New Ross Badminton Club

Laura makes impressive debut on Irish Team

Laura Lynch (New Ross) was one of the star performers on the Irish team in the Home Counties quadrangular international tournament held in the Baldoyle Badminton Centre.  On her international debut Laura won 4 of her 6 games in the event, a feat matched only by Sam Magee (Donegal) on an Irish team that finished up in 3^rd place behind England and Scotland, with Wales in 4^th spot.  Laura had started a little nervously and lost both her games on the Friday evening when Ireland began the tournament against a very strong English side.  On Saturday however the nerves were under control and she played excellent badminton to win both her games against Scotland and Wales.   Despite a 7-3 defeat for the Irish by Scotland in the morning session, Laura picking up two of the team points that began with her and her Leinster partner Norma McIntyre winning their ladies doubles 15/5, 11/15, 15/5 against Marlene Kay and Lauren Nelson.  The Irish selectors had caused a minor surprise with their team selection for the Scottish game when they moved Sam Magee out of the boy’s singles in which he had won against England and paired him with Laura in the top mixed doubles game.  It was a bold move by the selectors, but they were immediately vindicated when the Wexford/Donegal pairing gelled nicely and were most impressive in their 15/10, 15/6 victory over a strong Scottish pairing of Paul Van Reitvelde and Gillian Sloan.  The afternoon game against Wales was for the 3^rd and 4^th place position, with England playing Scotland for 1^st and 2^nd spot.  England defeated their old foes Scotland 7-3 to win the overall title and the Irish side overcame their Welsh neighbours 6-4 to secure the 3^rd spot. Again Laura was in fine form against Wales winning her doubles and mixed doubles games.  Laura and Sam Magee continued to impress at 1^st mixed and they defeated the Welsh number 1 Damien Renshaw and Fionna Sheppard 15/10, 15/9.  A measure of how impressive this victory was can be gauged from the fact that Damien won the under-15 mixed doubles tournament between the four countries. Laura and doubles partner Norma McIntyre won their 2^nd ladies doubles game with a 15/8, 15/17, 15/8 victory over Bethan Higginsson and Jessica Markey.  A weekend to remember for the young New Ross club player and hopefully it will lead to further international honours in the future.

Pat Lynch wins the Club Person of the Year Award

It was refreshing to see such a large number of sporting organisations present at the BUI Club and Club Person of the Year Awards held in the White Sands Hotel Portmarnock.  Guests included Fiona Coyne - Irish Sports Council, Pat Hickey - Olympic Council of Ireland, Brian McCargo - Sports Council for Northern Ireland , Pauline Gilsenan - Fingal Sports Partnership plus members of the BUI Executive.  At the ceremonies Pat Lynch was the recipient of the Stein Travel National Club Player of the Year prize for his work on behalf of the New Ross Badminton Club and his efforts in promoting the sport of badminton over the past twenty-five years.  When receiving his award from the BUI president Craig Casey, Pat thanked the New Ross club and club chairman Ralph Stone for nominating him and Stein Travel for their generous sponsorship of the national and regional prizes.  He complimented Mary Browne and the BUI executive for their foresight in organising an event of this type.  He was extremely honoured to be selected for such a prestigious award as he felt that any one of the nineteen nominees would have been equally wordy of the honour, but he was delighted to have been selected from among such dedicated and hard working club members.  He never considered his work for the club or the promotion of the game he loved as a chore and he was only too happy to introduce the sport to as many people as possible.  He wished the BUI continued success with the awards which he felt could only go from strength to strength.   Hopefully Pat will now find some free time in his busy schedule to avail of the prize of a week’s holiday in Salou, Majorca , or Portugal which was presented by Stein Travel.

Exciting Fare in  Club Championship Finals

The finals of the New Ross club championships took place on Thursday the 28th April before a large attendance in the New Ross Vocational College.  There were eight finals down for decision in four categories ranging from novice to senior.  In the novice singles Kevin Burke defeated Sarah McGuinness 11/1, 11/1 while Liz Murphy and Joseph Meggs overcame Neil Parker and Carol McDonald in three sets to win the novice doubles.  The junior singles was a close encounter between two promising under-age players Eoghan Cashin and Eoin Murphy, with Cashin eventually winning 13/8, 13/9.  There was a 2^nd success for Cashin in the junior doubles when he and Raymond Breen overcame Anne Walsh and Joseph Sinnott 13/12, 13/10.  In the Intermediate section Rosemary Burke won her 1^st club title when she and Brideen Lynch won the Intermediate doubles 15/8, 15/9 against Pat Furlong and Celine Hayes.  In the intermediate singles Laura Lynch reversed last years final result when she defeated Andrew Wayland 15/1, 15/9.  In the senior doubles Ralph Stone and Laura Lynch took the doubles title 10/15, 15/6, 15/10 against Pat Lynch and Billy Bennett, while in the main event of the evening Ralph Stone won his 1^st club senior singles title with 11/15,15/7, 15/5 victory over Neill Barrett.

School and Club Combine

A joint venture between New Ross Badminton Club and New Ross Vocational College with the aim of promoting badminton in the school has been a resounding success according to the college PE teacher Sue Barrett.  The venture involved the College and the local Badminton Club organising a series of coaching sessions in the college prior to the start of a singles competition that included entries from 52 students. There were three sections – Junior Boys, Junior Girls and Senior Students, with a plate competition in all events for first round losers.  The competition is now at the concluding stages after many weeks of activities, with the finals set for Monday afternoon next.  The Junior Boys attracted the greatest entry, with the semi-finals seeing Eoghan Cashin, defeating Dean Hunt 15/2, 15/1, while Eoin Murphy overcame Kenneth Redmond 15/3, 15/2.  The result means a rematch between Cashin and Murphy, who have already met in the New Ross Club junior singles final with Eoghan Cashin winning an exciting game on that occasion in straight sets.

The Junior girls competition was also very intense with some really close and exciting games, especially the semi-finals with Maura Murphy getting the better of Sabrina Cahill Kehoe 11/6, 11/10, while Lorraine Walsh overcame 1^st year student Aoife St Ledger 11/6, 11/0.

The senior competition provided great interest among the large number of interested spectators that regularly turned up to watch the games. The first semi-final in particular between Christopher Connick and Keith Cullen was a pulsating game featuring two athletes that were so evenly matched that all threes sets were decided by a tie-break before Christopher came back from losing the first set to eventually win 16/17, 17/16, 17/15.  While not reaching the level of excitement of the 1^st semi-final the second match none the less featured some excellent badminton before Brendan O’Neill defeated David Long 15/7 15/2.

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