Upwards of 70 players from across Europe will play in Ireland next month in the fourth edition of the LGBTQIA+ Squash European Open.
Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris were previous hosts for the tournament that will now be organised by the Dublin-based In4Squash club, staged at Sutton LTC on September 19th/20th, and supported by estate agency MoveHome.ie.
In4Squash club chair Lorcan Walsh said: “We are thrilled to welcome LGBTQIA+ squash players from across Europe to Dublin. Over the last year, the club has gone from strength to strength, notably joining the Leinster League for the first time.
“Hosting the European Open is another milestone for the club and its supporters. This event is not just a tournament. It’s a vibrant celebration of sport, community, and inclusion.”
Delighted that the Squash Ireland club of the year won the hosting rights for the 2025 edition, Squash Ireland president Rosie Barry added: “In4Squash, the LGBTQIA+ squash club, continues to grow and thrive, as evident in their hosting the LGBTQIA+ Squash European Open this September.
“Squash Ireland extends a warm welcome to all participants and thanks to Sutton LTC for providing a wonderful venue for this event.”
Squash Ireland CEO Scott Graham said: “Squash Ireland is committed to creating a healthy, sporting environment and a supportive community for LGBTQ+ players, coaches, referees and supporters.
“We are delighted that In4Squash is hosting the European LGBTQIA+ Open, an event that celebrates inclusion and brings our sport to a wider audience.”
Ireland’s leading men’s players, Conor Moran and Sam Buckley, will begin the new PSA season at next month’s Helsinki Challenger.
A prize of $12,000 is on the line at the 24-player event in Finland, and both Irish have been given winnable round of 32 matches at opposite ends of the draw.
Moran, the current PSA No.181 rank, will start his campaign with a September 9th meeting with Christopher Gordon, the American who is ranked seven places below in 188th.
Victory in this opener would secure a round of 16 clash the following day with Edwin Clain of France, the PSA No.81, who is seeded No.4 in Finland.
Buckley, the PSA No.123, is also in round of 32 action on September 9th, but in the bottom half of the draw. He has been paired against England’s Jared Carter, the PSA No.193.
At stake is a round of 16 meeting with Ben Smith, another English player who is the PSA No.90 rank. He is seeded fifth for Helsinki.
Top seeds at the tournament are No.1 Rory Stewart, the Scot who is PSA No.54, and No.2 Toufik Mekhalfi, the PSA No.71 from France.
Breanne Flynn will lead Irish hopes at the upcoming IACT Fitzwilliam Ladies Open. The Irish No.2 has been seeded No.4 for next week’s 14-player, $3,000 PSA Satellite event in Dublin.
Flynn, the current PSA No.129 who finished 25th at last weekend’s European Championships in France, currently has a round of 16 bye.
Unless a wildcard is added, she will start her campaign on day two – September 5th – in the round of eight against the winner of the September 4th encounter between England’s Polly Clark, the PSA No.178, or Australia’s Erin Classen, the PSA No.162, who is the fifth seed at Fitzwilliam.
Competing in the lower half of the draw, Flynn could face No.2 seed Ali Loke, the PSA No.132, in the semi-finals. Loke is the other player who currently doesn’t have a round of 16 opponent.
Elise Romba, the PSA No.121 from France, is seeded No.1 in Dublin. She begins with a round of 16 tie against Francesca Whyte, the PSA No.283 from England.
The winner will play either Hannah McGugan, the PSA No.253 from Ireland, or Ellie Breach, the PSA No.155 from Wales.
Elsewhere, Lydia McQuillan, the 2025 U19 Italian Open winner from Lisburn, faces England’s Isabel McCullough, the PSA No.141, who is seeded third at the Fitzwilliam.
Four Irish players – including PSA women’s No.139 rank Breanne Flynne – are set to play at the European Individual Closed Squash Championship in France.
The four-day event at Chartres, which begins on August 20, has attracted 89 entries across two categories, and Flynn is looking for ranking points following her recent involvement with the Ireland squad at the World Squash Junior Championships.
