Not long after Squash Ireland posted on social media in mid-February that Aaron Knox had won the BU19 Irish Junior Nationals title in Cork, his uncle Kevin – himself a serial title winner on the Masters circuit and soon to be voted its Player of the Year – posted a comment that neatly summed up the trajectory of his nephew’s grand progress.
“Top man, Aaron,” he began. “You had to bide your time but, as the saying goes, the cream always rises to the top. #machine.”
A glance back through the Nationals of recent vintage highlighted the steps gradually taken by the talented Celtic player. He was fifth in the 2022 U15s, entering as the eighth seed and bowing out in the quarter-finals to Sutton’s Conal Jackson.
Then came duels with another Sutton rival, Christian Dromgoole. There was defeat in the 2023 U15s final and then a semi-final loss to the same opponent in the 2024 U17s. Last year, it was Galway’s Danny Barnes who had his number in the U19 semi-finals, but there was no stopping the Waterford teenager in 2026.
A solid foundation had been impressively laid. Provincial titles were collected in Ulster, Munster and Leinster, as well as a runners-up spot in Connacht.
Then, the week before his Junior Nationals moment of truth at Sunday’s Well, he entered the Senior Nationals at Fitzwilliam and enjoyed a quarter-final tune-up against eventual champion Sam Buckley.
The 16 points Knox won in his 0-3 loss were three more than the 13 that defending champion Conor Moran managed the following day in the Fitzwilliam final, and it was a useful encouragement for him when it came to getting the Junior Nationals job done 3-1 in his final versus Dromgoole the following weekend.
“I have been playing probably the best squash that I have been playing,” he told Squash Ireland at a recent training camp at Trinity College ahead of the upcoming U19 European Championships in Poland, where he hopes to build on last year’s 16th-place finish in the individuals in Prague.
“I won four out of the five Open tournaments on the Junior circuit this year and it was my first time winning the Nationals, so I was very happy to win that. I was very happy to win, my first time winning it, so I was proud.
“I’m now very excited to be competing at the European Junior Championships in Krakow. Very proud to be representing Ireland as the No.1 and junior champion. Very excited to be competing with the top juniors.
“All the opponents are going to be tough, and there are no easy matches in the tournament. It is the top players in Europe, so you are not going to get anything easy. It [the standard] is very high. I enjoy the travelling. There is excitement travelling up to games and tournaments.”
It was no easy task becoming the best in Ireland at his age-grade. “I was sort of doing six days on court and was doing extra running beside that, so a lot of effort went into it and it paid off,” he explained, going on to reference how he balances this dedication to the sport with his education.
“I’m in fifth year. I just sort of do schoolwork in school and try to get most of the work done, so when I come home I try and get training in.”
Squash has always been the family sport, with dad Brian and uncle Kevin powerhouses on the Masters circuit while his cousins are also becoming big Junior circuit names.
“Watching my dad Brian and my uncle Kevin play and make the team inspired me to train harder and try and become like them. Harry and Alfie are my two cousins and Harry is U13 No.1. The two of them, I am just trying to inspire them as well just to keep going.”
Representing where he comes from – Celtic Squash Club in Waterford – is also a huge motivation for Knox. “It’s not a very popular sport, or there have not been many good players coming from there,” he said.
“There have been a few, so I just want to try and be a good player that comes out of Waterford and inspire other people in there.
“I just like the social part of squash, and I like the mental part as well. It’s a tough game, but it is fun as well to play. I want to try and become a professional and just see how far I can go up in the rankings.”
A couple of weeks is certainly a long time in squash. Just ask Shriya Drawid. The Belfast Boat Club player was beaten 3-1 by Sutton’s Zoe Yeomans in their Leinster Junior Open GU19 box match on January 24th, going on to finish fourth at that provincial tournament.
Twenty-two days later, though, that result was reversed in Cork at the Irish Junior Nationals. Drawid was only seeded third for the GU19 event at the Sunday’s Well Club in the Mardyke, but she won her way through to the decider where her 3-1 victory over Yeomans was confirmed 12-10 in the fourth-game tiebreak.
The Belfast teenager was blown away by her title success and learned soon after that she had been selected to represent Ireland at the upcoming U19 European Championships in Krakow in both the individual and team events (March 28th-31st and April 2nd to 5th).
