New Ross Badminton Club

October 04

There was good news for club members during the week with no less than seven called up for the county team panels by county manager Michael Murphy.  Ralph Stone , Pat Lynch, Brideen Lynch, and Oral Deegan were all members of last years class 3 All-Ireland team and they are joined by Celine Hayes, Rosemary Burke, Karen Hennessey, Laura Lynch and Colm Byrne.  Colm makes a welcome return to Wexford colours after a seven year absence while working and playing in Carlow. For Laura Lynch it is her first call up to the senior squads and continues her upward rise in badminton.  Rosemary Burke withdrew from last years squads due to time constraints and Karen Hennessey missed all of last season due to injury.  Both have been invited back again, but whether they will be a position to take up the offer is unclear.  Celine Hayes was a member of the class 4 team who lost narrowly to Waterford in the qualifying group.

The very popular club singles ladder began on Tuesday the 5th October with Ralph Stone endeavouring to defend the title he won last season.  He will face stiff competition during the season with last years club singles champion Colm Byrne the pre-tournament favourite for the title.  The current top ten in the rankings are 1. Ralph Stone , 2. Chris McMackin, 3. Colm Byrne, 4. Martin Regan, 5. Billy Bennett, 6. Neil Barrett, 7. Orla Deegan, 8. Andrew Wayland , 9. Karen Hennessey, 10. Rosemary Burke.

Congratulations to Ralph Stone , Brideen Lynch and Pat Lynch on their election to the County Wexford Executive committee.  Ralph is the new league manager taking over from Olive Waters (Gusserane) with responsibility for the running of the various leagues and all team events.  Brideen Lynch will be serving her second term as county registrar, while Pat Lynch is in his second term as county P.R.O.

With the addition of Christopher McMackin who is on loan from near neighbours Shelburne, New Ross has increased its league entries to five teams for the pre-Christmas league championships.  New Ross now has two teams competing in the Wexford division 2 mixed league and one each in division 1 and 5.  The fifth team plays in the Waterford men’s division 3 league.  New Ross and Taghmon now dominate the top divisions of the Wexford leagues as the only clubs with teams in any of the top 3 divisions.  The various leagues begin on Monday the 18th October and we wish all teams the very best in their respective grades.

The New Ross division 3 Waterford men’s team has the honour of starting the club quest for league honours  when they travel to Dunmore in Waterford for the first round of the men’s league.  Having been narrowly beaten into 2nd place by Waterford Badminton club last year the New Ross side will be hoping to go one better this season and land their first Waterford men’s doubles title.  Missing from last years team is Brian Cullen and stepping in to take his place is Wayne Redmond, the other team members are: Adrian Delaney, Pat Furlong and Andrew Wayland .  In the Wexford mixed leagues the club’s division 5 team host Ballycogley on Wednesday and both teams will naturally be trying to get their campaign off to best possible start in their quest for league honours.  New Ross team: Adrian Delaney, Andrew Wayland , Christina Sinnott and Sue Barrett .  On Thursday night there is a unique pairing in the second division when the club’s A and B team play each other in their opening league fixture. This is expected to be a tense and intriguing encounter and with such a small number of entries in the grade a good start is vital for both sides if they wish to stay in the hunt for championship success:  It is the first time in over a decade that the club has more than one team in a division.  A Team:  Ralph Stone , Pat Lynch, Rosemary Burke and Brideen Lynch.  B Team: Seamus Creane, Neil Barrett, Orla Deegan and Celine Hayes. 

Congratulations to club officer Pat Lynch on his appointment as manager of the Wexford under-15 county team for the current season.   It is a busy time for Pat who was also installed as the coordinator of the local regional development squads.  This is a Badminton Union of Ireland initiative to try and improve the standard of badminton among the young players in the county.

