Hannah Craig is buzzing. Her recent trip to Ireland was a success, winning her latest Senior Nationals title, and a detour on the way home to Calgary saw her pick up a Steel City Open opening round win to nudge her to No.64 in the rankings, just three places short of the career-best No.61 achieved in May last year.
That’s a glass ceiling she now hopes to shatter before the season is out. “The sky’s the limit,” she enthused on an early morning Zoom before more training ahead of next week’s hometown Calgary Open.
“I’m not really focused on a number necessarily, I’m just trying to get better and better each match. Even playing last week there, I had that win (in Pittsburgh) and then played Rowan Elaraby.
“In a match like that, with somebody who has been top 10 in the world, you just come off and you learn so much very quickly, so I am trying to get those opportunities, reflect on them and then for the next event get better, but I guess in the long run I would love to target the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games. I would really like to get my ranking as high as it can possibly go.
“I feel like I’m in a really good place physically, mentally and super excited for the rest of the season. I want to end the season definitely within the top 60 at least,” she added. “I’ve a few more big tournaments coming up, so as long as I can be consistent and hopefully get a few good results there, I am confident I can get to my highest world ranking by the end of the season.’
That’s a groundbreaking position she couldn’t imagine happening due to an injury last year. “It was a disc bulge in my lower lumbar spine, so I just had to do loads of rehab,” she explained. “Unfortunately, it needed two months off in the summer, so I didn’t really have a pre-season. A few weeks before my first event, the disc bulged again.
“So, a lot of pain. There were days when, honestly, I would go to the court solo and just to hit drop shots, and I wouldn’t be able to walk home because everything would seize up. It was a pretty dark time, but I try to remind myself now how nice it is to go off and train and how I wished that (I could do that) a few months ago.”
Craig’s catch-up with Squash Ireland is to help promote Sport Ireland’s latest Women In Sport (WIS) Week. It’s a cause close to her heart. “I’d say my key message to young girls in sport, whether in squash or any other sporting endeavour, is to really go all in.
“I’ve learned most of my biggest life lessons through playing sport at a junior level, at a professional level, and it just teaches you a lot about dealing with pressure, uncomfortable situations, diversity, I could go on. But it will enable you to take on leadership roles and excel in all other areas of life.”
Squash was Craig’s sanctuary as a teen. “When I was younger, probably my teenage years, I would say squash was always my safe space to just go, whether it was academic pressure, stuff at home, my parents unfortunately got divorced when I was a teenager.
“So, all of these different things that you deal with that age, and you are not necessarily equipped or mature enough for, sport gives you that community and that kind of area to let things out more or less.”
Bridging the inequality gap in sport is something on Craig’s mind in WIS Week. “There is unfortunately times when we have to take a step back and re-evaluate as female athletes,” she said. “I’m sure you saw in the US the kind of scandal with the men’s hockey team and that call, and it puts a chill in your bones in terms of people having these perspectives.
“I’m hopeful that it’s on men, women and parents, leaders to continue, as we were saying, with the same energy and be mindful of what that actually looks like. All that female athletes can do is continue to show and excel what our capabilities are, and I hope that over time these very outdated and disrespectful views are no longer.”
Craig’s role model growing up was Aisling Blake, the former Ireland international who got as high as No.21 on the PSA rankings. “Aisling Blake was a very big role model for me. Her fighting spirit and just how sharp and strong she is as a woman and as a female athlete, I always really admired her and her spirit.
“I continue to be in touch with her and get advice and support from her. No one can really understand what it means to be an Irish pro, so having someone there I can talk to about it is so helpful.”
That mentorship is reflected in her advice to the numerous girls involved in the new Squash Ireland Junior Performance Academy. “My message for the junior academy females would be to believe in yourself and to work as hard as you possibly can.
“You can say a lot, but what you actually do, and show is the most important, so don’t listen to people with their views, try not to doubt yourself, just continue to dream big and work hard.
Craig was just 18 when he left Ireland to advance her squash at Harvard in the United States. It was a jump into the unknown that was the making of her.
“It changed my life going to the US from a perspective of opportunity. I was put on a team with 10 incredible squash players from all different countries, with an amazing coaching team and facilities I had never seen before.
