Other Sport
Clarke and Hanley claim Connacht Open titles
The organisers of the Connacht Tennis Open were proven correct in their decision to move the annual tournament from its traditional October date to the June Bank Holiday, with the 2013 running of the event played out in glorious sunshine at Galway lawn Tennis Club last weekend.
There was an entry of over 100 players from all over the country but the locals dominated with strong performances in all categories. Even the singles champion Justin Clarke from Australia has become an Irish citizen and he enjoys playing in Galway so much he is considering declaring for the Connacht Team.
The Irish-Aussie retained his title with a comprehensive 6-1 6-1 victory over Knocknacarra native, Mark Smyth. Smyth however, who is currently Head Coach at Omagh Tennis Club, came back to the West to retain his doubles title with Al Waterson in the undoubted Match of the Day on Bank Holiday Monday.
Spectators and fellow competitors gathered to watch a tense battle between the GLTC pair and James Crowe and CJ Kelly from Limerick, with Smyth and Waterson retaining their title in a tie-break in the third set.
Marion Hanley collected yet another Connacht Open title, sweeping all opposition aside and defeating Ann-Marie Darcy (Nenagh) 6-3 6-3 in the Ladies Final. The Barna native then partnered Francis O’Connell (GLTC) to the Mixed Final where they lost a close match 7-6 6-3 to top seeds Alan McCormack and Niamh Burke from Sligo.
O’Connell contested the B Singles Final where he lost another tight battle with Dermot Dolan (Sligo) 7-5 6-2, but there was further local success when Rita Halloran captured the B title with a 3 set victory over Lisa Lyons (Donnybrook).
However there was joy in the Lyons household when mother-and-daughter pairing Denise (Carrickmines) and Lisa overcame Helen Lawless and Olivia Deely (dual GLTC and Loughrea members) 6-1 4-6 6-3 in a tough three-setter to clinch the Ladies B Doubles. The C title was played in a round-robin format and went to the pairing of Niamh Gavin and Sinead O’Donoghue (Castlebar).
The Men’s B Doubles title was won by Robert Johnson (Ballinasloe and Loughrea) and Mike Geraghty (GLTC). This was the pair’s second Connacht Open title and third Open doubles triumph. They had a dogged battle with Adrian Reilly and Paul Royston (Loughrea).
Reilly had a tough day, suffering defeat in the C Singles Final at the hands of Mahmoud Giumaa in 3 gruelling sets followed by an injury retirement at 5-7 4-4 in the doubles final.
There was an all-local battle in the final of the B Mixed with Brendan Murtagh and Serena Silke defeating Gerry Smyth and Helen Lawless 6-4 6-7 6-2 in yet another 3-setter. In the C Mixed, Patrick Conlon and Josie Connaughton from Loughrea beat the sibling pairing of Fran and Ger Keane (Claremorris and GLTC) 6-4 7-6.
There were plate victories for Deirdre Byrnes (GLTC) and Richard Duggan (Mount Pleasant) in the C Mixed, with Tadgh Ó Conghaile (GLTC) and Orla Ni Sheaghdha (Mount Pleasant) winning the B event.
CONNEMARA’S Luke O’Neill shot a final round 70 for a total of 11-under par to win the prestigious Allianz German Boys Open at Golf Club St Leon Rot over the weekend.
The Ballyconneely native, son of Connemara professional Hugh O’Neill, held off the challenge of Philipp Katich to win by a single shot. O’Neill held a two stroke lead going into the final day, after recording rounds of 69 and 66 over the opening two days before holding his nerve to claim victory. The Allianz Germany Boys Open is regarded as one of the top three boys golfing events in the world.
Katich, playing on his home course, pushed O’Neill all the way and moved to the top by the 12th hole, thanks to an excellent front nine performance, which included an eagle and two birdies.
