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Visit of Finland District Side May 2007

 Photographs  ð

The visiting Turku district side from Finland inflicted a 10-5 defeat on Wexford in the 1^st ever meeting between a county selection and a team from Finland.  The match had begun well for the model county squad with top under-age stars Laura Lynch and Laura Butler getting the hosts of to a winning start in the opening two singles games.  Team captain Laura Lynch did well to hold off the challenge of the Turku number one Kaiasa Aaltonen 22/20, 26/24 while Laura Butler put the home side 2-0 ahead when she defeated the Finnish number two Jasmine Karisson 21/19 22/20.  A purple patch followed for the visitors who took the next seven games in a row.  Elaine Dunne lost in three sets to the Finland under-15 international player Satu Saarre 13/21, 21/14, 14/21.  Anna Paavola defeated the Wexford’s number four Marie Kelly 21/9, 21/9, while club colleague Aoife Dunne lost 21/13, 21/18 to Riina Makela.  Eimear Dunne was defeated 21/16, 21/14 by Pauliina  Vaskikari and Clodagh Kent suffered a similar fate against Tuikku Anttila, losing 21/9, 21/12.  Ciara Dunne won her opening set 21/11 against Milla Antilla, but the Turku player fought back to take the 2^nd and 3^rd sets 21/13, 21/5. Tiia Rantalainen overcame Anne Kirwan 21/11, 21/10, but Aoife Bennett halted the run when she won the last singles encounter 21/14, 21/10 against Sanna Virtanen.  It left the visitors 7-3 ahead going into the doubles and Laura Lynch and Laura Butler reduced the deficit with a 21/15, 21/9 victory over Kaiasa Aaltonen and Jasmine Karisson.  The Turku response was swift as Satu Sarre and Anna Paavola defeated Elaine Dunne and Marie Kelly 21/17, 21/17.  Riina Makela and Pauliina Vaskikari won a trilling three setter 21/13, 20/22, 21/17 against the Wexford pairing of Aoife and Eimear Dunne.  Turku further increased their lead when Clodagh Kent and Ciara Dunne lost 21/16, 21/2 to sisters Tuikku Anttila and Milla Antilla.  Wexford did have the final say when Anne Kirwan and Aoife Bennett defeated Tiia Rantalainen & Sanna Virtanen 21/9, 21/11.  An impressive 10/5 victory then for the visitors in what is hoped will be the start of a series of annual matches between the two sides.   

Invitation Tournament

In conjunction with the representative match the Wexford Badminton Association had organised a ladies doubles tournament to coincide with the visit of the Finland squad to the region.  The round robin event was played on Saturday afternoon with two groups of five pairings competing for honours in senior and junior grades.  In an agreed cultural exchange the Wexford and Turku player’s swapped partnerships for the event resulting in all pairings being made up of a Wexford and Turku player.  With every point vital all matches were fought to the last ace and the winners and runners-up in both grades were not known until the very last series of games.  The winners of the senior event were Elaine Dunne and Satu Saare with 115 points.  They had three points to spare over the runners-up Laura Lynch and Riina Makela.  The junior event was equally exciting with Aoife Bennett and Paulina Vaskikara taking the title with a maximum 120 points, but they still had only five points to spare over Clodagh Kent and Tiaa Rantalainen in 2^nd spot on 115 points.  The winners medals were presented to the winners and runners-up by the County Chairman Dick O’Rafferty.

Malta (October 05)

On their first tournament abroad the Wexford under-17 team picked up a silver medal in the Malta under-18 International team tournament in Valetta.  The Wexford squad finished in 2nd spot behind a strong Northern Ireland team, with the home team taking 3rd place.  Most of the excitement for the Wexford team was contained in their final match against the Maltese side with both teams knowing that a victory would secure them the runner-up spot.  Team captain Laura Lynch got the Wexford side off to the best possible start when she defeated her Maltese opponent Maria Borg 11/4, 8/11, 11/7 in a gruelling singles game played in extremely difficult conditions for the Wexford player.  Malta fought back and levelled the match when their top player Samual Cali overcame Dimitri Panagopoulos 15/13, 15/11 in the boy’s singles.  Wexford again took the lead when Laura Lynch and Laura Butler won the girls doubles 15/10, 17/15, but Malta fought back to take a close boy’s doubles game with Alan Nolan and Bobby O’Keeffe losing 15/10, 17/15 to Samual Cali and Anver Vella .  Wexford’s fate now rested on the Taghmon mixed doubles pairing of Alan Nolan and Aoife Dunne.  In a nervy opening set the Wexford pair won narrowly 15/13.  The 2nd set was equally close, but despite leading 14/11, the Maltese pair hung on to eventually win the set 17/16 and take the game into a 3rd and final set.  With so much at stake the play was again nervous from both partnerships, but the Wexford pair held their nerve to win 15/11.  Wexford panel:  Laura Lynch, Laura Butler, Marie Kelly, Aoife Dunne, Terence McSweeney, Bobby O’Keeffe, Alan Nolan, Dimitri Panagopoulos