“It just gave me an insight into athletic excellence, I would say, and that gave me a lot. And now, as I mentioned, the opportunities, the leagues, the coaching and players have been really amazing.
“Yeah, I am very grateful for everything, and also I have gained the perspective of opening up my world. Anyone who moves continents at a young age, you’ve got to mature quickly, and it adapted me to life on tour.”
Nine years later, Canada is now home. “Calgary was for many different reasons, probably the first one is for love because my boyfriend is on the Canadian national team,” he said. “He is a head pro at a club here and on the pro tour, so that was a big reason.
“The second biggest reason was that I was in New York City before. When I moved there, I was working in business and quickly learned that when I am on the squash tour, you can’t finance that lifestyle in NYC from a cost perspective, everything like that.
“Also, Calgary is probably just the most beautiful place I have ever lived, with the mountains. I can go to work really hard and play these tournaments and then come back and maintain training and go into a bubble of focus. I love it here.”
Selected to play for Ireland at the European Team Championships in Amsterdam at the end of April, there will be plenty more air miles before the season is out. Just as well she is good with logistics. “I have to be. I plan all the flights, hotels, everything.
“I’m pretty good at planning, but you definitely make mistakes sometimes. You lose out on money from flights, or if you think I am going to get a certain result or lose a match and you have to change flights, it can be pretty crazy.
“I’ll be back around Europe and back home all of April and May. For me, going back home is the best thing mentally to recharge, to be around friends and family. There is something about being home that just energises you, so I love it from that perspective.
“Obviously, with travelling, the jet lag is pretty brutal, and trying to get your circadian rhythm consistent. I am trying to get more tips and tricks to deal with that, but yeah, I love going home.
“I also love the tour in general in terms of what is going on in North America, where they have got the national squash league now. There’s a lot of good initiatives for women and opportunities to earn money, so that is exciting and something I hope that other countries will also take on.”
Rosie Barry doesn’t just have a view on the importance of Women In Sport Week, the annual WIS promotion headed by Sport Ireland. She has an ambitious eye on a time when this type of promotional initiative isn’t needed, and that women’s sport happens all year round without the need to make a special fuss once a year.
“Absolutely,” enthused the Squash Ireland president. “In Ireland, we’re ahead of the curve in terms of that emphasis on women in sport and coverage and improving funding for women in sport.
“I know from my experience of working at European Squash level in some Eastern European countries, it’s very different, so it’s just seeing the effect of gender quotas on boards, so that you are thinking along the lines of equality, that’s really important.
“In an ideal world, absolutely, it will be a measure of success when we don’t need to have a specific Women In Sport week in the future, and I do hope that day comes sooner rather than later.”
As it stands, though, Women In Sport weeks are of tremendous value in getting the message out around Ireland that a sport like squash is just as welcoming for women and girls as it is for men and boys.
“The women in squash scenario has become much more apparent or has felt more accessible from the organisation’s perspective in a meaningful way since we have become more professional,” said Barry, reflecting on the promising strides taken in recent years.
“That was with the launch of our strategic plan in 2022, appointing a CEO, which meant that we had an increase in staff, and so we were able to take on more work in areas that when we were purely volunteer-led and delivered organisation, we couldn’t take things any further.
“So the programmes for women in squash now are more meaningful and we can access more women with staff appointment in development officer roles, reaching out of clubs, identifying which clubs have women squash programmes and also rolling out specific initiatives such as disco squash or HIIT squash which was created with our only female squash tutor and it works really well for women who want to give it a try.”
Barry was never reticent in being proactive with her sport. She took up squash a long time ago at the Old Belvedere courts and is still a force to be reckoned with, having won last weekend’s WO60 title at the Irish Masters Nationals and then getting picked as captain of the Ireland WO60s team for the Home Internationals in Galway on April 10th/11th.
“I would have been school captain for sport, I would have kind of been captain of teams that I played on, whether it was hockey in school or tennis and squash at club level,” she explained about her starting point.
“And it was just a natural progression, I was selector for Leinster women, then the Irish women, and was then the manager of the Irish women’s team. It was more like one thing led to another rather than me setting out and saying, ‘This is what I want to do’.