“Honestly, it didn’t even feel real. It was so, so special. It makes all the hard work you put in all year really pay off,” she said to Squash Ireland, recalling the joyous moment she found out that a trip to Poland was now hers following her success at the Nationals.
In Galway the previous year, Drawid had bowed out to the eventual champion, Ella Erickson, at the first attempt and injury meant she didn’t contest the minor placings. Those ailments became the story of her 2025.
Winning used to be a regular occurrence. GU15 Nationals champion in Waterford in 2022 and again in Sutton in 2023. GU17 Nationals champion in 2024 at her local club in Belfast.
However, she was unable to maintain her rhythm after that, and her commitment to the 2025/26 season endured an awkward start that resulted in her taking a step back from tournaments to figure it all out.
“So, last year I lost to Ella in the first round and had to pull out because of an injury, so I was really hungry for this this year,” she explained. “I had a bit of a rough start to the season, so I put in a good few weeks’ work with my coach back home, and yeah, it [the title win] meant so much.”
How rough was the start? “I just wasn’t really sort of in the best place, just struggling with injuries from last season and sort of coming back from that, managing school and all that. I put in a good few weeks of work, and it really paid off.”
What was the main lesson she took from her adversity? “The main one is that, like anything you are going through, mentally or physically, you can overcome it. For me, I was really, really struggling. Like, didn’t play tournaments because I wasn’t in a good place. So then, coming to the Nationals feeling strong, feeling happy was really meaningful for me.”
That happiness helped her clinch the title in a fourth-game tiebreaker. “That last rally, I was honestly just thinking ‘don’t make mistakes’. It was just to try and keep it simple, try not to be too special. I really like my drops and stuff, so it was me being a bit more disciplined, going ‘let’s get this rally, let’s make them work hard’ and ‘I don’t want to lose this point’.” She didn’t.
It was around a decade ago when Drawid first took up a racket. “I started when I was seven or eight. My brother played, and I got into it because of him. It has always been the Boat Club; we live really close to it, so it’s very handy.
“It’s been such a big part of my life. I have sort of grown up there, being around all those people, and they are honestly the best people I have ever met.
“I am working with my coach, Josh McVeigh, and just a couple of members there. They’re amazing, and having a role model like Hannah Craig, who came from Belfast, it’s inspiring to see her journey as well. Whenever I was struggling at the start of the year, it meant so much that I knew I had support coming from there.”
What does Drawid love most about squash? “The variety of it, I am never bored. No matter what standard you get to, there is always more you can work on. Yeah, I just like the variety.”
That variety now has a trip to Krakow on the horizon, but the A-level student has longer-term squash goals. “It’s my first Europeans, I am just going to go and give my all,” she said.
“I’m very excited just to see where I am compared to some of the top players in the world, really, and it’s good practice for going into the World Junior Championships in Canada as well, so it’s an amazing opportunity, I am so excited… Training with the team is so exciting. They are my best friends.
“My parents are coming over the day after we fly to Krakow, and my brother is coming over later on for the team event. I don’t think he has seen me play in a while, so I am very excited for him to be there.
“I’m doing my A levels this year, so I have to balance that as well. It’s tough, definitely around exam periods. My exams are in May this year, but even class tests and all that, when you are travelling and you’re missing so much, it is difficult.
“But it’s just trying to get like a balance, a bit of training and then coming home studying for a couple of hours. That’s what you have got to do.
“University? I’m looking to do medicine, so being a professional (squash player) is probably not on the cards for that, maybe not for a while anyway, but I would like to play for the Irish senior team. So that’s the goal for now.
“Somewhere in England is where I am looking at the minute (for university) and then if I was able to move to America after that, it would be amazing to do that and play squash in America.”
Galway’s Danny Lynch, a three-time Ireland selection for the World Squash Junior Championships, was recently named as a Trinity College Dublin sports scholarship recipient for 2025/26.
The reigning Irish BU19 Junior champion followed up appearances in Nancy and Houston with selection last July for Ireland’s trip to Cairo, and he is now part of the Trinity scholarship programme catering for 62 athletes across 20 sports.