Laura Lynch recorded her first European international tournament success when she won the under-18 ladies singles title at the 6th Malta International Juvenile Tournament held in Valetta, Malta.  The event featured players from four nations, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Cyprus and the home country Malta.  With her unbeaten record in the previous days team competition Laura was one of the pre-tournament favourites but her dad and team manager Pat was slightly worried that her endeavours on Saturday in the 240C temperature and high humidity might tell against her in Sunday’s singles event.   Her cause was helped when she received a bye in the round of the last sixteen, but on paper then faced a difficult challenge from the Maltese number one Maria Borg in the quarter-finals.  Their game in the team event the previous day had been a close and tight encounter which was only just won by the Wexford player in three sets.  Second time round however Laura was at her very best and quickly took control of the match winning 11/1, 11/2.  The Maltese number two Fiorella Farrugia was Laura’s next opponent in the semi-final and the first game went according to plan with an 11/5 victory for the Wexford player.  The Maltese star fought back in the 2nd set and helped by some unforced errors by the Irish player she took the set 11/5 to tie the match.  In the 3rd set Laura changed her tactics and playing a more attacking game she again took the initiative to win 11/2 and reach her first major singles final since 2003 when winning the Ulster under-13 title.  Ironically it was an Ulster player Laura now faced in the final in the form of Judith Brennan from the Whiteabbey club.  Laura’s team mates from the Wexford squad ensured there was quite an atmosphere for the Sunday afternoon final and the Wexford player responded with a gritty performance to take the title 11/6, 11/8.  There were also fine performances from fourteen year old Laura Butler (Davidstown) who defeated the Cypriot champion Marie Ozcimen 11/2, 11/7 in the last sixteen.  Laura then faced Judith Brennan in the quarter finals and after a close and exciting game the Ulster inter-provincial star took the opening set 11/9.  The second set was equally close, but with the game tied at 3-3 the Davidstown player was forced to concede due to a stomach upset.  It was tough luck on the young Wexford player who was well in the match at that point and severely testing her more experienced opponent.  Alan Nolan (Taghmon) also made the quarter-finals but was beaten by the Ulster star Grant Gardiner 15/3 15/2.  The remaining Wexford players lost their opening round fixtures, but in general played well against older and more experienced opposition.

York Inter-Counties (December 05)

There was a welcome return to form for New Ross under-age star Laura Lynch who was a member of the Leinster squad competing at the York inter-counties under-16 juvenile championships.  Laura was playing in the singles and girls doubles events and faced stiff opposition from the top English under-16 players.  Laura made it safely out of her group and into the A event where she progressed to the quarter-finals of the girl’s singles.  Playing some of her best badminton for quite a while the New Ross start was involved in a major tussle with the Lincolnshire number one and the eventual winner of the tournament.  Despite losing 21/15 the Irish player pushed her more exalted English opponent all the way and only at the very end did the talented British star pull away in a top class singles encounter.  In the girls doubles Laura and partner Norma McIntyre were firing on all cylinders again after some poor performances recently and were unfortunate to meet the top Nottingham pair in their qualifying group.  The Leinster girls put up a spirited performance but lost 21/11, with the result meaning that the Wexford/Dublin partnership could finish no higher than 5th position.  This they achieved by remaining unbeaten for the remainder of the competition.

Glasgow (February 06)

Wexford star Laura Lynch was on the Irish under-17 team who competed in the home countries quadrangular tournament in Glasgow.  The Irish side finished in 3rd place behind England and Scotland.  It was a mixed performance by the Irish team who had a fine 5-4 victory over the Welsh side to secure 3rd pace, but were disappointed in their performance against England and Scotland.  They had expected to put it up to the strong English and Scottish sides but were well beaten 7-2 and 8-1 respectively. 

Nottingham Inter-Counties Tournament (April 06)

After the disappointment of their poor showing in the under-15 Pan Celtic Challenge in Wales, Leinster badminton received a much needed boost in the Harrods sponsored under-17 inter-county tournament held in Nottingham.  The prestigious four day event featured the stars of British Badminton and Leinster finished in a very creditable 7th place out of a total of thirty eight teams who were participating.  The result was their highest ranking since finishing 5th in 2000.  The Leinster side had notable victories over strong English county sides such as Leistershire (6-4), Staffordshire (6-4), Lancashire (6-4) and Kent (6-4).  They also lost narrowly to Essex (4-6) and Ulster (4-6). Wexford had two representatives on the team and both were in fine form despite going to the event in contrasting situations.  For fourteen year old Laura Butler it was her first ever experience at the tournament, but she adapted to the gruelling schedule and pressure like a veteran.  The stylish Davidstown youngster had an impressive six wins in her girl’s doubles games out of the eleven played and two of the losses suffered by her and her Thomastown partner Kate McDonald were by the slimmest of margins.  Laura Lynch on the other hand has been playing in the event since she was thirteen and this years competition was her 3rd consecutive appearance in the tournament, making her and Dublin’s Mark Donnelly the most experienced members of the panel.  Once again Laura was in fine form and enhanced her growing mixed doubles reputation as she and new partner Mark Cobbe from Portarlington lost just two mixed doubles games over the entire competition and one of these was by a mere two points to a strong Hampshire pairing.  Laura also played in the ladies doubles with Norma McIntyre where they won five of their eleven games.

Malta Under-17 Squad

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