New Ross Badminton Club

1st December.

The Creane & Creane sponsored County Charity Tournament began in Ramsgrange Community school on Saturday last and one of the first to qualify for this Saturday night finals was twelve year old Robert Farrell from New Ross B.C. who was competing in the division six men’s singles competition.  It has been a difficult year so far for Robert whose training and preparation has been curtailed due to a nagging knee injury. On Saturday night however he showed no ill effects and was in fine form when beating Richard Dunne of Davidstown by two sets to one in the quarter final, followed by a two sets to love victory over P.J. MacMackin of Ballykelly in the semi final.  In the final he will face the number one seed Craig Healy from the Clonard club, but this game may not go ahead as Robert will be competing earlier in the day in the Leinster Grade B Championships in Terenure.  Robert also competed in the division 4 men’s singles event and very nearly caused a major upsets when narrowly losing in the semi-final in three sets to the highly rated Oliver Cummins of Campile.  There were also fine performances on the night from Shane Moran who reached the quarter-final of the division six men’s singles and Adrian Delaney and Laura Lynch who were beaten by Lee Healy and Denise Mangan of Clonard at the semi-final stage of the division 5 mixed doubles.  Orla Deegan and Mary Wade lost in two sets to Marianne Carroll and Elaine Dunne in the division 3 ladies doubles, while the Taghmon pairing of Stuart O’Toole and Philip Wadding beat Christopher McMackin and Adrian Delaney also in two sets in the division 3 men’s doubles. 

With the county charity tournament in full swing there was only one Wexford mixed league game down for decision and New Ross completed their division 5 league program losing by six games to two at home to Olympic.  New Ross winners on the night were Brian Cullen and Adrian Delaney. New Ross were forced to play this game with just three players in the absence of Helen Moore.  Team: Brain Cullen, Adrian Delaney and Clodagh McDonald.

The Waterford premier men’s team endured a rare double during the week with successive 4-0 defeats at home to Terrerath and away to Lismore.   Against Terrerath on Tuesday night the absence of regulars Martin Regan and Pat Lynch proved too much of a hurdle for the home team to overcome against the current league leaders Terrerath.  While this loss ends New Ross hopes of league honours it gives Terrearth an ideal opportunity to go on and secure the first ever premier title for a Wexford team in the Waterford men’s league. New Ross Team: Noel Carton, Ralph Stone, Billy Bennett, Pat Furlong.  Terrerath: Seamus Creane, Jimmy Sinnott, John Joe Murphy and Sonny Cahill.  On Sunday night New Ross made the long trip to West Waterford to play Lismore and were again comprehensively beaten on a 4-0 score line.  While minus the services of Noel Carton this was a poor performance from the visitors who never raised their game on the night.  New Ross team: Pat Lynch, Martin Regan, Ralph Stone and Adrian Delaney.

8th December.

At the recent Leinster B juvenile championships 12 year old Robert Farrell became the third New Ross Club member to be crowned Leinster Champion this season following his success in the boy’s under 13 singles and doubles.  Robert defeated Steven Guiney from Offaly 21 – 3 in the singles final and was extremely impressive all through the tournament recording four successive victories on route by 21-1, 21-0, 21-14 and 21-4.  In the afternoon Robert teamed up with 10-year-old John Cummins from the Clonard club in the boys doubles and recorded a second success for the model county with a 21-13 defeat of the Offaly partnership of S. Guiney and Conor O’Donoghue. 

The Creane & Creane sponsored County Charity tournament dominated the local badminton scene with the county finals 

staged in Ramsgrange Community School.   New Ross was well represented and there were double successes for Noel Carton and Laura Lynch.  Noel and partner Ralph Stone were awarded the division 1 men’s doubles title when Philip Walsh from Taghmon was unavailable on the night, but just to prove he could also win a title on court he and Miriam Butler from Clonroche won the division 2 mixed doubles title with a two sets to one victory over club colleagues Pat & Brideen Lynch.  Noel and Ralph also picked up a runner-up medal in the division 2 men’s doubles when Stuart O’Toole and Philip Wadding from Taghmon surprisingly beat them in two sets.  There was revenge in the division 2 ladies doubles final for the Kehoe sister from Taghmon over Brideen Lynch and Rosemary Burke.  Two successive league defeats by the New Ross pairing was put behind them with an impressive two sets to love victory.  Orla Deegan was runner up in the division 3 ladies singles with Elaine Dunne from Taghmon awarded the title.  New Ross ladies dominated the singles events in divisions five and six.  The division 5 final was between club mates Mary Wade and Laura Lynch and turned out to be one of the best games of the night with a very high standard of badminton on display.  Mary narrowly won the first set, but Laura managed to draw level with victory in the second set.  The third set was a real cracker and it was a pity that one of these evenly matched players had to lose, but Laura just managed to hold off a gallant opponent to record a notable success.  Laura was also pitted against club colleague Amy McGuinness in the division 6 ladies singles and this game also went to three sets before Laura won by two sets to one.  In the division 5 men’s singles Adrian Delaney was playing the impressive Donal O’Keefe from the Olympic Club.  Adrian narrowly won the first set and despite some fine play in the second and third set he eventually lost by the odd set in tree.  Robert Farrell received a walkover in the division 6 singles when his opponent Craig Healy was unable to be present at the specified time. 

There was a large crowd in attendance in the local hall during the week for the semi-finals of the club senior and novice team tournament.   In the senior event the Lynch Mob had a narrow 9-8 win over the very unlucky Rolling Stones.  The other semi-final was a more one sided affair with the Rovers defeating the Buccaneers 11-3.  In the novice final the Peter Megg’s captained Comets will meet the Tornados lead by Valerie Roche.  This is expected to be a close affair as both teams had easy victories in their respective semi-finals.  The comets defeated the Hurricanes 10-3, while the Tornados defeated the Meteors by 8 sets to 3.

