Two badminton county league titles for Killarney
THE post-christmas Kerry badminton programme commenced with a bang during the past week with the action focused on Tralee and Listowel.
The Ladies and Mens County Leagues for divisions 3 & 4, jointly sponsored by Ashes Bar, Glenbeigh and Sweeney’s Cost Cutters, Tralee commenced last October and culminated in the Presentation Gym, Tralee last Wednesday where the four finals were played.
This 2011-2012 season sees the Killarney Club celebrate their 80th birthday and the celebrations certainly began in style last Wednesday where they captured two out of the four finals played, which saw the division 4 mens decider being an all Killarney confrontation. The A team overcame their B team by 4-0. The winning team members were John O’halloran, Padraig Mccarthy, Thomas Tong and Michael O’sullivan.
The second Killarney victory was in the mens division 3 decider which saw the East Kerry club take on Moyvane. This was a close match with a number of the games going to the third set for decision but it was Killarney that came out on the top by 4-2. The winning team was Brian Mcsweeney, Evan Horan, Andrew Tong and Danny Cronin.
Moyvane were victorious in the ladies division 3 final where they overcame the home club, County, by 4-1. The Moyvane team was Elaine Hudson, Jeanelle Griffin, Sorcha Fitzgerald and Carmel Hudson.
The ladies division 4 decider was the match of the night between Kingdom (Castleisland) and Listowel. The sides were level at 2-2 but Listowel looked set for victory when taking a 3-2 lead but a brave Castleisland comeback saw the sides level at 3-3. However, on the count back of sets it proved to be Listowel’s night as they just secured victory by 9 sets to 7. The Listowel winning team was Margaret Healy, Linda Prendeville, Rowan Frost and Laura Stack.
Listowel Tournament
Weekend
THE Listowel Badminton Club hosted their Annual Badminton tournaments at the local Community Centre on Sat. and Sunday last.
Normally, the local club has played these events, which commenced in 1972, in either March or April and the Listowel executive were a little apprehensive of having such an early date this season but they did not need to worry as the Saturday programme saw entries from all Munster counties as well as Carlow, and Sunday, which featured divisions 4 & 5, saw entries received from all over Kerry.
RESULTS Division 1&2 mixed doubles final: (finalists, all Kerry) Peggy Horan & Tom Bourke defeated Sinead Galvin & Sean Murphy 24-22; 13-21; 2116 Division 1& 2 Ladies doubles final: (all Kerry) Breda O’mahony & Jennifer Keane defeated Helen Twomey & Sinead Galvin; 21-18 Division 1 &2 Mens doubles final: Conor Williams (Limerick) & Sean Murphy (Kerry) defeated Tom Bourke (Kerry) & Michael Hales (Limerick) 21-11 Veterans mixed doubles final: Kathleen Gilbride (Kerry) & Michael Mcgrath (Waterford) defeated Eileen Roche and Patsy O’connor (both Kerry) 21-11 Division 3 mixed final: Sorcha Fitzgerald (Moyvane) & Fergal Hannon (Listowel) defeated Kathleen Gilbride (Ballyheigue) and Danny Cronin (Killarney) 21-15; 21-13. Division 4 mixed final: Rowan Frost (Listowel) & Tom Rice (County, Tralee) defeated Lisa Sayers (Annascaul) & Liam Barry (Killarney) 23-25; 21-14; 21-17 Division 5 mixed final: Maria O’connor (Killarney) & Neily KeaneStack (Listowel) defeated Olivia Dineen (Listowel) and Islam Jahidul (Killarney) 11-21; 21-17; 21-19
Cork County Championships
THE Kingdom Club of Castleisland have this season got permission to take part in the Cork County leagues and this also has opened the door for the Kingdom players to take part in the Rebel County Championships.
Some weeks ago, Kerry and Munster singles champion, Tom Bourke qualified for the Cork singles final and last Sunday Bourke and his Kingdom partner, Helen Twomey qualified for the mixed doubles decider. These finals are to be played on Sunday January 29.
Sunday next sees the start of the Munster adult Badminton championships and these events, the Munster Senior 2 Championships and the Munster Graduate C/ships will be played at the Killarney sports centre at 10pm.