding one match in any of the ties to Leixlip TTC. A young ALSAA TTC claimed 2^nd place of the six teams entered into the Premier Division, with some strong performances from Sam Logue and Juniors Conor Mullally and Ciaran Kelly.

In the First Division, again the entry was six teams , with make-up teams allowed. This Division surprised many observers as it was the ‘Dangerous Divas’ of Hannah Lynch-Dawson, Elayna McGlone and Katie McGlone all in top form to claim an impressive Divisional title over some of their more senior opponents. The ‘Divas’ have all represented Ireland extensively over the past two years and this experience allied with their obvious talent allowed them to belie their youth to claim the title. They defeated Club Donic (previous Division One champs) to claim the title, with UCD claiming 3^rd place.

Congratulations to UCD and to ‘Dangerous Divas’ and well done to all who took part.  The ITTA would also like to thank Tony Martin, Tournament referee and the ITTUA Umpires who assisted with the smooth running of the event. Next year’s event will be bigger and better than ever and the challenge has been firmly set – who can knock UCD from their perch as Ireland’s top table tennis team?

DIVISION STANDINGS HERE

(in pic – UCD’s Gavin Maguire)