“But I have gained a huge amount on a personal as well as a professional level in terms of being involved in sport, and I am curious about how this is done and what I can learn about how to do it. By being involved, there always seems to be something else that you might end up doing and have an interest in and hopefully make a difference.”
It was 2019 when Barry was appointed Squash Ireland president, going on to help produce the Connecting the Dots 2022-2027 strategic plan to accelerate the sport’s rebound coming out of the pandemic.
Being busy in balancing her squash activity with work in occupational therapy, Barry is fully aware of the challenge involved in getting more women involved in sport. “Squash, you know, percentage-wise, about 20 per cent of the playing population are female, so 80 per cent male.
“And at organisational level, it has largely been male-dominated at European Squash level and not always, but certainly in Squash Ireland, we have a good gender balance now.
“It’s probably not just peculiar to squash but girls in their teenage years drop away from sport, so how do we re-engage them? That’s a live question, really, for any sport.
“And then women are often busy with families, working outside the home, so it’s finding ways to engage them. In general, men are good at putting their hands up and saying, ‘Yeah, I can do that’.
“Women are much more likely to be reticent, but if they are asked, women are really good at stepping forward and saying, ‘Yeah, I can do that’ and taking it on. So the engagement is getting women involved, and it’s different.
“I do think we have to specifically tap someone on the shoulder and say, ‘Listen, would you think of getting involved?’ Whereas men are more inclined to put their hand up and say, ‘Yeah, that’s me’.
“That’s something that we do need to be cognisant of in terms of engaging women as volunteers, but also wouldn’t it be great if it were a magic wand and we could keep the teenage girls involved in whatever sport it is, as long as they are moving their bodies and enjoying the exercise? That’s a million-dollar question, really.”
In terms of standout examples of women in squash progress, Barry volunteered three highlights. “Westport Squash Club, it’s a two-court squash facility, a really dynamic committee, and they have a fabulous women’s squash section. Monday nights, it’s led by one of the women.
“Gerry Galvin is the key figure behind Westport’s development and it’s testimony to him and the women who got involved down there as to how thriving that squash women’s section is. They are a great model.
“I’d also single out Eoin Ryan in Sutton. As a professional coach, he’s well recognised for the success he has had in bringing through players from junior to senior level, but the court usage in Sutton is almost at 90 per cent usage every day.
“That’s down to Eoin reaching out to women, mothers of kids who play squash, so there is women’s programmes in the morning, and they come down and play, have a coffee, and so that is another very successful initiative in terms of driving women’s participation.
“In my own club, Fitzwilliam, this year there is multi-sports activities, and you can book your activity, whether it’s a yoga class, pilates, whatever, but this year a really excellent initiative is including squash lessons delivered by a female coach.
“I have come across lots of women who are coming up to me in the club saying I haven’t played squash before, but we tried it and it’s great fun. So it’s visibility even within the club that you presume it’s visible and then you realise there is always ways to improve what you are doing, and it will have the deserved results.”
The final word in Barry’s Women In Sport Week catch-up with the Squash Ireland website goes to her emotional reaction last month when talking to a packed Fitzwilliam on Irish Senior Nationals finals day. The edge-of-seat spectacle produced by Hannah Craig and Breanne Flynn gave her the feels.
“It was just the excellence of the sport at the hands of two amazing female athletes that day, it really got me. I mean, the standard of the squash, everyone was on their seats all the way through that final, it could have gone either way.
“And in the context of last year’s final being much more one-sided (Craig won 3-0 in 2025 compared to the 3-2 down-to-the-wire epic of 2026), so it was almost like the reverse of what happened in the previous year’s finals.
“The men’s one (won 3-2 by Conor Moran) was scintillating and nerve-racking. This year the women’s final delivered that gladiatorial contest and for me it was just wonderful.”
Fresh from her successful Irish Senior Nationals title defence, Hannah Craig is now back home in Canada preparing for next week’s Calgary Open.
Ahead of her latest PSA World Events tournament, the women’s No.64 chatted with Squash Ireland to promote the Sport Ireland Women In Sport (WIS) Week, which is running from March 2nd to March 8th.
