Ireland secured a gold double at the European Team Championships, with both men’s and women’s sides winning Division 2 titles at the tournament in Amsterdam.
Saturday was finals day, and it ended with the Ireland men’s team defeating Israel 4-0 and the women’s team overcoming Hungary 2-0, but there was plenty of other hard work put in across the four days.
The No.1 seeded men’s team of Sam Buckley, Conor Moran, Oisin Logan, Michael Creaven and Sean Conroy were pitted against Slovakia, Norway and Austria in Pool A and three 4-0 victories secured top spot.
Another 4-0 win over Sweden in the semi-finals secured promotion back to Division 1 following last year’s relegation, and the title was then clinched in impressive fashion versus the Israelis.
Wins by a 3-1 margin for Logan and Buckley put Ireland in a commanding lead and although Creaven was 2-1 down in his clash, the victory was confirmed when Moran went 2-0 up in his match.
With Ireland up 9-4 in games and knowing they could only get to a total of eight games if they somehow managed to win the matches against Creaven and Moran, Israel conceded at that point.
The No.2 seeded Ireland women’s team of Hannah Craig, Breanne Flynn, Aimee McConnell and Lydia McQuillan were just as efficient in their path to title victory.
Drawn in Pool B against Sweden, Slovenia and Italy, there were respective 2-1, 3-0 and 2-1 wins to secure a place in the semi-finals and a 2-0 win over Portugal secured promotion to Division 1 for the first time since relegation in 2016.
That left the title match to play, and success was quickly secured versus the Hungarians with Flynn and Craig both winning their matches 3-0 to complete an excellent week’s work and end a two-year stint in Division 2 following 2024’s Division 3 title win.