15th December.

The Lynch Mob are the club senior team champions for 2002/03 after a trilling 8-7 final victory over Regan’s Rovers on Tuesday night last in the Vocational College.  The heroes on the night were again the old war horse Pat Furlong and his youthful partner Laura Lynch who repeated their semi-final feat of turning around a three sets deficit into a one set victory.  This was an exciting match from the very opening game when the Rovers took a 2 sets to one lead with Billy Bennett and Wayne Redmond defeating Brideen Lynch and Shane Moran by two sets to one.  Rovers increased their lead further when

 Martin Regan and Adrian Delaney also won by two sets to one against Pat Lynch and Pat Furlong and it was not looking good for the Mob when Shane Moran and Laura Lynch lost by the same margin to Wayne Redmond and Clodagh McDonald.  In a very exciting 4th game Pat and Brideen Lynch drew one all with Martin Regan and Billy Bennett which left the score 7-4 in favour of the Rover’s with just the one match remaining.  It appeared to be asking a lot of the Mob’s final partnership of Pat Furlong and Laura Lynch to repeat their semi-final performance and to again snatch the match from the jaws of defeat.  From early on in the match however it was clear that the wily old campaigner was very much on song and the Rover’s partnership of Adrian Delaney and Clodagh McDonald were under severe pressure and finding it difficult to cope with the fierce attacking game of their opponents.  The Mob’s rearguard partnership took the first two sets comfortably and it was now a case of if they would have enough time to secure the additional two points required for success.  It was a close run thing because the Rover’s partnership began to up the tempo and drag out the rallies, but there was to be no stopping the Mob and they just managed to squeeze in the final elusive two points before the whistle blew to call time and end a memorable game and a very enjoyable competition for all.

The novice final was not quite as close as the Tornados literally blew away their opponents on the night with some scintillating badminton.  It all went wrong for the Comets from the very first game when Valerie Roche and Declan Burke secured a 4-1 lead for the Tornados when they defeated the Mother/son partnership of Greta and Peter Meggs.   It was an uphill struggle from then on for the Comets and things went from bad to worse when Ann Sullivan and Bernadette Phelan increased the Tornados lead when wining 4-0 over Theresa Fenlon and Frances Murphy.  The Tornados could now relax and they increased their lead further when Valerie Roche and Ann Sullivan defeated Peter Meggs and Theresa Fenlon 3-0.  The Comets recovered somewhat in the final match when Greta Meggs and Frances Murphy defeated Declan Burke and Bernadette Phelan 4-0 to leave the final score 10-5 in favour of the Tornadoes.

In presenting the prizes to the winners and runners-up at the conclusion of the competition the club chairman Martin Regan congratulated all the members who had taken part in the competition during the month and paid tribute to the finalists on the night and the standard of Badminton on view. 

The New Ross premier men’s team completed their Waterford league campaign in impressive fashion with a 4-0 away victory on Sunday last over bottom of the table Touraneena.  Team:  Pat Lynch, Noel Carton, Martin Regan and Ralph Stone.  The result keeps the New Ross club safely in mid-table but is a confidence boost ahead of the Waterford premier mixed league beginning in early January.

29th December.

On Monday next the 6th January New Ross will begin the defence of the Waterford premier mixed league title they won last season in such trilling fashion with a difficult away trip to the West Waterford village of Touraneena.  New Ross will be striving to retain the title for the first time in their history, but already they must do so without the experienced Pat Lynch who suffered a badly broken left wrist in an accident at home before Christmas.   The New Ross selectors had hoped to start with the same team that were so impressive last season but are now forced to draft in Ralph Stone who ironically missed last years success due to injury.  Orla Deegan retains her place on the team despite the availability of Karen Hennessy as the selectors opt for continuity in their bid to retain the title.  Team: Rosemary Burke, Brideen Lynch, Orla Deegan, Ralph Stone, Noel Carton and Martin Regan. 

New Ross will also have four other teams competing in the Wexford level doubles leagues beginning in January.  After a poor showing in the mixed leagues before Christmas the club will be hoping for more success this time around.  With an extremely well balanced team the club will start as favourites in the division 2 ladies league particularly after such a fine showing in the Waterford league before Christmas.  Team:   Rosemary Burke, Brideen Lynch, Karen Hennessy and Orla Deegan. 

With the enforced absence of Pat Lynch the men’s division 2-team will need to be at their best to secure this title.  They will be renewing rivalry again with Terrerath, but this time on home soil and Terrath had much the better of the exchanges in the Waterford League in 2002.  Taghmon will also start as one of the favourites for the title having just won the Wexford mixed section before Christmas.  All in all this is expected to be a very competitive league in what is usually a very close competition.

The clubs division 3 men’s team are an unknown quantity featuring a series of new combinations untested at competitive level.  This is always a difficult division to win, but at least this team should be competitive having done so poorly in the corresponding mixed league. Team Panel: Noel Carton, Ralph Stone, Martin Regan, Christopher McMackin, Billy Bennett, Pat Furlong, Adrian Delaney and Brian Cullen.

The club novice ladies having just taken up the sport in September begin their adventure in the novice league with a great deal of enthusiasm.  The team has a solid base of six evenly matched players and should be capable of competing well with any team at this level.  The club selectors have yet to decide on the starting personal, which will be chosen from the following panel:  Fiona & Bernadette Phelan, Mary Kavanagh, Bernie Merrigan, Frances Fenlon and Theresa Murphy. 

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