Ireland had a triumphant weekend at the 6 Nations Primary Schools Championships in Cardiff this weekend. In the Team event held on Friday evening and Saturday, the Irish Girls claimed gold with some incredible performances, the highlight of which was a 7:3 victory over England. The team, made up of Marie Williams, Rebecca Finn, Nga Nguyen and Kerry O’Mahoney all played fantastic table tennis to bring the gold back to Ireland. NPC for the weekend was Anne Ludlow who was understandably delighted with her charges;” The squad of Irish players behaved and performed fantasically. The players should all be proud of their achievements at this amazing event.
For the girls to win Gold for was a brilliant result. Even though the match scores may look straight forward, each individual game was hard fought and the girls put in 100% effort and support for their team mates – 44 wins out of 50 is pretty good going!
The boys team played excellently to grab the Bronze medal, with joint favourites England and Scotland claiming Gold and Silver. The boys knew going into their last match that they were under pressure to get at least a draw for that medal but went one better and got the win.
The Boys and Girls were a great squad to take away and are a credit to their parents and clubs.”
The Boys were also on the hunt for medals, with Connacht trio Martin Williams, Brian Dunleavy and Martin-Edward Ditchburn and Leinster’s Conor Gallagher all in top form. Recording wins over Jersey, Isle of Man and Guernsey, the team suffered a narrow 6:4 defeat to Scotland before securing a dramatic 5:5 draw with their Welsh hosts, finally succumbing to a strong England team. This left them in Bronze medal position, which represents an improvement over 2010’s performance and the team will be delighted to bring home some medals. A celebratory pizza was had by the teams who were in jubliant form!
The Singles on Sunday again saw the Irish girls perform strongly. Late call-up Marie Williams was in sensational form and progressed to the Final where she lost to Kate Roberts of Wales. Finn and Nguyen were eliminated at the semi-final stage and claimed bronzes. 3 of the 4 medals on offer went to the Irish girls – surely a strong team for the future. The Boys had a tougher time but will have learned massively from their first international experience.