Excellent week for Clare badminton

THE Munster Juvenile Inter-county Badminton Championships were held in the Sports Arena in UL recently. Eighteen teams from all over Munster competed with 180 participants.

For a tournament that only started four years ago, it is now one of the biggest one-day junior badminton events in the country. There were four age groups, U-11, 13, 15 and 17.

In Clare, over 70 juniors attended trials to select the teams. Clare won the U-15 and U-17 titles and were runners-up in U-13. The U-11 team also played well, most of whom were taking part in their first inter-county tournament.
In the Munster U-11, Daniel O’Meara (Killaloe) won the boys’ singles and the mixed with Alexander Troy. He was also runner-up in the boys’ doubles.

The Clare teams were:
U-11: Cillian O’Riordain, Emer Murray, Sean Flynn, Róisín Moore, Jack Browne, Grace Molloy, Oisín Clune, Alice Gleeson, Adam Greenan, Molly Fennessy.
U-13: Aaron Moloney, Alexandra Troy, Ronan Foley, Aisling O’Meara, Cian Flanagan, Katie Browne, Daniel O’Meara, Aoife Power, Eoin Power, Sadhbh Fennessy.
U-15: Maurice Molloy, Karen MacNamara, David Moloney, Lana Browne, Ciarán Hickey, Áine Ryan, Brian Meaney, Sally Molloy, Brendan Dolan, Siobhán O’Connell.
U-17: Cian Fitzgerald Bradley, Moya Ryan, Ciarán O’Brien, Ciara Dwyer, Sean Hanrahan, Megan Bredin, Eoin Flynn, Amy MacNamara, David McGrath, Kate Ryan.

Meanwhile, in the Leinster U-12 Open held in Terenure, Ronan Foley (Ennis) won the boys’ singles and was runner-up in the doubles. Alex Troy and Katie Browne (Ennis) were defeated in the girls’ doubles final.

In the Ulster U-15 Open held in Lisburn last weekend, Irish international Moya Ryan (Ennis) won the girls’ singles and the mixed doubles. She was runner-up in the girls’ doubles. Lana Browne (Ennis) won the girls’ plate.

In the Munster U-11 held last weekend in UL, Alexander Troy (Ennis) won the treble, singles, doubles and mixed, which was a fantastic achievement. Róisín Moore (Ennis) was defeated in the singles plate final.