Top seeds Gavin Maguire and Hannah Lynch-Dawson swept all before them in Tallaght over the weekend to claim their respective men’s and women’s Leinster GP singles titles at the National Basketball Arena.
Maguire was untroubled for most of the day, as he brushed aside Dylan Grace and Alan Walsh in the Quarter and Semi Finals. In the Final he was due a stern test against top Junior Zak Wilson. Wilson was in fine form having battled through a tough side of the draw. He overcame the experienced Na Ning in 5 sets in the quarters, before he accounted for an in form Peter Graham (who himself had gotten the better of 2nd seed Ryan Farrell in his quarter) in the semis in 3 close sets.
However the final was all Maguire, as the soon to be number 1 ranked player asserted himself from the off to snuff out any hope that his young opponent had of causing an upset. The Dubliner prevailed in 3 sets to make it back to back National Ranking Titles following his victory at the Irish Senior Classification.
In the Women’s event, Hannah Lynch-Dawson went in as top seed and pre-tournament favourite and she duly delivered. However she didn’t have it all her own way. She was forced to battle her way past Munster’s Chloe O’Halloran in the Semis before she was faced with her biggest scare of all.
In the final she was pitted against surprise package Mia O’Rahilly Egan, and the 13 year old Leinster girl showed just what a young player she is as she pushed her more senior opponent all the way in a pulsating encounter. Mia led after taking the first set and Hannah was forced to save game points in the second to avoid falling 2-0 behind. Having rescued that set the fight didn’t end there as Mia levelled the match at 2 sets all before racing into a 3-0 lead in the decider. It was here that Hannah really showed another gear as she pulled herself back into the set before racing away to take the match and with it the Leinster Grand Prix Title.
To see the full results of the weekend, including the Banded, Veterens, Restricted and U21 events please click here