January

The last major competition of 2002 on the juvenile circuit was the Leinster Close Juvenile Championships held in the Leinster Badminton headquarters in Whitehall Road, Terenure from the 26th to the 29th December.  New Ross Badminton club’s only representative in the competition was Laura Lynch who was competing in the three under 13 events and as a late replacement in the under 15 girls doubles when teaming up with the Taghmon star Elaine Dunne.  It turned out to be a hectic weekend for Laura who qualified for the finals on Monday of the under 13 singles, the under 13 and 15 doubles and was knocked out on Saturday in the semi-final of the under 13 mixed doubles.  Having progressed to the quarterfinals in the girls singles Laura overcame the Taghmon star Aoife Morrissey in straight sets 11-3, 11-3 and in the semi-final Laura beat fellow provincial panellist Kate Mullery also in two sets 11-8,11-2.  In the girls doubles Laura teamed up with Kate and after an easy passage thought the earlier rounds they defeated Laura Coe and Elizabeth Cobbe in two sets 11-4, 11-2 in the semi-final.  Laura and mixed doubles partner Luke Moore were very impressive in qualifying from their pool in the mixed doubles without the loss of a set to qualify for a semi-final meeting against the Taghmon pairing of Alan Nolan and Aoife Morrissey.  In the semi-final however the two Taghmon stars played a very astute tactical game to upset the odds and emerge worthy winners on a score line of 21-11.  In the under 15 girls doubles the Taghmon/New Ross pairing were seeded number 1 and having progressed with ease to the semi-final they were rather fortunate to overcome a game challenge from Megan Oliver and Ann Collins before winning 8-11,11-8, 11-6.  On Monday the refurbished hall, a large crowd and official umpires all added to the occasion and seemed to inspire all the finalists to produce some excellent and exciting badminton.  Laura was up against the number one seed Norma McIntyre from the KADCA club in Dublin in the final of the under 13 singles.  Laura started in blistering fashion and produced some of her best badminton of the season to overwhelm her North Dublin opponent in the opening game winning it by 11 aces to 3.  She was unable to maintain the momentum however and Norma hit back to win the second set 11-6 to tie the match at one set all.  The number one seed took a 5-1 lead at the start of the 3rd set, before Laura hit back to tail by just two aces at 7-5.  Norma surged ahead again to lead by 10-5 before the New Ross star rallied once more to reduce the deficit to 10-8.  Both players had chances in some fine rallies before Norma got the all-important eleventh ace to win in three sets 3-11,11-6, 11-8.  There was to be further heartache for Laura in the under 13 doubles when the un-seeded partnership of Kate McDonald & Clare Moore caused a major upset by defeating the number one seeds Laura and Kate Mullery in two sets 11-9, 11-8.  Laura’s final hope of success now lay in the under 15 girls doubles final where she and partner Elaine Dunne met Norma McIntyre and Shona Prendergast .  The omens were good for a Wexford success as Elaine had already achieved a remarkable double having won the under 15 mixed doubles and singles events.  After a nervous start in the first set in which they were fortunate to win 11-8, both girls settled down to play some excellent attacking badminton in the second set, which they won comfortably 11-4.  There was more success for Wexford on the day when Marianne Carroll from Taghmon completely dominated the under 17 girls singles final to beat the highly rated number 2 seed Donna Brady in two sets 11-5, 11-7.  Marianne also picked a runners-up trophy in the under 17 girls doubles.

New Ross Began their Waterford premier mixed league campaign with a long and difficult journey to the picturesque West Waterford village of Touraneena.  While the outward journey may have been long and arduous the trip home was shortened after an excellent 5-1 away victory gave the defending champions the best possible start to the defence of their title.  New Ross only defeat was in the first mixed doubles where it will take a while for the new partnership of Ralph Stone and Brideen Lynch to play to their full potential.  New Ross team: Noel Carton, Martin Regan (capt), Ralph Stone, Brideen Lynch, Rosemary Burke and Orla Deegan.

