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It was a busy weekend for Laura’s Butler and Lynch as they rushed from the junior events in Whitehall road to participate in the Dublin under-17 open championships in Terenure College. For Laura Lynch it was a very worthwhile trip as she won both the girls doubles and mixed doubles events and also made it to the girl’s singles semi-final. In the girls doubles Laura and partner Norma McIntyre were top seeds and justified their seeding when easing into the final with a 30/7 victory over Jessica Jermyn and Ciara NiMhantain and a semi-final victory over the Dublin pairing of Ciara Brady and Crona Rooney 30/23. In the final they faced Laura Butler (Davidstown) and Kate McDonald (Thomastown). The Wexford/Kilkenny partnership had made the final with a 30/20 victory over Ashleigh Coyne and Ann McCartney and an exciting 30/28 semi-final victory over Ciara Pender and Orla Creaven. In the final however the top seeds Lynch and McIntyre took control early on in the game and never relinquished their advantage to win 21/12, 21/8. Laura picked up her 2nd title in the mixed doubles competition where she and partner David Tutty returned to something like their old form to finish impressive winners. Kyle FitzHarris and Jessica Jermyn were beaten 30/12, and then Luke Moore and Norma McIntyre went out in the semi-final 30/17. In the final they faced the Dublin pairing of Crona Rooney and Owen Marron who were the runners-up of the recent Ulster under-17 championship. The 1st set was a closely contested encounter which was won by Lynch and Tutty 21/19. In the 2nd set the defending champions seem to go up another gear and retained their title with a 21/12 victory. Both Laura Lynch and Laura Butler made the semi-final of the girl’s singles, but both failed to make the final. Lynch lost 21/14, 21/16 to Ciara Pender, while Butler lost 21/18, 21/14 to Norma McIntyre. Also appearing in the under-17 championships was Dmitri Panagopoulos who played with Dean Carter (Ulster) in the boy’s doubles. They pairing had a fine 30/8 opening round victory over Eoin Leonard and Kyle Fitzharris, which was followed by an equally impressive 30/9 success against Alan Fanning and Gavin White. Agony in the semi-final however as they led all the way against the 2nd seeds Owen Marron and Luke Moore only to be beaten at the end by the narrowest of margins 30/29.
Double disappointment for Dimitri Panagopoulos in the Dublin Open under-15 championship when he was beaten in both the boys singles and doubles finals. Dimitri had started the competition in devastating form with a 21/0, 21/2 opening round victory that was followed up by an equally impressive 21/4, 21/11 success over Dylan Taylor in round 2. It was much closer in the quarter finals where the Wexford start had to pull out all the stops to get the better of Connacht player Barry Craven 21/19, 21/16. An easier than expected semi-final victory 21/13, 21/15 over Jonathan Dolan set up a final meeting with Ulster’s Graham McCartan. A tense 1st set was won 21/19 by McCartan, but the score was reversed in the 2nd set to leave the match tied a one set each. The Ulster player started the better in the 3rd game and try as he might the Wexford player was unable to make inroads into the advantage and McCartan took the set and match 21/16. There was no ill feeling however as both Panagopoulos and McCartan teamed up for the boy’s doubles and quickly formed a solid combination. Cion Donnelly and Adam Germain were beaten 21/6, 21/8 in the opening game, with Dermot Cox and Cian McDonagh defeated 21/11, 21/4 in the quarter finals. A close semi-final victory over the western pairing of Barry Craven and Mark Dolan meant a Sunday afternoon final against Stewart Lightbody and Jonathan Dolan. Lighbody and Dolan took the opening set 21/17, but McCartan and Panagopoulos fought back to take the 2nd 21/14 and looked to be gaining the upper hand in the match. Dolan and Lightbody got their game moving again however and repeated the opening set score line to win the decider 21/17. Also playing in the championship was Eimer Dunne (Taghmon) who went out in the early rounds in both the singles and doubles.
Wexford were well represented in the Dublin Under-13 open championships and came away with the victory laurels in both the girl’s singles and mixed doubles competition. In the girls singles the talented Taghmon star Clodagh Kent was impressive throughout the tournament and was never troubled on her way to the singles final. A trio of local Dublin players were dispatched with ease in the opening rounds that began with a 21/9 victory over Pamela Doyle, followed by a 21/8 success over Laura McGinn and then a 21/9, 21/10 quarter-final success against Emma Frost. Clodagh McHale fared no better in the semi-final as she was eliminated 21/12, 21/10 to set up a final meeting against the strong Ulster player Lindsey Ferguson. The expected stiff test for the Wexford star never materialised however as Clodagh had obviously done here homework on the Ulster player and always had the upper hand in a fine 21/12, 21/10 success. Also playing in the girls singles was her club-mate Ciarra Dunne who went out in the quarter-finals to Ferguson 21/13, 13/21, 21/17. Ciara and Clodagh teamed up for the girl’s doubles and made the final where they lost to Lindsey Feguson and Alanna Stephenson 23/21, 21/13, 21/15. Ciara bounced back from this disappointment however to partner Nicholas Murphy to success in mixed doubles competition. It was nearly an early elimination for the Taghmon pair however as they struggled to overcome the tricky partnership of Ashling Golden and Noel Ryan by the slimmest of margins 30/29. Having survived the early scare Dunne and Murphy made the final with ease and playing some excellent badminton in the final they surprised the favourites Emma Frost and Liam O’Leary 21/11, 24/22 to take the title. Nicholas and Kevin Doyle made the boy’s doubles semi-final before losing 21/19, 21/18 to David Walsh and Paul Magee. A fine performance also from Nicolas in the boy’s singles where he made the highly ranked Ulster star Ross Lightbody fight all the way before winning 21/19, 21/17 in a top class quarter final game.
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Unfortunately there are unlikely to be any Munster events in the 2006/07 season.
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As expected it was the home players who dominated the Ulster under-17 open championships held in Badminton Centre, Lisburn last weekend. The Northern Province took all five titles as they extended their dominance of Irish under-age competitions. The boy’s singles and doubles finals featured all Ulster players, but the other providences did manage to mount a challenge in the ladies doubles, singles and mixed doubles finals. Wexford’s Laura Lynch and partner Norma McIntyre (Dublin) had a terrific opening set against favourites Sinead Chambers and Emma Callow. Excellent play from both pairings ensured the good attendance was well entertained before the northern girls narrowly took the opening set 21/19. The narrow loss then seemed to deflate the Leinster pairing and the 2nd set never reached the same intensity with Chambers and Callow winning comfortably 21/14. It was a frustrating weekend for Laura who lost her mixed doubles partner David Tutty on the eve of the competition due to illness. Dean Carter deputised for the unfortunate Tutty, and despite a brave showing the new Ulster/Leinster combination lost out in an exciting quarter-final match 21/14, 16/21, 18/21 to Owen Marron and Crona Rooney. Laura lost in the quarter-finals of the girl’s singles going down 21/16, 21/16 to Ciara Pender (Munster). Laura Butler also made the quarter-finals of the singles before losing out to Norma McIntyre 21/15, 21/12. A brave showing from fifteen year old Dimitri Panagopoulos in the under-17 boy’s singles ended in the quarter finals when he lost 21/14, 26/24 to Owen Marron. Dimitri and Dean Carter exited in the boy’s doubles quarter-finals, losing 21/18, 21/16 to Chris Gibson and Chris Scott (Ulster). It was a quarter final exit also for Dimitri and Laura Butler in the mixed doubles when they were beaten 21/16, 21/10 by the top seeds Sinead Chambers and Tony Murphy.
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