Flynn used her experience as a professional player to assist the team of 10 headed up by David Noone, the Squash Ireland junior performance coach. She also provided physio to the players across the two-week event in Cairo.
Currently in Australia, where she has featured in two tournaments (reaching the quarter-finals of the Tasmanian Open and playing the first round of the Bega), she is eagerly awaiting the women’s singles draw for the tournament in France that has its finals pencilled in for August 23.
Last year’s event was held in Spain and Hannah Craig, the No.61 PSA rank who defeated Flynn in last February’s Irish Nationals final, finished 18th in a 41-player category.
Denis Gilevskiy finished 17th in the 50-player men’s event in Cuenca, but, like Craig, he isn’t playing in this Individual Closed Championship renewal in France.
Jack O’Flynn, though, will hope to build on his 35th-place finish in Spain. He is one of three players from last weekend’s PSA Satellite men’s event in Dublin who are registered for Chartres.
O’Flynn was beaten to third place at Fitzwilliam by Alex Smith, who will also play in France.
The third men’s player to travel will be Sean Murphy, the PSA event winner. He beat Smith in the Dublin semi-finals before clinching the title with a four-game final success over Brian Byrne.
Sean Murphy won the IACT PSA Satellite tournament at Fitzwilliam on Sunday, beating Brian Byrne in a four-game, all-Irish final that lasted 59 minutes.
The 22-year-old moved into a 2-0 lead with 11-4 and 11-6 games and while the third went Byrne’s way 11-5, Murphy [pictured left, above, with Byrne] took the spoils 11-7 in the fourth.
His run to victory in the 16-player tournament began on Saturday morning with a routine 3-0 win over Carl Crowe that lasted just 21 minutes.
Murphy’s quarter-final later that day took three times as long as an exciting five-game thriller with Michael Creaven, which required 64 minutes and an 11-5 win in the fifth.
Sunday started with a straight-game semi-final win over Alex Smith, Murphy needing just 33 minutes to carve out the 3-0 win over an opponent who had beaten Samuel Hann and Dean Dromgoole in short 3-0 matches on Saturday.
In the bottom half of the draw, Byrne enjoyed a straight game win over Tyler Dromgoole before needing four games – the second an extended 17-15 score – to get the better of the visiting English player, Robert Thirst. Byrne then picked off Jack O’Flynn in his semi.
O’Flynn went on to clinch third place overall, beating Smith in five in their play-off, while Dean Dromgoole finished fifth.
The lower-place matches featured an intriguing ninth-place clash between Aaron Knox and Frank O’Flynn, two players who recently represented Ireland at the World Squash Junior Championships in Cairo.
O’Flynn jumped into a 2-0 lead before Knox responded to win the match by reeling off three games on the bounce.
Knox had pushed Thirst for 48 minutes in the round of 16 before losing 3-1, but he went on to have 3-0 wins over Tyler Dromgoole and Danny Jones in the 9/16 section before beating O’Flynn in five.
Two Irish players who recently played at the World Squash Junior Championships – Aaron Knox and Frank O’Flynn – are on the start list of 16 looking to win this weekend’s PSA Satellite men’s event in Dublin.
Celtic club member Knox was a main title round of 128 winner in Cairo, going on to reach the Special Plate round of 16 and then assisting the Irish men’s team to its 20th place finish in the 22-team junior competition.
O’Flynn, meanwhile, progressed to the Consolation Plate round of 16 in Egypt, and he now returns to his home club, Fitzwilliam LTC, to face Dean Dromgoole in the IACT-sponsored tournament that will be played over two days, starting this Saturday.
Knox will feature in the bottom half of the draw fixture against Robert Thirst, the England player who achieved a PSA ranking high of 426 in June last year.
In the top half of the draw, Sutton’s Michael Creavan, the current 352 PSA rank from Ireland, has been drawn against Matthew Lai, the Mount Pleasant youngster.