There were mixed fortunes for New Ross Badminton club teams as they began their quest for league honours in both the Wexford and Waterford leagues.  In the Wexford mixed leagues there were victories for the division 2 (A) and division 5 teams in their opening match, while the division 2 (B) and Waterford division 3-team suffered heavy defeats.  New Ross were guaranteed the points in the division 2 encounter when the A and B meet in the opening game.  Despite a few scary moments particularly in first mixed and in the ladies doubles the A team duly collected maximum points in an 8-2 victory.  A Team: Brideen Lynch (Capt), Rosemary Burke, Pat Lynch and Ralph Stone .  B Team: Orla Deegan, Celine Hayes (capt), Frankie Morrissey and Neil Barrett.  The division 5 team were in sparkling form in their opening encounter where they hammered the visitors Ballycogley (B) 8-0.  The New Ross team were on top in all areas and won both men’s and ladies doubles and the two mixed doubles games with ease.  New Ross team:  Helen Moore, Christina Sinnott, Adrian Delaney and Andrew Wayland (Capt).  The Waterford division 3 men’s team travelled to Dunmore in Waterford for their opening encounter, but went down 3-1 to the home side.  New Ross secured their only point in the final game of the evening when Pat Furlong and Wayne Redmond won the last game to give some comfort to the visitors for their journey home. 

In the opening games in the clubs singles ladder there were fine wins for Christina Sinnott and Declan Burke.  It was an all Sinnott affair in the first game with Christina overcoming brother Joseph 8/15 15/12, 15/11 to stay in 9th position.  Declan Burke moves up to 12th spot by virtue of his fine 8/15, 15/14, 15/14 win over Joseph Meggs, with Joseph dropping back to 13th.  The Competition continues every Tuesday night with all the first round series of games to be completed before the 16th November.

There will be 6 players from New Ross attending the assessment session in Ramsgrange Community School on the 13th November to determine players suitable for inclusion in the regional development squads.  The six hopefuls are Eanna Burke (U11), Kevin Burke (U13), Grainne Burke, Aoife Bennett, Laura Lynch and Caragh Walsh (U15).  All 6 athletes will travel to Ramsgrange to under-go assessment by the national coach Bo Osomegard and local high performance coach Liam Sinnott .

 Laura Lynch is in the news again after a double success in the Dublin Open Juvenile championships held last weekend in the Terenure College Sports Hall, Terenure, Dublin .  In the Sunday afternoon quarter finals, Laura and her doubles partner Norma McIntyre defeated Ciana NiMhantain and Fionna Mills 15/0, 15/0 and followed this up later in the evening with a 15/8, 15/4 victory over Ciara Brady and Kate McDonald in the semi-final.  In the final they faced the Ulster pairing of Tracy Watson and Ashleigh Davidson, but they fared no better against the number 1 seeds who won comfortably 15/8, 15/4.  Laura and her mixed doubles partner David Tutty had a bit of an up and down season last year, but they started this season in impressive fashion.  The New Ross/Mount Pleasant combination qualified for the finals without the loss of a set and then proceeded to overwhelm the Ennis pairing of Robert and Ciara Pender 15/2, 15/2 in the final to signal their intentions for the coming season.  Laura also reached the semi-final of the girl’s singles, and despite patches of brilliance she struggled against the more consistent and steadier opponent when losing 11/6, 11/4 to Ciara Pender.

After their opening 8-0 victory in the county division 5 mixed league, New Ross travelled to Galbally

Ralph Stone

 for their second game full of confidence. The defending champions however were well up for this fixture and with the visitors never really adjusting to the speed of the shuttle the home side coasted to a surprisingly easy 8-1 victory.  The solitary New Ross point was picked up by Christina Sinnott and Sue Barrett in the ladies doubles.  The first leg of the division 1 mixed doubles league final between New Ross and Taghmon was postponed due to a power failure in the Taghmon venue.  Another fixture that fell foul of the inclement weather was the Waterford men’s division 3 league game between Waterford and New Ross in Lady Lane , with flood damage to the hall leading to its postponement.  In the singles ladder Ralph Stone holds on to the number 1 spot after a 15/11, 15/8 success over the 3rd ranked Neil Barrett.

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