The Senator Munster Masters’ Open took place this weekend in Cork, at Sundays Well & Highfield Squash Clubs. There were 49 entries in categories from O45 to O65.

For draw & results see here http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/events.aspx?id=A59431D9-8AF8-4502-8DBF-A1E99B757EC7

This weekend saw the Leinster Junior Open take place at Mount Pleasant and Leinster CC. With up towards 100 entries it was a superb weekend of squash.

For draw & results see here http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=41155412-ED70-4AAC-92E9-5E3286D88C29

For the first time in many years Ennis CBS held a major tournament  from the Irish Squash calendar on the weekend of 10/11th January 2014. The Munster Masters Over 35’s and 40’s events were held in this hub of squash in Co. Clare.

The members of Ennis CBS Squash club were treated to fantastic squash, when the Over 35/40s tour rolled into Ennis for the Munster Open Masters event.

It has been many years since a tour event was hosted in Ennis, and the club pulled out all the stops to ensure a smooth hosting of this event. Tournament director Clive Morgan had amassed top quality fields in both events, which included 11 players that have represented their Country on the International stage.

Starting on Friday night most matches went with seeding, with the exception of Donal Carroll beating the number 4 seed Neal Pollock 3-2 in the over 35’s event. Ronan Peyton, Keith Moran, & John Hurley were the other winners in the 35’s category on the Friday night, and top seeds Dara O’ Flynn, Clive Morgan, Ciaran McCoy, and David Ayerst all progressed in the 40’s event with good wins.

Saturday morning saw 4 close matches in the Semi finals. Dara O’ Flynn accounted for Clive Morgan, and David Ayerst beat Ciaran McCoy to set up a classic 40’s final.

Keith Moran powered his way past John Hurley, and Ronan Peyton got the better of a tiring Donal Carroll to make the 35’s final an all Sutton affair.

In the play off places, there were wins for Andy Brennan, and Cormac Ryan in the 40’s and wins for Neal Pollock and Fergie O’ Loughlin in the 35’s section.

Following a quick break for lunch, the final series of games got under way at close to 1.00pm, with everyone keen to get on the road home as soon as possible.

In the minor placings, there were wins for Stephen Fasenfeld, Cormac Ryan, & Ciaran Mc Coy in the 40’s, and wins for Neal Pollock, John Hurley, and Declan Devitt in the 35’s.

The 40’s final was next on court, and David Ayerst and Dara O’ Flynn thrilled the large crowd with brilliant squash. Dara, looking to defend the title he won in Limerick last year, tried every shot in the book to take the title home again, but it was to be the Ulster mans day, and David Ayerst took the title on a 3-1 score line.

The 35’s final was another great match, but it was Keith Moran that took the 35’s title despite the best efforts of Ronan Peyton, his north Dublin club mate.

See here for full results

For the first time in many years Ennis CBS held a major tournament  from the Irish Squash calendar on the weekend of 10/11th January 2014. The Munster Masters Over 35’s and 40’s events were held in this hub of squash in Co. Clare.

The members of Ennis CBS Squash club were treated to fantastic squash, when the Over 35/40s tour rolled into Ennis for the Munster Open Masters event.

It has been many years since a tour event was hosted in Ennis, and the club pulled out all the stops to ensure a smooth hosting of this event. Tournament director Clive Morgan had amassed top quality fields in both events, which included 11 players that have represented their Country on the International stage.

Starting on Friday night most matches went with seeding, with the exception of Donal Carroll beating the number 4 seed Neal Pollock 3-2 in the over 35’s event. Ronan Peyton, Keith Moran, & John Hurley were the other winners in the 35’s category on the Friday night, and top seeds Dara O’ Flynn, Clive Morgan, Ciaran McCoy, and David Ayerst all progressed in the 40’s event with good wins.

Saturday morning saw 4 close matches in the Semi finals. Dara O’ Flynn accounted for Clive Morgan, and David Ayerst beat Ciaran McCoy to set up a classic 40’s final.

Keith Moran powered his way past John Hurley, and Ronan Peyton got the better of a tiring Donal Carroll to make the 35’s final an all Sutton affair.

In the play off places, there were wins for Andy Brennan, and Cormac Ryan in the 40’s and wins for Neal Pollock and Fergie O’ Loughlin in the 35’s section.

Following a quick break for lunch, the final series of games got under way at close to 1.00pm, with everyone keen to get on the road home as soon as possible.

In the minor placings, there were wins for Stephen Fasenfeld, Cormac Ryan, & Ciaran Mc Coy in the 40’s, and wins for Neal Pollock, John Hurley, and Declan Devitt in the 35’s.

The 40’s final was next on court, and David Ayerst and Dara O’ Flynn thrilled the large crowd with brilliant squash. Dara, looking to defend the title he won in Limerick last year, tried every shot in the book to take the title home again, but it was to be the Ulster mans day, and David Ayerst took the title on a 3-1 score line.

The 35’s final was another great match, but it was Keith Moran that took the 35’s title despite the best efforts of Ronan Peyton, his north Dublin club mate.

See here for full results

Entry is now open for the 2015 Mount Pleasant Open which takes place from January 23rd – 25th.

To enter click HERE

Tournament days

Friday, January 23, 2015 to Sunday, January 25, 2015

Squash Player, Madeline Perry announced as ‘Sportswoman of the Month’ for December 2013

Dublin, Wednesday, 8^th January, 2014 – Squash Player, Madeline Perry has today been named The Irish Times / Irish Sports Council ‘Sportswoman of the Month’ for December 2013. This is following her success at the National Squash Championships in Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Dublin.

