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Well Done to Liam & Claire on their great singles win in the Leinster Open today

Leinster Vice President Tom Mc Grath presents Leinsters Liam O'Leary & Claire Flood with their winning prizes...

Leinster’s Siobhan Grehan, Amanda Dunlop and Seamus Halpin ran a very successful Leinster Junior Open tournament in the Terenure Centre last weekend. With a great entry it ran close to schedule under the stewardship of referee Aengus Sheridan and of course Tom Mc Grath’s team of umpires. There was some awesome badminton played and even with some court problems again, the organisers got through 108 matches.

The Men’s singles final between 17 year old Del la Salle Dundalk student Liam O’Leary v Lisburn’s Andrew McKee. The opening set was played a blistering pace and went right down to the wire as it went into a tiebreaker with Leinster’s O’Leary narrowly taking the first set 23-21. Andrew regrouped and went on to take the middle set 14-21 where he played some of his best badminton. The final set went 12-12,13-13 all the way up to 18-18 with the high energy O’Leary pushing the cool, calm and total gentleman McKee around the court, McKee was well able to match O’Leary point for point until the last few where O’Leary snatched his first Junior title 21-19.

In the ladies singles final, it was last year’s defending champion Wexford’s Laura Butler, who now is studying in Waterford and plays her badminton in Lady Lane Badminton Club, her opponent was Miss Uno Badminton, Claire Flood. En route to the final Claire was never really under pressure but that is no surprise as Claire, although a bit of an unorthodox singles player, has a wealth of experience. Claire played in the World Badminton Championships in Anaheim back in 2005 and was in Milton Keynes representing Leinster on the premier “B” team last weekend. The opening set was close up to the midpoint with Butler having the slight lead 10-11. They matched each other point for point up to 15-15 then Claire’s cross court tight drops paid off as she took the opener 21-17. Claire kept Laura under pressure as she took the lead 11-8 at the midpoint in the second set and went on to take the title 21-12 congratulations Claire.

The Ladies doubles final was between the No.1 & 2 seeds. It was defending champion Kirsty Kelly with new partner Laura Butler. Both Kelly and Butler recently took the Irish Ladies Doubles Junior title a few weeks ago. Their opponents were last year finalist Siobhan Grehan with a new partner Donegore B.C. Pam Peard. Grehan and Peard rushed off to an early lead of 4-11 at the midpoint and continued their winning ways by taking the opener 14-21. Kelly and Butler regrouped in the middle set, reclaimed the lead 11-9 at the midpoint and went on to take it 21-15. Kelly and Butler were down 4-11 at the midpoint in the final set but never gave up as they fought for every point. Both Grehan and Peard used all their experience on court but Kelly and Butler brought the score back to 15-15. Kelly and Butler served for the match at 20-18 but the experienced Grehan/Peard levelled the match into a tie breaker 20-20. Once again Kelly and Butler served for the match as they took the title 22-20.

The Men’s Doubles final was a mixed affair. It was No.1 seeds Lisburn’s Ciaran Chambers and Raphoe’s Josh Magee against Lisburn’s Martin Lau and Dundalk’s Liam O’Leary. Chambers and Magee stood up to their seeding as they took the opener 21-15. Although Lau and O’Leary played some great badminton the very polished pairing of Chambers and Magee took the title 21-10.
Chambers and Lau were back on court in an all Lisburn mixed final. It was No.1 seeds of Ciaran Chambers and Caroline Black against Martin Lau and Catherine Coyne. Although we haven’t seen Catherine for a while due to her studies, it’s great to see her back again this season. Catherine and Martin took a convincing opening set 17-21. They continued their winning ways in the second set and had a comfortable lead until Ciaran and Caroline fought back and took the middle set 21-19. Ciaran and Caroline went on to take the title and the final set 21-14.
Executive member David Murphy introduced the Vice President Tom McGrath at the presentations of the prizes. Tom thanked everyone from the organisers, the centre staff, the court officials and all the players especially the finalist on their achievements. Men’s Singles winner Liam O’Leary spoke on behalf of the players, firstly he thanked his opponent Andrew McKee on a great final and then thanked all who helped to make it a great tournament.

Leinster Junior Open(Terenure Centre)
Final Results
Mens Singles: L O’Leary bt A McKee 23-21,14-21,21-19 Doubles: C Chambers/J Magee bt M Lau/L O’Leary 21-15,21-10
Ladies Singles: C Flood bt L Butler 21-17,21-12 Doubles: K Kelly/L Butler bt P Peard/S Grehan 14-21,21-15,22-20
Mixed: C Chambers/C Black bt C Coyle/M Lau 17-21,21-19,21-14
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Written By: Brian Kelly
Date Posted: 11/16/2011
Number of Views: 300

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