Among the benefits offered to scholars are specialised strength and conditioning training, a dedicated medical care pathway, lifestyle, nutritional , and financial support.
Michelle Tanner, the director of sport and physical activity at Trinity, said: “We are delighted to recognise the achievements and commitments of Trinity’s student athletes.
“With representation from 20 sports and a diverse array of internationally acclaimed and emerging athletes, Trinity College Dublin continues to reaffirm its commitment to nurturing sporting talent and fostering excellence both on and off the field and courts of play.”
Squash Ireland CEO Scott Graham added: “Historically, top players would have gone abroad. However, the high-performance unit is trying to create opportunities for players to stay in Ireland and still progress their squash careers.”
Lynch, who first represented Ireland at U13 level in the Five Nations, most recently finished 17th in this month’s BU19 gold status Swiss Junior Open tournament, winning three of his four matches.
Dublin club Mount Pleasant came away with three titles from the 100-player, 11-event Munster Junior Open.
Michael Lai (BU15), Zoe Nyhan (GU15) and Anna Maria Deak (GU11) each won their respective events on a weekend where the Celtic club from Waterford doubled up with success for Aaron Knox (BU19) and Harry Knox (BU13).
Played across two venues in Cork, Highfield and Sunday’s Well, the tournament, featuring 59 boys and 41 girls, also saw titles go to Dunhill, Limerick, Gleneagle, Fitzwilliam, Freshford and Belfast.
The seven-player BU19 box event, which ended with play-offs, was won by Celtic’s Aaron Knox. The No.1 seed came from behind in the final to win 3-2 against Christian Droomgoole, the No.2 seed from Sutton, who was the BU17 runner-up at the recent Irish Junior Open.
Sutton’s Tyler Dromgoole, the No.4 seed, came third with a 3-0 play-off win over Frank O’Flynn, the third seed from Fitzwilliam.
The five-player GU19 box event was won by Shriya Drawid, the third seed from Belfast. Her four wins included a 3-0 success over Ella Walsh, the No.1 seed from Sutton, who came second ahead of Mount Pleasant’s Riley Slade in third.
The 14-player BU17 elimination event was won by Nathan Walsh, the fifth seed from Freshford. It was Galway’s Eoin Mullery, the No.8 seed, who opened up the draw by eliminating the No.1, Adam Power of Celtic, in the quarter-finals with a 3-2 win that went 15-13 in the final game.
Walsh beat Mullery 3-0 in the semi-finals and then defeated the No.2 seed, Sutton’s Samuel Hann, in the final. Mullery went on to take third place with a 3-2 play-off win over Danny Jones, the third seed from Sutton.
The six-player GU17 was won by third seed Lucy Walsh of Fitzwilliam, who defeated fifth seed Ashrakat Elmahgoub of Mount Pleasant 3-0 in the final after both had topped their opening round boxes. Top seed Zoe Sheridan took third place ahead of Highfield’s Maggie Jones, the No.2 seed.
Top seed Lai, the Mount Pleasant player who finished third in the BU15 Irish Junior Open, took the BU15 title in Munster with a 3-0 win in the final over the second seed, John Quigley of Sutton.
In the eight-player knockout event, Lai defeated fifth seed Jamie Morrissey of Celtic, who won the Irish Junior Open BU13, 3-0 in the semi-finals. Morrissey was then pipped to third place by Galway’s Jack Clery, the third seed winning their play-off 3-1.
Top seed Nyhan of Mount Pleasant defeated the third seed, Sutton’s Saibh Darcy, 3-0 in the final of the 12-player GU15 knockout event. Darcy had beaten No.2 seed Gabby Curran of Belfast 3-2 in the semi-finals. Curran clinched third place with a 3-0 play-off win over the fourth seed, Saoirse Murphy of Naas.
The 16-player BU13 knockout ended with top seed Harry Knox of Celtic coming from behind in the final to defeat third seed Josh Archer of Belfast 3-1. Archer had beaten No.2 Eoin O’Brien of Sutton 3-2 in the semi-finals. O’Brien went on to clinch third place with a 3-1 win over fourth seed Ridit Thapar of Mount Pleasant.
