A strong Irish team of Junior and Cadet players travelled to the Isle of Man last weekend in search of good performances and hopefully medals at the Junior & Cadet 6 Nations. The Team events took place over the Friday and Saturday, with all four teams securing bronze medals. In the individual events, the Cadet Boys of Zac Wilson and Kevin Hutchinson both progressed through the group to the QF stage, where they were eliminated. A similar story in the Junior Boys – Declan O’Brien was unlucky to meet the top seed in the Quarter Final, with Ryan Farrell also eliminated at the same stage by the eventual event winner.
The story was a little more positive for the girls – Ashley Givan(pictured) won a bronze medal in the Junior Girls main event, with Hannah Lynch-Dawson also scoring bronze in the Cadet Girls main event. Both players had chances to progress to the Final but were edged out at the last hurdle.
So bronze was the colour for the Irish team at the Isle of Man – a reasonable return for the squad, but also perhaps some regret that no players manage to qualify for an individual Final. In the Consolation event, Edel O’Reilly claimed Gold in the Juniors and Elayna McGlone took gold in the Cadets.