Buggy beats his young protégé on the way to Leinster Senior title

GAVIN BUGGY has been in tremendous form in the big alley in 2017, and he was crowned Leinster Senior singles champion recently when he took down Brian Carroll in the final.

Gavin was a lucky man to advance to the final as his student on the court, Daniel Kavanagh, almost beat the master who just survived 13-21, 21-20, 21-7.

After getting over his St. Joseph’s clubmate, Brian Carroll from Meath was up next in the final and another three-set thriller ensued.

Again, Gavin lost the opening set, this time 21-15, and once again with defeat on his doorstep he came out on top 21-20 in the middle set.

From then on he had the mo- mentum and won the third in impressive fashion 21-11.

The win has stood to Gavin well in the All-Ireland open singles where he defeated Martin Mulkerrins from Galway 21-5, 17-21, 2113 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Gavin was also crowned Leinster Masters singles winner recently in a blemish-free month, defeating Conor Maxwell from Dublin 21-2, 21-6 in the semi-final.

In the final Gavin saw off the challenge of Ollie Ryan from Carlow 21-4, 21-16, and he will now meet David Maloney from Tipperary in an eagerly-awaited All-Ireland final.

Adam Walsh was crowned Leinster Minor singles champion with a fantastic win in the semi-final over competition favourite Eoin Brennan from Kilkenny for the St. Joseph’s clubman (9-21, 21-15, 21-12).

This set up a final against fellow Wexford representative Anthony Butler, and Walsh won a very close contest 21-14, 21-15.

In the ladies’ Minor singles final, Eva Crean came up against a very strong opponent in Kildare’s Leah Doyle who was a comfortable 21-3, 21-4 winner.

Daniel Kavanagh had powered his way to the Leinster Intermediate singles final after beating Keith Bourke from Dublin 21-18, 21-16. However, the handball that got him there deserted him in the final as he was well beaten 21-3, 21-8 by the more experienced Peter Funchion from Kilkenny.

Tony Breen rolled back the years to take the Diamond Masters ‘A’ singles crown.

In the semi-final he pulled the blinds down on John Ward’s dreams of success, before getting the perfect measure of old foe Johnny Brennan from Kilkenny 21-13, 21-15 in the final.

In the Over-70 final, Jim Doyle won the battle of the Jims when he got the better of Kilkenny’s Jim Dooley 21-3, 21-13.

The Over-35 ‘B’ singles competition had a real purple and gold feel to it, with Noel Holohan advancing with a win over James Stanners, while J.R. Finn won his berth with a win over David Stanners.

The final, played recently in St. Mary’s, was a great game as Holohan took the opener 21-9, and Finn took the second set 2120 after Holohan had come from 20-6 down to serve for the match. Holohan, despite losing the second, had seized the initiative and took the third set 21-9.

On the same bill that night in St. Mary’s was the Diamond Masters ‘B’ singles final that went the way of Brendan Murphy from Castlebridge as he defeated Mylie Byrne from Ballymitty 21-11, 21-19.

Brendan’s brother, Stephen, was beaten in the final of the Golden Masters ‘B’ singles 21-9, 21-6 by Brendan Higginbottom from Kildare. Wexford’s last provincial success of the big alley campaign came as Tom Byrne defeated Kevin McKenna from Dublin in the final.

Two sets of All-Ireland semi-final fixtures are down for decision on Sunday in the Model county.

St. Mary’s will host a triple-header. At 1 p.m. in the Over-70 semi-final, Jim Doyle will face Morgan Darcy from Galway.

The Emerald Masters ‘B’ singles semi-final will follow, with Tom Byrne of Wexford up against Willie Corcoran, while the final bill will see Adam Walsh take on Diarmuid Mulkerrins from Galway.

At 1 p.m. in New Ross two more Wexford players will be in action. Tony Breen get the action under way with a big game against Kevin Geraghty in the Diamond Masters ‘A’ singles semi-final, while Tony’s Templeudigan clubmate Noel Holohan will face Kevin Meehan from Sligo in the semi-final of the Over-35 ‘B’ singles.