The top seed, Gleneagle’s Noah Counihan, took the BU13B title with four wins in a five-player box format, with Dublin duo, fourth seed Hugh Brady of Mount Pleasant and third seed Zach O’Leary of Fitzwilliam, taking second and third respectively.
The nine-player GU13 box format ended with a mirror outcome of the recent Irish Junior Open at Sutton as Limerick’s Ruby Carroll [1] took the title ahead of Celtic’s Daisy Morrissey [2].
However, their encounter was much tighter than the 3-0 in Dublin, finishing 3-2 (8-11, 11-8, 6-11, 15-13, 11-7) on this occasion, with Morrissey threatening a title win in the fourth game. Third seed Caoimhe English of Celtic finished third.
The nine-player BU11 box format ended with No.2 seed Dylan Dunphy clinching the title with a 3-1 (11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9) win over the No.1 seed, Galway’s Conor Mullery, in a play-off box that also featured Mount Pleasant’s Daniel Deak [4]. This trio had won the initial three groups.
Another nine-player box format was the GU11, which finished with the fourth seed, Mount Pleasant’s Anna Maria Deak, heading up the play-off standings ahead of No.1 Georgie Ryan of Windsor and No.8 Jessica O’Gorman of Fitzwilliam after they had each won the opening stage groups.
MUNSTER JUNIOR OPEN
BU19 FINAL: [1] Aaron Knox (Celtic) WON 3-2 (5-11, 11-9, 3-11, 11-6, 11-9) v [2] Christian Dromgoole (Sutton). THIRD PLACE: [4] Tyler Dromgoole (Sutton) WON 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-7) v [3] Frank O’Flynn (Fitzwilliam)
GU19: Belfast’s Shriya Drawid [3] topped the box standings ahead of Sutton’s Ella Walsh [1], with Mount Pleasant’s Riley Slade [2] in third.
BU17 FINAL: [5] Nathan Walsh (Freshford) WON 3-1 (7-11, 12-10, 11-4, 11-4) v [2] Samuel Hann (Sutton). THIRD PLACE: [8] Eoin Mullery (Galway) WON 3-2 (4-11, 11-7, 13-11, 11-13, 11-8) v [3] Danny Jones (Sutton)
GU17 FINAL: [3] Lucy Walsh (Fitzwilliam) WON 3-0 (11-0, 11-2, 11-5) v [5] Ashrakat Elmahgoub (Mount Pleasant). THIRD PLACE: [1] Zoe Sheridan (Sutton) WON 3-1 (11-3, 11-9, 2-11, 11-6) v [2] Maggie Jones (Highfield)
BU15 FINAL: [1] Michael Lai (Mount Pleasant) WON 3-0 (11-5, 11-5, 11-4) v [2] John Quigley (Sutton). THIRD PLACE: [3] Jack Clery (Galway) WON 3-1 (11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9) v [5] Jamie Morrissey (Celtic)
GU15 FINAL: [1] Zoe Nyhan (Mount Pleasant) WON 3-0 (11-1, 13-11, 12-10) v [3] Saibh Darcy (Sutton). THIRD PLACE: [2] Gabby Curran (Belfast) WON 3-0 (11-6, 11-5, 11-2) v [4] Saoirse Murphy (Naas)
BU13 FINAL: [1] Harry Knox (Celtic) WON 3-1 (6-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-3) v [3] Josh Archer (Belfast). THIRD PLACE: [3] Eoin O’Brien (Sutton) WON 3-1 (4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6) v [4] Ridit Thapar (Mount Pleasant)
BU13B: [1] Noah Counihan (Gleneagle) won all four box format matches to finish top ahead of [4] Hugh Brady (Mount Pleasant) and [3] Zach O’Leary of Fitzwilliam
GU13: [1] Ruby Carroll of Limerick topped the play-off box standings ahead of [2] Daisy Morrissey of Celtic, with [3] Caoimhe English, also of Celtic, third.
BU11: Dunhill’s Dylan Dunphy [2] topped the play-off box standings ahead of Galway’s Conor Mullery [1], with Mount Pleasant’s Daniel Deak [4] third.
GU11: Mount Pleasant’s Anna Maria Deak [4] topped the play-off box standings ahead of Windsor’s Georgie Ryan [1], with Fitzwilliam’s Jessica O’Gorman [8] third.