An in-depth interview will be published this weekend. She also took the On The T, the Squash Ireland quickfire Q&A:
First squash memory: I would say playing with my family, my two brothers, my dad and my mum at the rugby club, Harlequins.
Favourite shot: I’m old school, I’ll say straight drive. A nice, tight straight drive.
Favourite court: Indian Open. I played that in November. It was in front of what looked like a palace, a nice outdoor glass court.
Best squash moment: I would say winning the national title with the Harvard team during my junior year.
Toughest opponent: Sabrina Sobhy. Just unbelievable shot quality.
What do you love most about squash: I love just how fast-paced it is and how you have to make decisions very quickly as well.
Biggest squash influence: That’s a tough question. There are too many. I would say my brother Michael. Just always looked up to him since I was young. Yeah, I love the way he plays and his attitude.
Pre-match meal: Salmon and white rice.
Racket type: Harrow Vapor 110.
What does representing Ireland mean: It means passion and a fighting Irish spirit.
88 players have been chosen to represent Ireland at the upcoming Masters Home Internationals in Galway, Nottingham, Aberdeen and Cardiff against England, Scotland and Wales.
The series will begin in the West of Ireland on April 10th/11th with Ireland fielding WO35/40, MO40, MO60 and WO60 teams featuring 23 players.
Another group of 23 players will compete at MO35, MO55, WO55 and MO75 in Nottingham on April 17th/18th, before the action switches to Aberdeen on April 24th/25th with 19 players picked for the MO50, WO50 and MO70.
Cardiff will be the last leg of the event on May 8th/9th, with 23 players spread across MO45, WO45, MO65 and WO65 teams.
Galway, April 10th/11th
WO35/40: Ciara Davey, Ciara Moloney Doheny, Aoileann Ni Chomhrai, Maria O’Brien, Siobhan Parker ©, Tanya Scullion;
MO40: Brian Byrne, Donnagh Crowley ©, Michael Ely, Mark Furlong, Dermot MacNamara, David Noone, Niall Rooney;
MO60: Gerry Callanan, Myles Fitzpatrick, David Hazzard, Donal Kelly, Andre Maur, Teddy Reinecke ©;
WO60: Rosie Barry ©, Josie Grogan, Mary Keyes, Diane Lanigan.
Nottingham, April 17th/18th
MO35: Pieter Bekker, Rory Canavan, Michael Conroy, Mark Gilliland, James Judge, Peter McNeice ©, Sam Olwill;
MO55: David Cassidy, Tom Crowe, Stephen Fasenfeld ©, Brian Lalor, Adrian Leeson, Stephen Mooney;
WO55: Sarah Berkeley, Jennifer Dillon, Danielle Donohue, Lynda Dunlop ©, Emer O’Brien, Beverley Scott;
MO75: Paddy Butler ©, Seamus Daly, David Gotto, Michael McGrath.
Aberdeen, April 24th/25th
MO50: David Ayerst, John Hurley, Neal Murphy, Vincent Pippet ©, Dave Riordan, Derek Ryan;
WO50: Kinny Bolton, Aisling McArdle, Rachel McNulty, Sue Murphy, Suzanne O’Shaughnessy, Suzanne Swan ©;
MO70: Bert Cotter, Donal Coughlan ©, Michael Conlon, Robert Garvin, Patrick Hanley, Kyran Hurley, Peter Stephens.
Cardiff, May 8th/9th
MO45: Kevin Knox, Neil McCarron, Kevin Moore ©, Patrick Morrissey, William Nicholson, Nigel Peyton, Ronan Peyton;
WO45: Suzie Connors, Niamh Darcy, Rachel McNulty, Sarah Scanlan ©, Suzanne Swan, Sandra Walshe;
MO65: Gerard Connaughton ©, John Dineen, David Lalor, James McSweeney, Michael Roden, Nicky Rusk;
WO65: Maureen Duke, Rose Hynes, Marian Mullen ©, Dympna Reardon.
Fresh from her Irish Masters Nationals WO60 title win last weekend, Squash Ireland president Rosie Barry, the Dublin-based occupational health professional, has reflected on her sports career.