In the Wexford mixed league bottom of the table New Ross played host to highflying Taghmon in the final home fixture and the penultimate game of the division 3 league.  While the 2-2 draw would seem to indicate a fine performance from the New Ross side it was achieved mainly as result of walkovers received in the men’s doubles and first mixed doubles games.  While Taghmon had a full complement of players on the night only three of the team were eligible for the grade and as result the visitors conceded two games to the home side.  In the games that mattered the Taghmon pairings with several inter-county players in their side were easy victors over their young and inexperienced opponents.  New Ross team: Pat Furlong, Adrian Delaney, Mary Wade and Laura Lynch. Taghmon: Deirdre Kehoe, Sarah Murphy, Alan Mackay and Vincent Mackay.

On the Juvenile scene the first provincial tournament of the New Year was held in the Baldoyle Badminton Centre on Sunday last.  This was an invitation tournament for the various under 17 regional development squads and consequently there was big entry from Wexford in the event.  New Ross Badminton club members Orla Deegan and Shane Moran were competing and Orla was disappointed to be beaten in the semi-final of the girls singles by the all-conquering Taghmon and Wexford under 15 star Elaine Dunne, but got some measure of revenge in the girls doubles when she and partner Marianne Carroll from Taghmon defeated Elaine and Catherine McDonald.  After the morning games Shane Moran qualified for the B section for the afternoon events and reached the semi-final of the boys singles before losing narrowly by 21 – 18 to Trevor Boch.  Shane and partner Richard Millar finished second in their group in the boy’s doubles and just failed to qualify for the knockout stages.

Wexford’s inter County team maintained their excellent record in the class-3 competition to once again qualify for the All Ireland finals on the 5th April next.  Wexford were in a difficult qualifying group that also featured Waterford and Tipperary.  In the first game of the day Tipperary were narrow 5-4 victors over Waterford, which meant it was local rivals Waterford who would be Wexford’s first opponents.  To add spice to the contest Waterford had narrowly beaten Wexford in the 2001 qualifying campaign and the model county had reversed the result in 2002, when they topped the group and qualified.  In a very closely fought contest it was Wexford who were to emerge victorious winning by 6 games to 3.  Wexford now faced Tipperary whom they had beaten 5-0 in last year’s All Ireland semi-final.  Wexford started again in blistering fashion to race into a 4-0 lead.  Back came the Munster team however to win the next three games and leave the score-line at just 4-3 in favour of the model county with two games remaining on court.  Both matches were extremely close with Wexford just managing to hold on to eventually go through comfortably on a 6-3 score line.   Wexford panel:  Rosemary Burke, Brideen Lynch, Karen Hennessey, Noel Carton, Ralph Stone (New Ross), Deirdre Kehoe, Gillian Murphy, Helen Ryan, Stuart O’Toole (Taghmon), Liam Sinnott, Fin Rooney (Olympic), Seamus Creane (Terrerath)

It was also another major weekend on the Juvenile circuit with the Munster under 15 open championships being held in the Nagle Community College Cork on Saturday.  Wexford had only two representatives competing in the event and both were extremely impressive on the day.  The Taghmon star Elaine Dunne followed up on her triple success in the Leinster under 15 close championships to record another impressive clean sweep of all the events in the girls under 15 categories.  Wexford’s second representative was the New Ross under-13 star Laura Lynch who was playing in the event mainly for the experience.  It turned out to be quite an experience for Laura as she teamed up with Elaine to win the under 15 girls doubles and partnered Steven Dunne from Dublin in the mixed doubles to finish runners up to Elaine and her partner Mark Donnelly.  After a rather nervous start in her opening singles game, which Laura eventually won 21-15 against Gillian Murphy she began to relax and played extremely well in her next two games to win in impressive fashion 21-3, 21-3 against Laura Murphy and Sarah Twomey.  Laura’s final group game was against the highly rated Munster under-15 star Joanne Flanagan from Ennis. For half this game Laura was competing well with her experienced opponent, playing some excellent badminton and trailed by only four aces 11-7 at the break.  The stoppage in play seemed to break the young Wexford’s players concentration however and Joanne eventually emerged the victor by 21-7.  Joanne then went on to play Elaine Dunne in the semi-final and a surprise looked on the cards when she led the number one seed 16-7, before the Wexford star got her game together to stage a dramatic comeback and eventually win 21-17.  Elaine completed her triple success by beating another young Munster star Ciara Prendergast 11-5, 11-5 in the singles final.