Ireland have won three titles at the eight-event IACT Irish Junior Open, with Scotland and Spain clinching two apiece and England one after a brilliant three-day tournament in Dublin.
After several matches were played at ALSAA on Friday and Saturday to accommodate the huge 162 player list, all the Sunday focus was on host club Sutton and the relentless action that unfolded kept the large crowd enthralled.
Just three of the eight No.1 seeds were still alive coming into finals day and they all fell by the wayside to leaves the trophies going to three No.2 seeds, two No.3/4s, one 9/12 and two 9/16s.
It was England’s Ronnie Hickling who got the show started, the 3/4 seed winning his BU19 final 3-1 against Brazil’s Owen Hendricks [9/16].
Next, it was the turn of the Irish to celebrate as three titles came their way in quick succession.
Ruby Carroll [3/4] won the all-Irish GU13 final 3-0 against Daisy Morrissey [2], Jamie Morrissey [9/16] brought the house down with his 3-1 BU13 win over Switzerland’s Zane Harms [3/4], while Ella Erickson [9/12] was just as inspired in her 3-1 GU19 win over Spain’s Damila Medina [5/8].
While Medina was beaten, Spanish eyes were soon smiling as the next two finals went their way. Andrea Gonzalez [2] beat England’s Aditi Rao [1] 3-1 in the GU15 decider and Siena Hall Rogers [2] won by the same score in her GU17 showdown with Ireland’s Zoe Yeomans [1].
That was the first of three finals Ireland were to finish second best in as Scotland now came to the title party.
Thomas Myers [9/16] was a 3-1 BU15 winner over Marcelino Cronin [5/8], and the margin of victory was the same for Murdo Mackenzie [2] in his BU17 decider against Christian Dromgoole [1].
🇮🇪 YOUR 2025 IACT IRISH JUNIOR OPEN PODIUM 🏆
BU13: 🥇 Jamie Morrissey [9/16] 🇮🇪, 🥈Zane Harms [3/4] 🇨🇭,🥉 Harry Knox [1] 🇮🇪
GU13: 🥇 Ruby Carroll [3/4] 🇮🇪, 🥈 Daisy Morrissey [2] 🇮🇪, 🥉 Jessica Craig-Gould [5/8] 🏴
BU15: 🥇 Thomas Myers [9/16] 🏴,🥈 Marcelino Cronin [5/8] 🇮🇪, 🥉 Michael Lai [2] 🇮🇪
GU15: 🥇Andrea Gonzalez [2] 🇪🇸, 🥈 Aditi Rao [1] 🏴, 🥉 Mila Maziuk [3/4] 🇨🇭
BU17: 🥇 Murdo Mackenzie [2] 🏴, 🥈 Christian Drumgoole [1] 🇮🇪, 🥉 George Barker [9/16] 🏴
GU17: 🥇 Siena Hall Rogers [2] 🇪🇸, 🥈 Zeo Yeomans [1] 🇮🇪, 🥉 Maria Tuleja [3/4] 🇵🇱
BU19: 🥇 Ronnie Hickling [3/4] 🏴, 🥈 Owen Hendricks [9/16], 🇧🇷, 🥉 Franciszek Michniewicz [2] 🇵🇱
GU19: 🥇 Ella Erickson [9/12] 🇮🇪, 🥈 Danila Medina [5/8] 🇪🇸, 🥉 Shriya Drawid [3/4] 🇮🇪
Only three of the eight No.1 seeds – England’s Aditi Rao (GU15) and Ireland duo Zoe Yeomans (GU17) and Christian Dromgoole (BU17) – have safely negotiated their way through to Sunday finals at the IACT Irish Junior Open following two days of rip-roaring action in Dublin.
The BU19 final will feature Brazil’s Owen Hendricks [9/16] against England’s Ronnie Hickling [3/4]. Hendricks lit up the Saturday action with his 3-1 quarter-final win over Marc Altarriba, the No.1 from Spain.
He then picked off another Spanish opponent, Alberto Mateo [3/4], with a 3-0 semi-final success to book a decider versus Hickling, who took out Franciszek Michniewicz, the No.2 from Poland, 3-0 in his semi.
