The day started at 10am with the Mens and Ladies Singles which were both knockout events . There were 13 players competing in the Mens Singles event and following some excellent contests two Sligo players faced off in the final where Jonathan Dolan met Daniel Keown with Jonathan coming out on top. The Ladies Singles had a smaller entry of just 5 players but again produced some very exciting bouts. The final was played between Helen Sheehan of Galway and Paula McDonagh of Sligo and on this occasion Paula emerged with victory.With the days play running to schedule the Doubles events started on court by 12. The Mens competition featured 12 pairings while the Ladies competition had just 8 teams. Both of these events were run on a Round Robin basis and after some very entertaining matches the top two pairs from each of the four draws in Mens Doubles went forward to play quarter finals while the top two from both Ladies draws met to play Semi Finals. There were some very hard fought games and eventually there was to be an all Sligo Mens Doubles Final but unfortunately one of the players was unable to continue so the title went by forfeit to Graeme Watt & Fintan Keown.
The Ladies Final was played between Susan Gilmore & Helen Sheehan of Galway facing Paula McDonagh & Victoria Stevens of Sligo and while both pairings were evenly matched the Sligo girls won the match in two convincing sets.
The Mixed Doubles event featured 16 pairs in four groups and was played as a Round Robin competition. The top pair from each group went forward to play semi-finals and so Jonathan Dolan & Francie Mahon from Sligo, having enjoyed a relatively trouble free competition to this point, faced John Kiernan & Ruth O Hart from Boyle. The second semi-final was an all-Sligo affair featuring Graeme Watt & Paula McDonagh facing Joseph Keown & Rebecca McGillen. Both Semi-Finals were very close matches but eventually the Final pairings were decided. Jonathan & Francie faced Joseph & Rebecca and on this occasion Jonathan & Francie emerged with the honours.
Boyle Badminton Club wish to thank all of those who helped to make the event such a success. Firstly the team that came in to the Sports Complex on Friday night which included Padraic O Dowd, Paul Dolan, Derek Nolan, Sean Diffley, Jimmy McDermott, Anthony McKeon, Padraig Sheridan, Tony Weir, Robert Weir, Gabriel Regan, Gerry Casey, Neil Cox and Niall Roche . We received many comments from players complimenting how well the venue looked and for this a massive thank you must go to Tony & Robert who supplied the Yonex mats and came down from Dublin to help us put them together.
On the day we had a lot of help in the office and in the shop so thank you very much to Anthony for organisng the shop and for the volunteers who came in to look after it particularly Martina Clohessy and her two girls and Niall Brennan who stayed for much of the afternoon. Thanks to Sean Diffley who stayed all day and in particular made sure the courts had new shuttles for each and every match and also thank you to Sean for lending his computer and printer for the day. Una McDermott came in and stayed for the whole day monitoring “Next Available Courts” and helping to keep every court occupied, the competition could not have run to schedule without this invaluable help. Thank you also to Seamus Ryan and Sean O’Dowd who were on hand with their cameras to document the day’s events.
A special note of thanks to Paul Dolan from Sligo as he was with us on Friday night and stayed late again on Saturday after the competition to help take up the mats and generally tidy up after the event.
A competition like this takes a lot of hard work, effort and preparation and it couldn’t be done without so many available to lend a hand. We are very lucky in Boyle that we have so many people we can call on to help put these events together. THANK YOU to each and every one who helped us in any way.
Photographs taken by Sean O'Dowd, www.realboyle.com