Ahead of our main interview to coincide with Sport Ireland’s Women In Sport (WIS) Week, the Fitzwilliam player who started at Old Belvedere has taken the On The T quick-fire Q&A:
First squash memory: Being on court with my sister in Old Belvedere. My dad set up the junior programme there. It started because he dragged the four of us, myself and my three siblings, down there on Sundays and it grew from there.
Favourite shot: Small boast at the front of the court.
Favourite court: I’d have to say one of the old courts in Old Belvedere. That’s where I learned to play, but they are not there anymore.
Best squash moment: Where do I start? Squash has given me so much, so many good moments. Actually, being on the Fitzwilliam ladies’ team that came third in the European club championships. And then the other time was as manager of the women’s senior nationals team, coming third in the European team championships.
Toughest opponent: Hilda Wyse. She doesn’t play anymore, but she was a senior player that I had. She was a very challenging opponent and beating her was a great achievement for me exiting junior squash.
Best squash country visited: Poland. They have so many modern facilities, there is so many courts and they are all busy all of the time. They have a pay-and-play model, which isn’t something that is in much use here, but it’s really successful. Yeah, there is a buzz in the squash world in Poland.
What do you love most about squash: I love the intensity of the game, I love the fact that it’s physically and mentally demanding and I love the fact that I have so many friends that I have made over many years through squash.
What does it mean to represent Irish squash: It’s an enormous privilege. That really sums it up for me. I love it.
Squash Ireland has confirmed the 31 Junior players that will feature at the U19 European Championships in Krakow, the U13/U15 Five Nations in Dublin and the U15/U17 European Championships in Prague.
The U19 Championships in Poland from March 28th to April 5th is the first of the three tournaments, with nine players selected to play in the Individual from March 28th to 31st.
The five BU19 entrants include the 2026 Nationals Champion, Aaron Knox of Celtic. Also involved are the Sutton trio of Christian Dromgoole, Tyler Dromgoole and Conal Jackson, with Fitzwilliam’s Frank O’Flynn also selected.
Shriya Drawid, the Nationals champion from Belfast, is one of the four GU19 entries, a list that also includes the American-based Ella Erickson, Sutton’s Zoe Yeomans and Mount Pleasant’s Riley Slade.
Six of the nine players – Knox, Christian Dromgoole, Jackson, Drawid, Erickson and Yeomans – will stay on in Poland for the team championships from April 2nd to 5th.
Sixteen players will feature for Ireland the following week when Dublin hosts the U13 and U15 Fix Nations against teams from England, France, Scotland and Wales.
The U13 team includes both Junior Nationals champions, Harry Knox of Celtic and Limerick’s Ruby Carroll, the Squash Ireland Junior Player of the Year.
Also featuring are Belfast’s Josh Archer, Sutton’s Eoin O’Brien, Mount Pleasant duo Ridit Thapar and Aurora McDonnell, and Celtic pair Caoimhe English and Daisy Morrissey.
Both Junior Nationals champions, Mount Pleasant’s Michael Lai and Belfast’s Gabby Curran, will feature in the U15 event. They are joined by Mount Pleasant trio Leonid Ivlenkov, Raghad Aboelala and Zoë Nyhan, Celtic’s Jamie Morrissey, and Sutton duo John Quigley and Saibh Darcy.
Lai, Morrissey, Quigley, Curran and Nyhan have also been named on the five-strong U15 mixed team for the European Championships in the Czech Republic from May 7th to May 10th.
The six-strong U17 team at this event includes the Sutton pair of Danny Jones and Lucy Walsh, who won Junior Nationals titles last month in Cork. Also involved will be Celtic duo Adam Power and Nathan Walsh, along with Highfield’s Maggie Jones and Mount Pleasant’s Ashrakat Elmahgoub.
David Noone will coach at the Krakow and Prague tournaments, Michael Conroy at the Dublin and Prague events, and Josh McVeigh in Krakow and Dublin. Breanne Flynn is named as manager for Krakow, with Róisín O’Shea taking over for Dublin and Prague.
Arthur Gaskin has named his nine-strong player list for the European Championships, scheduled to take place at the end of April in Amsterdam.
Set to feature in the Division Two, the head coach has selected a men’s team featuring 2026 Senior Nationals champion Sam Buckley, Nationals runner-up Conor Moran, Oisin Logan, Michael Creaven and Sean Conroy.