In contrast, the BU17 panned out to seeding as Ireland’s Christian Dromgoole [1] won through to a final on his home court in Sutton against Scotland’s Murdo Mackenzie [2].
Both these players represented their respective countries at U19s at the World Squash Junior Championships earlier this year in Cairo, as did U19 finalists Hendricks and Hickling.
BU15 No.1 Rafael Rodriguez Segovia, the Spaniard who was last year’s BU13 title winner in Dublin, lost 1-3 in his quarter-final against Scotland’s Thomas Myers [9/16].
The Scot then beat another Spanish player, Itzel Reguero Garcia [3/4] 3-0 in the semi-finals to secure a place in the final against Marcelino Cronin [5/8], the Cairo-based Irishman.
A winner at the Spanish Junior Open in August, Cronin took out the No.2 seed, fellow Irishman Michael Lai of Mount Pleasant, 3-0 in the semi-finals.
In the BU13, Ireland’s Harry Knox, the No.1 seed from the Celtic club, was pipped 2-3 in a five-game semi-final classic with Zane Harms, the 3/4 seed from Switzerland. Knox had jumped two games up but was then reeled in, resulting in Harms booking his ticket to play another Celtic club player, Jamie Morrissey [9/16], in the final.
It was Ireland’s Eoin O’Brien [5/8], playing at his local Sutton club, who opened up the bottom half of the draw with a 3-0 quarter-final win over Ailong Chen, the No.2 Irish player from Mount Pleasant. O’Brien, though, couldn’t repeat those heroics in a semi-final that Morrissey clinched 3-0.
Ireland will have representatives in three of the four girls’ finals, including the American-based Ella Erickson who won her way through to the GU19 decider despite her 9/12 seeding.
Another player who played at the World Squash Championships four months ago, her Group A run included wins over two Irish teammates in Cairo, Ella Walsh [5/8] and Riley Slade [1], and another success over Sara Sabry [5/8], the recent winner of the Connacht Senior Open.
She will now face Damila Medina [5/8] in the final. The Spaniard lost just a single game in her progress to the decider, beating Irish, Scottish, Dutch and Macau opposition.
Yeomans, another member of the Ireland team in Egypt, will play in the GU17 final against Spain’s Siena Hall Rogers [2] after they each posted four group wins.
The GU15 final, meanwhile, will be an all-overseas affair after the top seeds, England’s Aditi Rao [1] and Spain’s Andrea Gonzalez [2], won through.
Rao clinched her place with a win over Emillie LeBlond [3/4] of France in a five-game semi-final thriller that went right to the wire before the English player clinched the fifth 11-9.
In contrast, an all-Irish pairing will feature in the GU13 final with Limerick’s Ruby Carroll [3/4] facing Celtic’s Daisy Morrissey [2].
Top seed Raghad Aboelela, the Irish player from Mount Pleasant, came unstuck in her group, losing 1-3 to Caoimhe English [5/8].
Aside from the eight showpiece finals scheduled for Sutton from 11:30am through to 3pm, there are multiple minor placing finals to be decided with play getting underway at 9am.
SUNDAY’S FINALS SCHEDULE
11:30am – BU19: Brazil’s Owen Hendricks [9/16] v England’s Ronnie Hickling [3/4]
12pm – GU13: Ireland’s Ruby Carroll [3/4] v Ireland’s Daisy Morrissey [2]
12:30pm – BU13: Switzerland’s Zane Harms [3/4] v Ireland’s Jamie Morrissey [9/16]
1pm – GU19: Ireland’s Ella Erickson [9/12] v Spain’s Damila Medina [5/8]
1:30pm – GU15: England’s Aditi Rao [1] v Spain’s Andrea Gonzalez [2]
2pm – BU15: Scotland’s Thomas Myers [9/16] v Ireland’s Marcelino Cronin [5/8]
2:30pm – GU17: Ireland’s Zoe Yeomans [1] v Spain’s Siena Hall Rogers [2]
3pm – BU17: Ireland’s Christian Dromgoole [1] v Scotland’s Murdo Mackenzie [2]
Five of the eight top seeds at this weekend’s IACT Irish Junior Open at Sutton and ALSSA in Dublin are Irish players, including recent Spanish Junior Open champion Harry Knox.