Not panicked, O’Neill kept his composure and that ultimately proved to be the catalyst for his victory. The 13th and 14th proved disastrous for Katich. The German, who recently won French Boys Open, had a bogey on the 13th, before finding water on the 14th and eventually posting a triple bogey 7. O’Neill, meanwhile, birdied 14.
Another German, Felix Krammer, entered the conversation for victory as he sensationally struck a seven-iron shot for a hole-in-one at the par-3 13th.
Read full report in this week’s Tribune Sport.
GALWAY ace Martin Mulkerrins will lead the Irish team at the 2018 World Handball Championships which are starting this week in Minnesota.
And the current national senior champion is joined on the Irish team by fellow Galwegian, Niamh Heffernan from Claregalway, in a total playing party of 13.
Moycullen’s Mulkerrins will be competing in the Men’s Open event while Heffernan should be a strong contender for the Girls 17U World title.
Multi-talented Heffernan, who also plays camogie at County level, previously took home gold medals from Calgary, Canada in 2015. A rising star of the game, it’s little wonder that she qualified for Team Ireland.
Another Galway member is Frances Curran, Michael Breathnach’s, who is traveling Stateside as Team Ireland Liaison Officer.
According to Mulkerrins, this year’s Men’s Open singles field at the World Handball Championships is so strong that it will be a case of kill or be killed!
Now aged 25, he took gold at the 2009, 2012 and 2015 Worlds as a juvenile, and captured his maiden All-Ireland senior singles title back in March. This time around he will be competing against the USA professional players in his bid for the World glory.
The blue riband Open Singles draw is stacked with quality and, says Mulkerrins, the player who can marry consistency with aggressive shot-making will be the one crowned champion.
“I would consider myself an offensive player, I would go for the kill if it’s a 50-50 call. “I think especially in tournaments like this, with a round of 32 and an extremely tough round of 16, you don’t want to be in that court any longer than you have to.
“With the speed of the American courts and their ball, I don’t think too many players will be adopting a defensive style. I see it as a tournament where we are going to see a lot of low, hard power play and players looking to finish games quickly,” he said.
See full coverage in Tribune Sport.
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GALWAY’S senior camogie team will be looking to bounce back from their final round group defeat to Kilkenny when they face Dublin in a tricky All-Ireland quarter-final assignment at Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Cork on Saturday evening (7:15pm).
Following victories over Clare, Waterford and Limerick, Galway had looked to seize the automatic semi-final berth against Kilkenny last day out and for three quarters of that contest they were certainly in a good place to achieve this.
Indeed, they had the Cats in all sorts of bother early on with Ailish O’Reilly, in particular, looking dangerous up front. However, with Kilkenny using sweeper Anne Dalton to good effect and Galway struggling to by-pass this defensive mechanism, the National League champions swung the tie in their favour to take the win on a 1-17 to 0-13 scoreline.
While the margin of defeat will have frustrated manager Cathal Murray, there were still enough positives in the performance to give rise for optimism ahead of this weekend’s knockout game against Dublin. “There was plenty of positives but we were just disappointed with the last 20 minutes to be honest with you,” says Murray.
“We kind of threw in the towel a small bit but we now have to look for a response against Dublin, who won’t be bad. So, all round, we need to improve. There is not just one area really but we do need to get a performance to get ourselves back on the road again. Dublin, though, will be no pushovers.”
Unfortunately, Galway have been hit with a setback with the news that Oranmore/Maree full-forward and goal threat Niamh Hanniffy looks set to miss the rest of the campaign with a knee-ligament injury. “Niamh is a massive loss to us,” confirms Murray. “It is disappointing in fairness.
“We also have a few more injured at the moment. Sarah Dervan, Becky Hennelly and Caitriona Cormican are all carrying knocks. Look, they will probably be okay but, at the moment (early in the week), they are unable to train.”
Injuries aside, it is unlikely Galway will digress too far from the side which did lose to Kilkenny. Sarah Healy will start between the posts with captain Dervan, Tara Kenny, Lorraine Ryan and Heather Cooney backboning the Tribeswomen’s defence.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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