The quintet is the same that featured at last year’s event in Wroclaw, where Ireland finished 11th in Division One.
Switching to the women’s section, where Ireland will compete in Division Two, Senior Nationals champion Hannah Craig has been named along with Nationals runner-up Breanne Flynn, Aimee McConnell and Sara Sabry.
Ireland finished third in last year’s Division Two with a team consisting of Craig, Flynn, Hannah McGugan and Lydia McQuillan.
This year’s tournament in the Netherlands, where David Noone will assist head coach Gaskin, will run over four days, starting on April 29th and ending on May 2nd.
Irish players enjoyed a fantastic week on the PSA circuit, with Breanne Flynn winning the Edinburgh Open and Michael Creaven, her Sutton clubmate, triumphing at the Proracket Open in Oporto.
Seeded second at the tournament in Scotland, which coincided with her winning the Squash Ireland Senior Player of the Year Award for 2025, Flynn was in sparkling form across her four-match winning run.
Players from Scotland, France and Wales were beaten to qualify for Sunday’s final against Yu Jie Chen of Malaysia, and Flynn produced a disciplined performance to comfortably win 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-4).
The title victory lifted her three places in the women’s rankings to No.105, and the circuit now takes her to Salzburg where she is the top seed at the Mozart Open and drawn to play on Thursday against either Chaewon Song, the No.194 from Korea, or Nathalie Malmström, the No.318 from Sweden.
Creaven, who was seeded fourth in the 19-player event in Portugal, also enjoyed a four-match winning run to take the title in a hectic final where he defeated Amir Samimi, the third seed and PSA No.252 from Luxembourg.
The match went down to the wire, with Creaven holding his nerve in an exhausting five-game encounter to win 3-2 (11-8, 9-11, 11-1, 9-11, 11-9).
Creaven’s success had a huge impact on the latest PSA rankings, as he jumped up 35 places to No.334. That has left him closing in on the No.312 career best ranking he achieved in March last year, with this coming weekend’s 16-player PSA Limerick Open his next event.
He will be joined at the Limerick LTC on the Ennis Road by Oisin Logan, another Sutton player who was a big rankings riser. Logan’s opening round win at the Edinburgh Open moved him up 17 places to No.386.
Elsewhere, Senior Nationals champion Sam Buckley moved down three spots to No.102 following a training week ahead of his opening match at the Odense Open on Tuesday versus Cristian Romero, the No.328 from Spain.
Aaron Allpress, the No.216, is also in Denmark, beginning on Tuesday against Leo Chung, the No.118 from Hong Kong China.
Conor Moran, who this week plays at the Mozart Open in Salzburg along with Flynn, moved up two places to No.147 following his opening round win at the Poznan Open over Titouan Isambard of France. He next plays Ayann Vaziralli, the No.187 from Pakistan, in Austria on Thursday.
Hannah Craig’s opening round win at the Steel City Open in Pittsburgh over Ainaa Amani, the No.53 from Malaysia, was worth a two-place gain in the latest rankings, the Irish Senior Nationals champions moving up to No.64 ahead of next week’s Calgary Open.
Hannah McGugan, the No.226, was also an opening round winner at the Edinburgh Open. She, too, will now move on to Limerick where 15 players are entered in this coming weekend’s PSA women’s event, but only after competing at the Mozart Open where she takes on Scotland’s Robyn McAlpine, the No.194, on Wednesday.
Sutton’s Breanne Flynn, Celtic’s Kevin Knox, Windsor’s Brian Murray and the Tullamore club were among the winners at the Squash Ireland Awards 2025, with the President’s Award going to Sutton duo Eoin and Suzanne Ryan.
The annual awards night, which again coincided with the Irish Masters Nationals dinner, took place at a packed Fitzwilliam on Saturday night, with a total of 14 awards given out.
Limerick’s Ruby Carroll, a serial title winner on the domestic scene, had already received her Junior Player of the Year Award in Cork following the successful defence of her GU13 Irish Junior Nationals title at the Highfield club on February 15th.