The Celtic player will open his BU13 top-of-the-draw account against a qualifier on Friday afternoon, with No.2 seed Ailong Chen of Mount Pleasant also billed to start against a qualifier.
The Irish pair played each other twice recently with Knox winning in three on both occasions, firstly in the third/fourth place play-off at the Danish Junior Open and then in the Ulster Junior Open semi-finals.
Sutton’s Christian Dromgoole, who played for Ireland at the World Squash Junior Championships in Cairo in July, is the BU17 No.1, a campaign he will open against Switzerland’s Harry Motte, the 17/32 seed, on Friday at 10am at his home club.
Scotland’s Murdo MacKenzie is listed as No.2, with an opening round match versus Nick Peter [17/32] from Switzerland.
Rafael Rodriguez Segovia, the Spaniard who was last year’s BU13 title winner, is the No.1 seed in the BU15, with Ireland’s Michael Lai of Mount Pleasant the No.2.
Segovia’s fellow countryman, Marc Altarriba, is the BU19 No.1, with Poland’s Franciszek Michniewicz the No.2.
Ireland have three No.1 seeds in the four girls’ events, Raghad Aboelela (GU13), Zoe Yeomans (GU17) and Riley Slade (GU19).
Mount Pleasant’s Aboelela, who was fourth at the Danish Junior Open, starts in Group A against fellow Irish player Izzy Bailey, the 9/16 from Leinster CC.
Sutton’s Zoe Yeomans, another of the Irish team from this year’s World Squash Championships, is the GU17 No.1. She has a Group A opener against fellow Sutton player Rebecca Jackson [5/8] at 4pm Friday.
Spain’s Siena Hall Rogers, the GU17 No.2, has a Friday afternoon Group B opener versus Kiara Fernandes, the 5/8 from Portugal.
Riley Slade, who also represented Ireland in Egypt, is the GU19 No.1. The Mount Pleasant player will begin with a Group A fixture at 4:30pm on Friday versus Sara Sabry, the Westwood player who recently won the Connacht Senior Open.
Isabel Siobhan Fallon, the No.2 seed from Sutton who came second at the recent Lithuanian Junior Open, will begin her campaign with a 4:30pm Friday Group B match versus Danila Medina, the 5/8 from Spain.
England’s Aditi Rao, the GU15 top seed, will play Ireland’s Chloe Jordan [9/16] of Sutton in her opening match on Friday at 4:30pm in ALSSA.
Spain’s Andrea Gonzalez, the No.2, will start her campaign an hour earlier at ALSAA against Sutton’s Esme Ring [9/16].
The three-day tournament begins at Sutton on Friday morning with four matches scheduled for 9am and the last batch of opening day matches are pencilled in for 8pm. Friday matches at ALSSA are scheduled from 12pm through to 5:30pm.
The draws have been published for this weekend’s eight-event, 162-player IACT Irish Junior Open in Dublin.
The 2024 tournament catered for 132 players but the upcoming edition, hosted again by Sutton LTC from Friday to Sunday, has an additional 30 entries.
Five of the eight events have Irish players seeded as the No.1 – Harry Knox (BU13), Christian Dromgoole (BU17), Raghad Aboelela (GU13), Zoe Yeomans (GU17) and Riley Slade (GU19).
The three overseas No.1 seeds include Rafael Rodriguez Segovia (BU15), the Spaniard who won last year’s BU13 title. His fellow countryman, Marc Altarriba, is the BU19 top seed, with England’s Aditi Rao No.1 in the GU15.
Six of the eight events at the 2024 tournament were won by the No.1 seeds.
The three days of play will begin at 9am on Friday in Sutton, with the additional courts at ALSSA clicking into action at midday.
Two of last year’s Irish Junior Open champions will play at the 2025 tournament next weekend in Dublin.
Ireland’s Zoe Nyhan, who won the 2024 GU13 as the No.1 seed, will compete in the GU15 event while Spain’s Alberto Mateo, who came through as the 5/8 seed to win the BU17, is entered in the BU19.
Six of the eight events at the 2024 tournament were won by the No.1 seeds.
