Home / News / World Junior Squash 2025: The Ireland Team Cairo Diaries – Day 5 recap
World Junior Squash 2025: The Ireland Team Cairo Diaries – Day 5 recap
Junior | 01.08.2025

World Junior Squash 2025: The Ireland Team Cairo Diaries – Day 5 recap

Home / News / World Junior Squash 2025: The Ireland Team Cairo Diaries – Day 5 recap
Junior | 01.08.2025

My father is a massive sports fan and I’ve grown up listening to him say regularly how cruel sports can be, writes Ireland junior performance coach David Noone from the World Squash Junior Championships in Cairo.

The finest of margins can make the difference… In squash, a few millimetres on the tin, a referee’s decision, the frame of a racket. Thursday was one of those days for the U19 girls.

They were within a whisker of a top 10 finish in Cairo. The total score was actually 116-111 in favour of Ireland, but South Africa got the victory by winning matches 2-1.

Ella Erickson got us off to a flyer, chopping up their No.1 with a powerful performance. She bossed the court, never letting her opponent settle. Very impressive.

Zoe Yeomans got off to a great start in her first game. It went the distance, but the long and powerful South African took it 15-13. Carrying that momentum into the second, she took it 11-5 and while Zoe pulled one back in the third, she could force a fifth game.

So at 1-1, Ella Walsh played Chante Leppan in a real nail-biter of a match. Every game was close and Ella poured all she had into it, chasing every ball down, playing her shots with conviction and emptying the tank.

She had game balls to go 2-0 up and, if converted, that may have made the difference. But heartbreakingly, it wasn’t to be. 

It was a huge team effort from the girls and on Friday they will face New Zealand for 11th place, well above their original seeding of 15.

The lads played Switzerland, a tough opposition. As with most teams here, the No.1 string is almost all professional level. Fabian Seitz is one of Europe’s best juniors, a very tough and skilled player.

Danny Lynch had the unenviable task of facing him. He played very well and, quite similar to his match on Wednesday, he raised his level and competed so well in every point.

With game balls in the second, it would have been just for him to level the match. But it wasn’t to be and the Swiss ran away with the third.

Christian Dromgoole played very well in his match, getting himself pumped up for the big points and that was where it mattered with each game going the distance as he won 3-0 to force a decider.

Conal Jackson was the man to take on the challenge. Conal has played so much squash in this two-week campaign and has produced some real quality, but this match was a bridge too far and his energy levels were depleted. Despite this, Conal played pretty well and fought hard. But it wasn’t to be.

It made for a slightly sombre mood at the dinner table on Thursday evening but Friday is another day. The girls will play New Zealand and the lads Kuwait. We had some fun on the padel courts beside our hotel and got an early night. One more push for the two teams.