What a day of Table Tennis! 52 teams… over 200 players… 10 divisions… almost 500 matches in one day! It must be a record for any table tennis event in Ireland!
Day One of the Munster Schools’ League 2013-14 took place on 21st November in Leeside Table Tennis Club in the Sports Village in Cork.
Ben Haughton undertook the organisation of this massive event and the day went very well, finishing on time (although the third round matches had to be truncated to Best-of-Three to achieve this). There were very few complaints and almost no tears, and all the kids enjoyed the day, for many it was their first taste of table tennis competition.
Thanks to all who helped in the set-up and in the clean-up at the end. The Sports Village proved capable of staging a big event, with 26 tables going without a break!
Day two will see them all be back in Leeside in February… watch this space for details!
Results
| Division 11. Mixed Bag A2. Presentation College A3. Tralee CBS A4. Coláiste Choilm ALast year’s winners from Coláiste Choilm were always going to struggle to retain their title without their anchorman, and that proved to be the case, they ended up propping up the top division, with surprise package “Mixed Bag” (Usaamah, Kerry, Zofia & Jack) leading after the first round of matches. Does Kerry never get tired of winning?! | Division 21. Schull Community College2. Tralee CBS B3. Coláiste Choilm B4. Kinsale CCWith two champions from last week’s Munster Ranking in the team, it was no surprise to see Schull CC leading with three wins out of three. Tralee’s second string are next, just ahead of Coláiste Choilm B. The experience of James Barry and Conor O’Callaghan was not enough to lift Kinsale who managed just one draw. | Division 31. Tralee CBS C2. Scoil Eoin A3. Bandon Grammar A4. Mixed Bag 2Tralee’s strength in depth was shown by the fact that their third team leads the third division, with comfortable wins in all three matches. Bandon Grammar played in the Premier Division last year, they were better suited to this level and seemed to enjoy every shot! |
| Division 41. Coláiste Choilm C2. Bandon Grammar C3. Rushbrook NS B4. Bandon Grammar BThe exceptionally polite (!) young men and ladies’ from Bandon were incredibly sporting in all the matches they played, a credit to their school! But neither of their two representatives in this group was good enough to topple Coláiste Choilm’s third team. Great credit to Rushbrook, who were not intimidated by the difference in size between them and their opponents (“He’s about ten feet tall”, one of them said about one of the Grammarians!) | Division 51. Bandon Grammar D1. Mercy Heights Skibbereen3. Coláiste Choilm D4. Rushbrooke NS BAt last, a win for Bandon! Well, almost, joint first with Mercy Skibb at the half-way stage of the tournament. Watch out for Amy, Aoibhinn, Caoimhe and Demelda in February lads, they’re training several nights a week and have you firmly in their sights! | Division 61. Kerry Pike NS A2. PBC B2. Scoil Eoin B4. Rushbrooke NS CWith all four players experienced at Munster Ranking level, indeed at least one potential interprovincial player, Kerry Pike A were going to be difficult to beat in this division. They could have competed a couple of levels up! They only dropped one point, and a draw between Scoil Eoin B and PBC B leaves those two rivals deadlocked in joint second. |
| Division 71. Gaelscoil Bheanntraí2. Kinsale CC B3. St. Finbarr’s 4. Lower Glanmire NS AThree wins with only one set dropped left Micheál, Labhaoise, Alisha and Dylan from Bantry in pole positon. | Division 81. Ballinadee A2. Kinsale CC3. Schull CC4. Coláiste Choilm ENo team was “pointless” after the first round, with all matches finishing on 4-2 scorelines except for the draw between Kinsale and Col. Choilm. Nothing to choose between them and all to play for in February! | Division 91. Kerry Pike NS B1. Summercove A3. Cloghroe A4. Rushbrooke NS DHonours even at the top, with a 3-3 draw between the top two and easy wins in their other matches. |
Division 101. Lower Glanmire NS B2. Rushbrooke NS E3. Cloghroe B4. Kinsale CC DGlanmire’s second team were unstoppable, only Kinsale managing more than one win against them. The others were much more closely matched. | Division 111. Cloghroe D2. Ballinadee B3. Summercove B3. Cloghroe CCloghroe teams top and bottom here, and it was the “D” team rather than the “C’s” that won all their matches. Well done to Rachel, Andrew, Scott and Joseph! | Division 121. Ballinadee C2. Cloghroe E2. Cloghroe F4. Rushbrooke FAnother division win for Ballinadee, showing that not all the best table tennis in West Cork is down in Goleen! Neck-and-neck for the two Cloghroe teams for joint second place. |
| Division 131. Mixed Bag 32. Cloghroe H3. Summercove C4. Cloghroe HStill more Cloghroe teams fighting for glory, but the last of the “mixed bags” was too good for them. D.J., Jessica, Claire and Eoin won two matches and drew one to lead the last of the thirteen divisions! Unlucky for some? |