Aside from Nyhan living up to her ranking, Spain’s Rafael Rodriguez Segovia (BU13), Poland’s Mattea Saliba (GU15), Portugal’s Gustavo Cruz (BU15), Wales’ Nia Seren Thomas (GU17) and Zimbabwe’s Ryan Gwidzima (BU19) all won titles last year as the No.1.
The only exception to this top seed dominance, aside from Spain’s Mateo in the BU17, was the GU19 victory by Ireland’s Lydia McQuillan, who was seeded No.2.
The 2024 tournament catered for 132 players but the upcoming 2025 edition, which will again be sponsored by IACT and hosted once more by Sutton LTC from Friday to Sunday, has attracted a bumper 166-start list consisting of 80 Irish players and 86 from overseas.
That figure features 26 players from Switzerland, 17 from Scotland, 16 from Spain, eight from England and other players representing Australia, Japan, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, Poland and Macau.
The welcome increase in participants will see a second venue – ALSAA – used to stage matches, and a shuttle bus will run on an hourly basis between the two venues.
The draws for the eight events are in the pipeline and will be published soon.
Six of the 10 players who won titles at last month’s Connacht Junior Open, the opening event on the 2025/26 Irish tour, have doubled up by winning Ulster Junior Open titles this weekend.
Galway’s Conor Mullery (BU11), Windsor’s Georgie Ryan (GU11), Celtic’s Harry Knox (BU13), Limerick’s Ruby Carroll (GU13), Mount Pleasant’s Michael Lai (BU15) and Sutton’s Zoe Yeomans (GU19, pictured abive playing for Ireland in Cairo) all followed up their success in Galway three weeks ago by coming out on top in Belfast at tour event number two.
All six were convincing winners in their respective categories, but the GU13 win by No.2 seed Carroll stood out as she picked off the top-seeded Aurora McDonnell, who won a Danish Junior Open title two weeks ago in Copenhagen.
Of the four Ulster events where there was a different winner from the tournament in Connacht, two featured reverse results from those September finals with the No.2 seeds, Belfast’s Gabby Curran (GU15) and Celtic’s Aaron Knox (BU19), getting the better on this occasion of a No.1 duo, Mount Pleasant’s Zoe Nyhan and Sutton’s Conal Jackson.
Meanwhile, Zoe Sheridan, the No.1 from Sutton, won the GU17 while her clubmate Danny Jones triumphed in the BU17. Jones belied his No.4 seeding by beating the No.2 Samuel Hann in his round-robin group and then eclipsing the No.1, Celtic’s Adam Power, in the final.
A total of 99 players registered for the tournament in Ulster hosted by Belfast Boat Club and Windsor.
Ulster Junior Open finals
BU11: Galway’s Conor Mullery [1] WON 3-1 (13-15, 11-8, 11-3, 11-3) v Dunhill’s Dylan Murphy [2]
GU11: Windsor’s Georgie Ryan [1] WON 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-3) v Windsor’s Sofia Heron [2]
BU13: Celtic’s Harry Knox [1] WON 3-1 (11-4, 4-11, 11-8, 11-9) v Sutton’s Eoin O’Brien [2]
GU13: Limerick’s Ruby Carroll [2] WON 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-3) v Mount Pleasant’s Aurora McDonnell [1]
BU15: Mount Pleasant’s Michael Lai WON 3-0 (11-2, 16-14, 11-4) v Sutton’s John Quigley [3]
GU15: Belfast’s Gabby Curran [2] WON 3-0 (11-7, 11-6, 11-3) v Mount Pleasant’s Zoe Nyhan [1]
BU17: Sutton’s Danny Jones [4] WON 3-1 (11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 11-7) v Celtic’s Adam Power [1]
GU17: Sutton’s Zoe Sheridan [1] WON 3-0 (11-1, 11-7, 11-4) v Highfield’s Maggie Jones [6]
BU19: Celtic’s Aaron Knox [2] WON 3-0 (12-10, 11-7, 11-7) v Sutton’s Conal Jackson [1]
GU19: Sutton’s Zeo Yeomans [1] won the four-player round robin on six points, four points ahead of Sutton’s Rebecca Jackson [3]
