BADMINTON
Junior Griffin
SUNDAY last saw the commencement of Kerry’s badminton season with action in the Munster Butterfield Cup in Bishopstown and the Kerry Knockout Cup club competition in the Killarney Sports Arena, where 15 teams representing all clubs competed in Division 3, 4 and 5, which took almost eight hours to complete
At the outset, the club of the day was the Kingdom Club of Castleisland who went home with two titles. The Kingdom Club’s first honour was gold in Division 5 title where their youthful protégés, backboned by many teenagers, finished top of the pile on the scoreline of 23 sets with Killarney edging in front of Moyvane to take the silver medals on 18 points.
The Division 3 competition saw defending champions Moyvane take on Killarney and Castleisland and in this round robin played event it was point for point before Castleisland garnered title no.2 by pipping Killarney by just one point, 16 to 15, in an absorbing contest.
The Division 4 competition saw five clubs battle for. Title holders Listowel looked to be in trouble when they lost their opening match to Iveragh by one set, but the defending champions edged out Killarney and Ballyheigue in successive encounters to qualify for the decider where their opponents were Iveragh who in turn had disposed of Moyvane. This final was a nail-biting contest and going into the deciding mixed doubles encounter it was the North Kerry side who were a point in front by 7 to 6. With two points on offer the title would be south bound if Iveragh came out on top in this final decider but it was not to be as the defending champions won this vital decider and to win 9 points to 6.
BUTTERFIELD CUP
Kerry travelled to Bishopstown in Cork last Sunday to take part in the annual Munster Council Butterfield Cup competition where Kerry, Cork and Waterford competed. The draw saw Cork take on Waterford in the opening tie with the Rebels prevailing 6 games to 3, so round 2 saw Kerry take on Waterford. Normally the Kingdom would be hot favourites to oust the Decies, but with Waterford having the benefit of an opening game they shocked the Kingdom by 5 games to 4 where the Kerry wins were at first men’s and second ladies doubles and at the first and second mixed doubles encounters.
There was a mountain for Kerry to climb if they had any hopes of regaining the Butterfield Cup as all the advantages lay with the home side, but led by the ladies the Kingdom put in a fighting performance as they captured all three of the ladies ties - singles and both ladies doubles. However, the corresponding men’s games went to Cork even though in the first men’s doubles encounter the Kerry pairing only lost out in the third set by 26-24 in a torrid encounter. Kerry went on to win the first mixed doubles game but lost overall by another 5-4 so it’s a case of “what’s another year” for Kerry as far as the Butterfield Cup is concerned.
NOVEMBER HANDICAPS
The next two Sundays are two of the biggest days in Kerry Badminton as far as the domestic programme is concerned as both of these days are the only time of the whole season that the players of all Kerry divisions will be in action on the same day. Sunday next is November Handicap day and players of all divisions are requested to check their entry form to note the starting time that applies to them with the overall programme due to commence at 1pm. All of these Kerry events will take place in the 8-court Killarney Sports Centre.
This Saturday will also see the start of the Kerry juvenile programme with a series of tournaments to cater for Under-11, 13, 15 and 17. These juvenile tournaments commence at 11am, players to sign in by 10.45am.
The ladies and men’s leagues are now in progress and all clubs are requested to adhere to the timetable as set out for each round.