The final club mixed league fixture was played on Monday last when the division 3-team were beaten 8-0 away by the league leaders Taghmon.  New Ross team:  Mary Wade, Orla Deegan, Billy Bennett and Adrian Delaney.  The last of the club level doubles league teams have now been selected with the finalisation of the novice ladies team.  Team:  Theresa Fenlon (capt), Frances Murphy, Fiona Phelan and Mary Kavanagh.  Reserve Bernie Merrigan

It was an impressive debut for the New Ross ladies novice team who got their league campaign off to a winning start with a fine 7-2 victory away to Olympic.  The result is a little unkind to the home side as this was a real ding-dong battle between two evenly matched teams and a much closer game than the score line indicates.  New Ross picked up maximum points in the first round of games with victories for Theresa Fenlon and Frances Murphy and for the second ladies of Fiona Phelan and Mary Kavanagh.  In the reverse doubles Therese Fenlon and Fiona Phelan lost their game in three sets, but Frances Murphy and Mary Kavanagh took the last game to leave the final score at 7-2 and the best possible start for the visitors.

On Thursday night the division 3 men’s team travelled to Clonroche and after a very poor mixed doubles campaign they were anxious to get their campaign of to a good start.  Confusion regarding the starting time of the game may eventually affect the result but when the game was eventually played New Ross emerged victorious on a 6 - 3 score line.  New Ross team:  Ralph Stone, Martin Regan, Billy Bennett (capt) and Adrian Delaney.

Meanwhile in New Ross on the same night it was the battle of the big two in the ladies second division with New Ross the current Waterford ladies champions taking on Taghmon the Wexford mixed doubles champions.  As expected this was an extremely close encounter with New Ross just edging out the visitors on a 6 – 4 score line.  New Ross won three of the four games on the night, but two of the games went the full distance with Taghmon picking up the odd point in three.  The visitors minus the services of inter county player Deirdre Kehoe will not be too unhappy with the result and the score line keeps both clubs in the hunt for league honours.

It was good week all round for the Barrowsiders with the Waterford premier mixed doubles team taking full advantage of home fixtures to record a double success.  On Friday they entertained the current men’s league winners Lismore and were very impressive in winning by 5 games to 1.  Karen Hennessey replaced the injured Brideen Lynch on the night and New Ross enjoyed success in both ladies and mixed doubles games and split the men’s doubles.  Lismore’s only success on the night was in the second men’s doubles when Noel Carton and Ralph Stone were surprisingly beaten in straight sets.  Team:  Noel Carton, Martin Regan, Ralph Stone, Karen Hennesey, Rosemary Burke and Orla Deegan.  The 2001 champions and old adversaries Lady lane of Waterford were the visitors on Tuesday night and again the home side was to triumph, this time by 4 games to 2.  Lady Lane missing the services of Triona Dobbin and John Riordan were under pressure from the very beginning and lost the opening four matches to an eager Ross outfit.  Noel Carton and Martin Regan were very impressive when defeating Timmy Keogh and Kieran Fahey 15-3, 15-7 and Brideen Lynch and Rosemary Burke increased the New Ross lead when winning the 1st ladies 15-8, 15-7.  Noel Carton and Ralph Stone returned to fine form to win the second men’s doubles 15-0, 15-7 and Brideen Lynch and Orla Deegan secured the home sides fourth point in the second ladies doubles when winning 15-7, 15-13.  Lady Lane hit back however to take the first mixed doubles when Timmy Keogh and Mary Walsh defeated Ralph Stone and Rosemary Burke in a trilling three set game 14-17, 15-4, 15-13 and Lady Lane also took the final game of the night when Martin Walsh and Kate Hayes defeated Martin Regan and Orla Deegan 15-7, 15-13.

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