Sutton’s Flynn checked in from Scotland after she was named Senior Player of the Year. Seeded No.2 at this weekend’s Edinburgh Open, Flynn was commended for her intensity, courage and fairness in competing hard but always in the right spirit.
She has enjoyed an excellent comeback following last March’s serious injury at the Odense Open in Denmark, fighting her way up the rankings to No.108 and playing a vibrant part in the recent thrilling Irish Senior Nationals final that was only lost to Hannah Craig 11-9 in the fifth.
“Wow, thank you so much for this award,” said Flynn in a video message. “I feel really honoured and grateful to receive the Senior Player of the Year award, especially among such a talented group of teammates this year.
“It’s so great to see so many Irish players rising up the senior ranking as well as the growing competition nationally and the talent that is coming up through the junior circuit, so thank you very much.
“I actually fractured my foot this time last year at a PSA tournament, and I was in a very low place. I really didn’t think I would be able to get back to my full potential as I was going through it.
“If it wasn’t for everybody in my corner, my coaches, my physios, my friends, family, hitting partners, you name it, I certainly wouldn’t be receiving this award, so thank you to everybody over the last year who has helped me with my comeback season because they have helped me get to this point.”
Described as someone who has not only delivered exceptional performances, but who also embodies commitment to the Masters tour itself, Celtic club stalwart Kevin Knox was named Masters Player of the Year following a season in which he won MO45 titles in Waterford, Connacht, Munster and Leinster.
Windsor’s Brian Murray was awarded Coach of the Year in recognition of his role in transforming participation numbers at the Belfast club, which now fields four Ulster League teams.
He has also introduced hundreds of new players to the sport through partnerships with schools and leisure centres, launching summer schemes, female-only sessions and structured junior pathways.
Sutton’s Niamh Darcy collected the Rosie Barry President’s Award on behalf of Eoin and Suzanne Ryan, who sent a video message.
Sligo’s Keith Moran received the Patrick Murray Award as an appreciation for the role he plays in Masters squash, while Foyle’s DJ McKeever was given the Spirit of the Masters Award for his commitment and toughness.
Referee of the Year was Dmitry Gilevskiy of Westwood for his unwavering commitment to applying the rules with fairness and authority, while Ivan O’Mahony was named Volunteer of the Year for almost single-handedly rebuilding and transforming the Ballyshannon club into a thriving hub at the heart of its community.
The Provincial Club of the Year Awards were won by Galway, Tullamore, Highfield and Ballymena, with Tullamore named National Club of the Year for its level of ambition and commitment to improving standards, resulting in a 15 per cent growth in membership, a thriving junior section and the rapid expansion of women’s participation.
SQUASH IRELAND AWARDS 2025 WINNERS
Patrick Murray Award: Keith Moran, Sligo LTC
Masters Player of the Year: Kevin Knox, Celtic SC
Spirit of the Masters Award: DJ McKeever, Foyle SC
Junior Player of the Year: Ruby Carroll, Limerick LTC
Senior Player of the Year: Breanne Flynn, Sutton LTC
Referee of the Year: Dmitry Gilevskiy, Westwood
Coach of the Year: Brian Murray, Windsor LTC
President’s Award: Eoin and Suzanne Ryan, Sutton LTC
Volunteer of the Year: Ivan O’Mahony, Ballyshannon SC
Connacht Club of the Year: Galway LTC
Leinster Club of the Year: Tullamore SC
Munster Club of the Year: Highfield SC
Ulster Club of the Year: Ballymena SC
National Club of the Year: Tullamore SC
The 154-player, 16-event Irish Masters Nationals has finished in Dublin with 10 men’s and six women’s champions emerging after the two-day tournament hosted by the Fitzwilliam, Mount Pleasant and Leinster clubs.
Irish Masters Nationals 2026
MO35 (8-player knockout): No.3 seed Sam Olwill of Carlow enjoyed a 3-0 (11-8, 12-10, 11-6) title final win over top seed Peter McNeice of Leinster. Belfast’s Mark Gilliland [2] took third place with a 3-2 (8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6) win over Leinster’s Michael Conroy [5].
WO35/40 (13-player knockout): Cookstown’s Tanya Scullion was a 3-1 (11-5, 7-11, 11-5, 11-9) title winner against Carlow’s Ciara Moloney Doheny [1]. Sligo’s Siobhan Parker [5] took third place with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 12-10) win over Celtic’s Maria O’Brien [6].