Irish No.1 Madeline Perry recently won her 14th women’s title at the National Squash Championships. Last year, Aisling Blake had ended Perry’s winning streak. However, this year Perry faced international player Laura Mylotte in the final and won the match comfortably in three games with a final score of 3-0 to Madeline, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5.

Madeline has been very successful over the past few years reaching the Quarter Finals of the World Open in 2009, winning the Australian Open the following year. 2011 saw the experienced player finish runner-up in the KL Open, before winning the Singapore Masters event later that summer. She reached the quarter final of the 2012 World Open. 

The accolade of winning The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council ‘Sportswoman of the Month’ means Madeline will be the first of 12 sportswomen to be in the running for the prestigious title of ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ at an awards ceremony in December 2014.

Established in 2004, the Sportswoman of the Year Awards recognise the abilities and achievements of women in Irish sports. The awards run over a 12-month period, with the judges selecting a winner each month for her ability to excel at sport. The overall Sportswoman of the Year is selected from the monthly winners, and announced in December.

Further details on the Sportswoman of the Year Awards can be found onhttp://www.irishtimes.com/sport/sportswoman-of-the-year

The Men’s U19 World Championships are taking place next August in Namibia, just north west of South Africa. There is fundraising taking place for the Irish ream to help with costs for this long journey.

The squad members listed below will be looking for your support over the next few weeks so please help as much as you can. The draw is for two Category 1 tickets for the Ireland v Wales rugby international in Dublin on 8th February 2014

Michael Craig, Cillian Dunne, Oisin Dunne, Nikita Gilevskiy, Oisin Logan, Philip McSweeney, Joshua McVeigh, David Ryan

RYAN WINS HIS 7th BELVO OPEN

Derek Ryan won an unprecedented seventh Old Belvedere Open Championship on Saturday night. The former World No 7 and current Irish number two once again overcame a 16 year age gap to beat current Irish number three Brian Byrne 11/8 in the fifth set in a thrilling match lasting 1 hour and 10 minutes.

The final match at the Donnybrook club’s 51st annual open & handicap tournament featured shot-making and retrieving of the highest order. Byrne, who had the tougher semi-final earlier in the day (winning 3-1 against an inspired Sean Conroy) showed no signs of tiredness as he covered every inch of court number one, prolonging the early exchanges to deplete his elder opponent’s reserves. Wonderful play by both players with very few unforced errors ensured a tight scoreline until Ryan finally clinched the first game.

After a gruelling opening, Ryan seemed to falter and conceded the second game quickly. In the third, a packed crowd witnessed sequences of inch perfect backhand drops by both players, and bursts of powerful forehand drives by Ryan. But Byrne’s dynamic all-court presence, driving length game, and attacking volley boasts kept his opponent on the run and he established a 2-1 lead after a fiercely contested third set. A visibly frustrated and tiring Ryan now had to find a way to stage a comeback.

Frequently during the match the quality of Byrne’s movement left a packed gallery gasping while Byrne himself seemed almost untroubled by the effort. On several occasions he looped around the much taller Ryan to retrieve dying lengths at the back of the court, covering huge arcs of the court surface in the process. There is something almost superhuman about Byrne’s near-gymnastic athleticism. At one point he was sent across to the right court by a delayed backhand drive but he somehow managed to spring back against all the forces shearing his body in the other direction to meet the shot with a fierce drive of his own.

As the match wore on, Ryan deployed several corkscrew lobs to regain time and position. Keeping Byrne on the move, he seemed to summon up opportunities for winners with increased frequency, as if willing them from the depths of his playing memory. As the match entered its final phase, there was no doubt that the class of shots honed during a long career on the professional world tour was beginning to tell as he snatched the fourth game. 2-2.

In the fifth, the unforgiving pace abated and shot-making rather than retrieving now defined the character of the game. Ryan sought opportunities to control the speed of play and began to punctuate rallies by debating close calls first with the referee and then with himself when the official declined to engage. At one point, with calculated good humour, the Fitzwilliam player stopped to ask if he might be allowed a rest on the basis of seasonal goodwill. Byrne, showing a cool head and trademark patience, was unruffled and got back to the job at hand after each brief pause but the momentum had swung back to a recovering Ryan. The relentless pressure of Byrne’s exceptional retrieving was eased. Ryan had now engineered more time and energy to craft openings and he began to play his shots with greater precision. A couple of unforced tins crept into Byrne’s game and suddenly it was match point to Ryan.

It is, in fact, exactly 20 years since Derek Ryan first won the Open at Belvedere – an outstanding span of achievement in such an attritional sport. Victory in this championship also marked another 3-2 win for Derek in a remarkable recent series of matches between the two players. “Experience”, in Ryan’s own words, may have won the day this time and that was certainly part of the story. However the quality and imagination in his shotmaking coupled with an innate drive to win also saw him across the finish line.

The crowd, which included members of clubs such as Leinster, Fitzwilliam, Sandycove, Mount Pleasant, Sutton, Westwood, the Curragh and Belvedere itself, many of whom also took part during the week, applauded both a worthy winner and a talented and tenacious opponent. This was perhaps the best final seen at the club in recent memory. It capped a successful and entertaining festive week of squash with a high standard of players entering in the championship itself and some 70 players competing in all sections.

Simon Rogals, Old Belvedere Squash Club

FOR FULL RESULTS AND SCORES SEE HERE:

http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=3894F5F8-69AC-44F9-A000-483B36832305

The next senior tour event – The Mount Pleasant Open is now open for entries. The tournament takes place from the 24th January to 26th.

Go to: http://wsf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=9159642C-240E-41BC-B645-DCB44BE676F4

Leinster Junior Open

17th – 19th January

At

Mt Pleasant Club

&

Leinster Cricket Club

Enter on-line at www.tournamentsoftware.com

Closing date Sunday 12th January 2014