Newsflash: Sports

BADMINTON

On Tuesday, one fifth of the school travelled to Lismore for the County Badminton Finals. We had teams entered in the boys and girls U.14, U.16 and U.19 competitions.  The sports hall has been extremely busy each Wednesday lunch time since September with students practicing so all were looking forward to the day. 

  Pictured above: Lee Moore, Adam Nugent , Michael Lawlor and Gary Crotty

Congratulations to the Boys U.19 team who won their County Final. Going into the competition they were very much aware that every point would count with four very evenly matched teams. Shane, Michael, James and Liam fought hard winning some singles and doubles games. This team were mostly young for this age group and are looking forward to next year. The team of  Anthony, Alex, Christopher and Seán were strong from the beginning, They had comprehensive wins over New town A and B teams and then it all came down to the Blackwater game. This was a tough competitive game with the boys having to dig deep. Eventually aces did count and the boys were victorious 83 – 71 aces. Well done to all. 

Pictured above: Alex Sheehan, Christopher Power, Anthony Crotty, and Sean Walsh who won the County Final in Badminton.

The U. 14 girls team had a really close battle in their final losing on a countback by just  three aces to Ursulines from Waterford The U.14 boys teams opening game was against each other. This was followed by matches against Blackwater. Robert, Daniel, Paul and Raph did very well each winning a singles match and performing well in their doubles games. On the other  team Adam, Gary, Michael and Lee were extremely unlucky losing out in a closely contested match to Blackwater with margins as close as 15 – 13/15-14. Hopefully they will reverse this result next year!

The U.16 boys had a group of four teams. The team of Séamus, Pawel, Chris and Josh again did very well. Josh, despite a shoulder injury, fought bravely and held his own. Séamus, Pawel and Chris each won numerous games. The other team of Charlie, Bill, Ross and Jamie had  some tight contests  especially against Blackwater but unfortunately ended up runners up in the county despite some very impressive drop shots and smashes. Training will continue at lunch time all are welcome to attend.

Pictured above is Luane Fanone, Roisin Fitzpatrick, Kellie Tutty and Angel Flanagan

CADETTE GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

On Tuesday the Cadette Girls travelled to Thurles for the first round of the Competition. We were drawn Portlaoise, Ennis and Thurles  and so the competition was going to be intense.

The opening match was against Portlaoise our old rivals. The girls know each other very well at this stage. The team started very well. Áine and Shannon were serving really well. Teanna had her usual superb  hits, Freya Franklin had some lovely touches at the net whilst Kellie and Freya Skelsey were retrieving shots with excellent digs. The team won both sets comfortably.

The second match was against Thurles. Again the six started strongly winning the first set convincingly 25 – 7. In the second set Grace, Kirsten and Niamh took to  the court as First years   this was a new experience. Nervous to start with they soon found their feet. Niamh won two points off her serve, Kirsten won points off her volley and Grace had some superb digs from the back of the court. Well done to the first years as this was a very challenging experience and they were excellent.

The third match was against a very strong Ennis side. A number of their team are playing with clubs in Clare so the team knew that they were up against it. The first set was a close affair. It was point for point eventually we lost 25 – 18 as Ennis drew away towards the end. The second set again started nervously with teams exchanging points. Unfortunately our girls were on the wrong side of a few calls and eventually lost the set. However, we will possibly meet the Ennis girls at a later stage in the competition and we are confident we will put up a better fight. Well done to all and please continue to attend training. TEAM:Freya Skelsey, Freya Franklin, Teanna Clifford, Shannon Kearney, Áine Walsh, Kellie Tutty, Grace Power, Kirsten Young, Niamh Fitzpatrick