The final of the invitational event, which has a first prize of €400, is timed for 5:15pm on Sunday.
Squash Ireland has expanded its team with the appointment of Dave Broderick as the new full-time Club and Community Development Officer.
CEO Scott Graham commented: “Dave joins us from pitch and putt and brings excellent experience in sport and development.
“We’re currently developing a plan to bring more squash community activators on board, people who will focus on delivering squash sessions, coaching and running programmes in schools, clubs and local communities.
“Our goal is to have these activators working across each province, while Dave will oversee grant management, coordination and the administrative and logistical side of operations.
“In parallel, squash coaches and other professionals will be out on the ground delivering programmes. It’s still a work in progress, but with Dave now in place full-time, we’re on track to revitalise our development efforts.”
Broderick added: “I’m delighted to join the squash community following roles in hockey, triathlon and, most recently, pitch and putt.
“I’m passionate about helping clubs and sports organisations grow and develop sustainably. I look forward to promoting squash to a wide audience of future players, volunteers and fans.”
Young players aged 14 to 18 based in Northern Ireland have another excellent tournament to aim for following the confirmation that squash has been included in the eighth edition of the Commonwealth Youth Games, which will be hosted by Malta in 2027.
Squash had been part of the main Commonwealth Games competition since 1998. However, financial restraints mean it will not feature at the stripped-back 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The squash focus, though, has now shifted to the youth competition, starting in Malta two years from now.
A World Squash statement read: “Commonwealth Sport has officially announced that the 8th Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) will be hosted by Malta in late 2027, and we’re delighted to confirm that squash has been included as an official sport in the programme!
“This provides a great platform for our young athletes aged 14-18 across the 74 nations and territories of the Commonwealth. The Malta 2027 Games, with its compelling dual-island concept and world-class facilities, promises to be a truly transformative experience for the players.
“The inclusion of squash in the 8th Commonwealth Youth Games reinforces our commitment to youth development and offers an unparalleled opportunity to:
“This achievement is a testament to the positive collaboration between World Squash and Commonwealth Sport, and we use this opportunity to thank Commonwealth Sport Malta and the Government of Malta for their commitment and vision in bringing these Games to fruition.”
The calendar has been released for the 2025/26 squash season in Ireland, with Conor Moran and Hannah Craig set to defend their Senior National titles at Fitzwilliam on February 6th-8th.
Moran, the PSA squash tour’s current 170th rank, defeated top Irish seed Sam Buckley, the PSA’s 120th rank, in a five-game thriller in the 2025 final five months ago.
Presently ranked 62nd on the PSA women’s list, Craig secured a straight-game victory over Breanne Flynn, the No.141 PSA player, in her final.
Meanwhile, the PSA Irish Open, where the 2025 highlight was Moran’s 3-1 men’s section win over Jeremias Azana, the Argentinian ranked 76th by the PSA, will again take place at Fitzwilliam next May from the 19th to the 23rd.
Melvil Scianimanico of France (placed 62nd on the PSA list) and Tesni Murphy of Wales (the PSA No.21) were crowned champions at the Open sponsored by Cannon Kirk Gillenmarkets.
The early part of the new season features a PSA Satellite men’s tournament on August 9th-10th and a women’s event on September 4th-6th, both hosted by Fitzwilliam.
The Dublin club is also the venue for the All-Ireland Club finals on May 9th, with the Senior Interprovincials booked in at a Munster venue on March 14th-15th, two weeks earlier in the calendar than in 2024/25. The Five Nations has also moved forward by a week to April 10th-12th to avoid Easter.
Elsewhere, the Irish Masters Nationals will take place at Fitzwilliam on February 27th-28th. Before that, the Leinster Masters Open has moved to Novvember 7th-8th, the Connacht Masters Open to December 5th-6th and the Ulster Masters Open to January 30th-31st.
The Junior Nationals are scheduled for Cork on February 13th-15th, the Junior Interprovincials have moved to March 7th-8th (they were held in April in 2024/25), and the Munster Junior Open has moved to November 29th-30th.