MO40 (15-player knockout): Fitzwilliam’s Niall Rooney [1] was a 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 15-13) winner in the final versus Galway’s David Noone [3]. Gleneagle’s Donnagh Crowley [4] finished third with a 3-1 (11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 11-6) win over Highfield’s Martin Joseph McDonnell [7].
MO45 (16-player knockout): Fitzwilliam’s Nigel Peyton [1] was a 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-4) winner in the final against club colleague Kevin Moore [2]. Freshford’s Patrick Morrissey [3] was awarded third place with a walkover against Sutton’s Ronan Peyton [4].
WO45 (5-player box with play-off): Sandra Walshe [2] of Thurles took the title with a 3-1 (8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-7) win over Sutton’s Niamh Darcy [1]. Sarah Scanlan [3] of Westwood came third with a 3-1 (11-6, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8) win against Suzie Connors [4] of Thurles.
MO45B (10-player knockout): Carlow’s Barry Deegan [4] was a 3-1 (11-9, 13-11, 9-11, 11-8) title winner against Highfield’s Kelvin Cummins [2]. Fitzwilliam’s Barry Byrne took third place with a walkover versus Declan Ruth [9] of St Patrick’s.
MO50 (15-player knockout): Windsor’s David Ayerst [1] was a 2-1 [8-11, 11-1, 11-4] title winner over Fitzwilliam’s Derek Ryan [2]. Bergvliet’s John Abrahamse [6] took third with a 3-1 (11-9, 12-10, 7-11, 11-9) against Highfield’s John Hurley [4].
WO50 (7-player knockout): Fitzwilliam’s Aisling McArdle [4] was a 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-3) title winner against Mount Pleasant’s Suzanne Swan [2]. Galway’s Rachel McNulty came third with a 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-8) win over Westwood’s Suzanne O’Shaughnessy [3].
MO55 (14-player knockout): Curragh’s Brian Lalor [1] was a 3-0 (11-5, 11-8, 11-8) title winner over Ballynafeigh’s Adrian Leeson [2]. David Cassidy [3] of Leinster took third place with a 3-1 (11-5, 11-9, 12-14, 11-9) win over Belvedere’s Tom Crowe.
WO55 (4-player box): Sandycove’s Jennifer Dillon [2] took the title with three round-robin wins, with Fitzwilliam’s Sarah Berkeley [3] second and Westwood’s Danielle Donohue [1] in third.
MO60 (16-player knockout): Overseas player Andre Maur [6] was a 3-2 (7-11, 11-4, 3-11, 11-7, 11-3) title winner against Fitzwilliam’s Gerry Callanan [1]. Belvedere’s Teddy Reinecke [2] came third with a 3-1 (11-3, 11-5, 11-13, 11-4) win over Mount Pleasant’s Jimmy Carroll [13].
WO60 (4-player box): Fitzwilliam’s Rosie Barry [3] won the title with three round-robin wins, with Mary Keyes [1] of Mount Pleasant coming second and Sandycove’s Diane Lanigan [4] in third.
MO65 (8-player knockout): Galway’s David Lalor [4] was a 3-2 (11-13, 11-6, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6) title winner versus Sunday’s Well’s James McSweeney [2]. Michael Roden [3] of Fitzwilliam finished third as the top seed, Highfield’s John Dineen, withdrew at the semi-final stage.
WO65 (4-player box): Thurles’ Maureen Duke [2] topped the round-robin with three wins ahead of Highfield’s Dympna Reardon [1] in second and Fitzwilliam’s Rose Hynes [3] in third.
MO70 (11-player knockout): Ennis’ Michael Conlon [2] was a 3-1 (8-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-9) title winner against Highfield’s Donal Coughlan [1]. Galway’s Patrick Hanley [3] came third with a 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 11-6) win over Barnt Green’s Robert Garvin [4].
MO75 (4-player box): Southdown’s Paddy Butler [1] took the title with three wins in the round-robin, with Belfast’s Robert Peel [4] in second and Leinster’s Seamus Daly [2] in third.
