Day 4:
Finals day.
It’s not often an Irish squash team get the chance to wake up on the Sunday of a major championships and have breakfast together looking forward to a final. Today was special. A really good feeling all morning long, not too stressed or panicked, a sense of belief in the air.
The English have won the 15/17 double for the past fifteen years! An extra incentive for us to try and stop their dominance.
We arrived at the club as a team, draped our flags behind the court and began our practice. It was our first match on the unusual show court, the left side wall and back wall was all glass, allowing for a fairly big crowd in the gallery seating off the side wall.
Warm ups complete and we were ready to rock, the announcer calling in both teams to motivational music being pumped from the giant speakers. The playing order today was boy2, boy1, girl1. Meaning Dylan, Denis and Sophie in that order.
Dylan was up first, unusual that he got to play a match that wasn’t a decider. On paper, he was a major underdog. His form has been outstanding all week, so we felt that this could be something special, bearing in mind that Denis was a strong favourite in the following match.
It’s a struggle to explain the emotion of what followed. Dylan Moran was incredible. He executed the game plan to a tee. Played the big points like a boss, sent serious warning signs to the English camp and looked in total control. He won the first two games with conviction! The excitement of knowing it was in touching distance was palpable. Imagine having a front row seat to the Irish beating the all blacks a few months ago, a relatively similar feeling, in our beautiful minority sport.
The gallery was jammed, every country roaring for Dylan and the Irish. Game three saw him take the lead early, unfortunately he didn’t keep it and lost that game, close though. Confidence was still high! Game four, 4-0 lead. The habit of winning returning to his game.. he kept a lead right to the end but somehow it got away in the dying points, into a fifth it went.
Great start again, still attacking in all the right areas, using his guile and court craft to perfection, got an 8-4 lead. Hearts in our mouths, it was looking good. A few clipped tins, millimetres away from victory.. all of a sudden it was 9-9. Big points ahead. Dylan played them well, some would say slightly passive but he was controlling the ball well. An unlucky call from the ref, stroke to England, match ball. A lengthy rally finished with a punishing forehand volley to give the match to England. Hearts sank to the floor in the Irish camp, and every other camp too – completely devastated.
A truly special performance from the young Sutton player, he did himself, his team and his country extremely proud this week!
Denis was up next to try and level the tie. He played Jonah Bryant, one of the best U15 players in the world and a British Junior Open Champion. The stage was set for a big match and Denis was well up for the task.
Jonah tried to slow Denis down, which he did well. It wasn’t like some of his other matches, much more skill based and the physicality was taken out of it by his opponents tactics. It really didn’t matter though, Denis showed his true class and beat him in that type of game too. It did get more physical towards the end, thankfully Denis got us over the line in three! We rely on Denis for these wins, sometimes take them for granted. He was a real leader this week and hats off to his world class attitude and work ethic. Such an incredible champion.
Sophie had a daunting task for the decider. The English girls are traditionally the best in Europe by some way. This year was no different. Emma Bartley towered over her opponents all week and brought her A game to the final. Sophie fought valiantly but was always up against it. She lost in three, meaning England were crowned champions… once again.
An amazing team effort from Ireland to get so close, on the cusp of something really special! It was a pleasure to be part of and hopefully memories for life for the young players.
The U17’s had to try and motivate themselves to play Scotland in the playoff positions. A tough task after such an emotional match. They unfortunately lost 2-1, Hannah grabbing another win in what was a great week for her!
An early flight time meant that we missed the podium presentation but it was great to see the silver medals around the five team members necks. They will surely be proud of all their performances, 2nd place in a European team event is an inspiration to all young Irish players to follow.
A great week had by all in Eindhoven, memories made and the sense of team definitely played its role. A lot of great squash and lessons learned for all involved.
Thanks to all who supported, sent good luck messages to the team and those who flew over in support. It’s a magical event and would be hard beat in any other sport.
David Noone
Junior National Coach
Another day of mixed fortunes, luckily the highs far out weighed the lows and as a unit, we’re in a pretty good place! Emotions ran high in the U15 camp, both their matches coming down to a decider, both played by the man of the moment… Mr Dylan Moran. U17’s has a tough run, they will have learned a lot about playing squash at the top level and how much endurance is a crucial part of any high performance sport.
Our U15’s had their 1/4 final nice and early, taking on the Czechs, our nemesis in other age categories recently.. Denis was his usual menacing self, ripping his opponent from corner to corner, giving him zero chance to compete. To quote one of his 5 nations team mates, Maria Protsepova, “who in their right mind would step on the court with him”…. Denis won