On the club front, the Mount Pleasant Open has moved back a week in the calendar to January 17th-18th.
Ireland arrived in Cairo on Friday for the World Squash Junior Championships and were met with super friendly staff directly off our flight, writes junior performance coach David Noone.
We were made to feel very welcome as they navigated us through a hectic airport with long visa queues and got us to our hotel. We have a pool and spacious rooms with plenty of areas to relax in. As tournament hotels go, this is nice!
The event is being played in the Black Ball Sporting Club, a massively impressive venue set off a giant motorway-style road in New Cairo. The entrance is super plush and opens onto a gigantic gallery behind a beautiful glass court. There are 17 courts in total, the glass and 16 courts surrounding it.
The whole club is centred around the show court – and it’s massive. It needs to be to support such a huge event; the men’s and women’s draws have 221 players from around the world, with only the best of each country being represented.
The first week is the individual section, and the second week the teams. For the individuals, Ireland have six boys and three girls. For the team, we have four boys and four girls.
This event will be long and bodies will be tested to the max, but this is an amazing tournament and an unbelievable opportunity for the top Irish juniors to mix with the world’s best.
The individual event kicked off on Monday, and first up was Riley Slade. In a close match against Hana Al Nayal of the Netherlands, the games could have gone either way. Errors were the deciding factor, and Riley made just a few too many. But there was plenty to build on in the 0-3 loss for the Mount Pleasant player.
Ella Walsh faced a tricky French opponent, Leelou Laporte. Anything loose was skilfully put away, but Ella was playing some great squash. Once settled, she pushed very hard, especially in the second game, which she could have won. The third ran away from her a little but, despite losing 0-3, this was a good showing for her first match.
Zoe Yeomans played Anna Musikhina, a neutral athlete from Russia. In quite a tough match, she prevailed and won 3-0 to set up an encounter with the seeded Pole, Sofiia Zrazhevska.
Zoe played to her potential in the first game, fighting hard and contesting every point. There were some very high-quality exchanges, but the opening game slipped away in the end. The next two games weren’t as close, but it was still a very spirited performance and one to be proud of despite the 0-3 score.
In the men’s section, Danny Lynch and Conal Jackson were very unfortunate to draw players seeded very high. Danny played Ollie Dunbar, the Kiwi who had produced some spectacular results on the pro tour this season, beating players ranked in the top 60. He is expected to go deep here too.
Danny produced some very mature squash, testing Dunbar throughout the contest. Some very good pressure was applied, with great shot selection in an all-round top performance. It was a 3-0 loss, but one where he can be proud of the performance.
Conal played Maddox Moxham, a class act. He was the runner-up in the European Junior Championships this year and plays at a very high level, another seeded player.
Not too dissimilar to Danny’s match, Conal took it to his opponent and created a real tough duel. There was some excellent squash from the Suttonian, who showcased his ability to compete with the best in this 0-3 loss. There was plenty of learning, but plenty of belief gained too.
Aaron Knox faced the unseeded Bernado Dias, and a thundering start exposed the somewhat weak technique of the Brazilian. Aaron didn’t relent, taking a two-game lead. He lost the third but rallied strongly to clinch it in four. He now faces a seeded player from India, Arihant KS, on Tuesday in the round of 64.
Christian Dromgoole took on Saudi Arabian player Salem Almwled. It was plain sailing for the most part and although slightly troubled in the second game, Christian’s quality was much higher. Great confidence was gained in the 3-0 win, and he now plays Yusha Nafees of India on Tuesday.
Nathan Hann had a tough Hong Kong player, Tsun Hei Mak, to deal with. Showing great speed and skill, Nathan struggled to contain his opponent and found the rallies tough going.
There were moments of great squash from Nathan, for sure; building consistency into rallies was when he played best. But it wasn’t to be in a 3-0 loss. Frank O’Flynn also lost out on the same score, going down to Shiven Agarwal of India.
