The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Kerry’s D team make the grade to win gold
THE Munster adult Inter-County competitions took place in UL last Sunday with Kerry represented in grades D, F and G, with grade D having a mixture of division 1 and 2 players, grade F would be division 3 players whilst grade G would be division 4 players.
There was gold for Kerry’s Grade D team. In round one Tipperary beat Cork 7-2 and Kerry beat Waterford 8-1. For round 2 it was winners versus losers and this saw Tipperary beat Waterford 5-4 while Kerry had a convincing 8-1 victory over Cork.
For the gold medals and the honour to represent Munster in the All Ireland finals in about six weeks it was down to Kerry versus Tipperary. The Premier county took both men’s doubles but the Kerry ladies were again the saviours for the Kingdom and they levelled at 2 games each.
The men’s singles went to Kerry as did the second mixed tie so by taking a 4-2 lead Kerry knew that they could not be caught and regained this Munster title after a number of years.
It was a great all round performance by Kerry and they now can be looking forward to the All Ireland series. KERRY PANEL: Niamh O’Flaherty, Sinead Galvin, Maeve Twomey, Sorcha Fitzgerald, Elaine Hudson, Fergal Hannon, Michael Crossan, James O’Flaherty, James Leane, Jonathan Keane. Joint managers; Eric Nelligan, Tom Bourke
There was no joy for the grade G team as they suffered 9-0 defeats to Tipperary and Cork and 9-2 to Waterford. The Tipperary encounter saw each of the mixed ties being hard fought three-set games but all went the way of the Premier county. The same could be said about the Cork game, no less than 7 of these went to the third set but for some reason Kerry fell in each.
The Waterford encounter saw Kerry winning the first ladies tie and the 3rd mixed match with the third set again being the obstacle for Kerry as they lost 4 more three setters in this match
The Grade F team was involved in a three-county play-off with Tipperary and Cork. It was the Kingdom versus the Premier county in round one with Kerry winning the first men’s doubles and both ladies doubles ties to take a 3-1 lead with nine games in each match.
The singles were shared but in the mixed games Kerry won the first mixed match, and though Tipperary took the other two Kerry were overall winners by 5 games to 4.
In round 2 Cork beat Tipperary 6-3, so the final crunch game saw Kerry face Cork. Kerry won the men’s singles but Cork took over and built up a 3-1 lead. Kerry won the second ladies game and the second mixed encounter but Cork were overall winners by 6-3 and took the gold medals.
Juvenile County Championships
It was the Juvenile Singles County Championship day for girls and boys in Killarney last Saturday last where up to 130 boys and girls competed in a programme that took over six hours to complete. U-11 Girls: Jessica O’Loughlin, Kingdom Castleisland defeated Graine Bradley 15-3, 15-9 U-11 Girls Plate: Moira Spillane, Annascaul defeated Grace McGovern, Kingdom U-13 Girls: Deina Vesko, Listowel defeated Ciara Knightly, Annascaul 21-9, 21-10 U-13 Girls Plate: Madison Car ter, Listowel defeated Kiana Walsh, Listowel U-15 Girls: Valerie Guiney, Listowel defeated Katelyn Reid, Annascaul 21-17, 21-10 U-15 Girls Plate: Abbie O’Leary, Killarney defeated Ailbhe Gammell, Killarney U-17 Girls: Ciara Hudson, Moyvane defeated Marie Kennelly, Moyvane 13-21, 21-13, 21-12 U-17 Girls Plate: Nicole Lewis, Annascaul defeated Olivia Weslolowska, Killarney U-11 Boys: Ruadhan Donovan, Annascaul defeated Gearoid O’Sullivan, Listowel 15-11, 15-8 U-11 Boys Plate: Conor O’Keefe, Killarney defeated Harry Curran, Dingle U-13 Boys: Eddie Healy, Listowel defeated Tomas Ashe, Annascaul 21-12, 21-18 U-13 Boys Plate: Tom Hoare, Annascaul defeated Evan McCar thy, Annascaul U-15 Boys: Seamus Bradley, Kingdom defeated Cathal Donovan, Annascaul 21-23, 21-15, 27-25 U-15 Boys Plate: Shane Gleeson, Listowel defeated Kris Montyvdus, Listowel U-17 Boys: Killian Falvey, Annascaul defeated Niall O’Brien, Killarney 21-17, 21-19 U-17 Boys Plate: Gavin McCar thy, Annascaul defeated Luke O’Loughlin, Kingdom
Singles County Championships
THE concluding stages of the C.P.C.ie sponsored adult singles County Championships take place on Sunday in Killarney where divisions 2 and 4 in ladies and men’s championships will take centre court. Both divisions start at 2pm and players are requested to report not later than 1.45pm.
Sports award for Twomey
THE Kerry sports Star awards will take place in Killarney on Friday and Kerry badminton will be represented by the Moyvane division 3 team that won All-Ireland honours. There will be another badminton connection at function as Helen Twomey has been nominated in power-lifting. The Glenflesk built her reputation as a sports star in badminton. Helen started power lifting in 2014 and she retired from badminton in 2015 to concentrate on her new sport and she has excelled in it since.