Munster Premier, U17 & U13 Open

Munster Premier Open

Commonwealth Games athlete Ciaran Chambers took home the Mixed Doubles title at the Munster Open being held at the University of Limerick on 3rd & 4th November.

Partnering Moya Ryan They had a walk over in the first round before they played the young pair of O’Meara/Troy in the Quarter finals. It proved a straight forward match for the top seeds winning 21-13, 21-15. The Semi Final didn’t prove to be as straight forward with Ciaran and Moya losing the first set 22-20 against the European Masters Doubles Champion Mark Topping & partner Vicki Pesti. However, they started the second and third set at a better paced and took these sets 21-16, 21-17 and progressed to the final. There they faced Dan Magee & Kate Frost. In the same final as the FZ Ulster Open last month, were Magee/Frost were the victors, it was role reversal with Ciaran and Moya playing 2 great sets to win 25-23, 21-17. A great final of great quality and a deserved win for Ciaran & Moya.

Ciaran also reached the final of the Men’s Doubles playing with Ballina’s David Walsh. Again, he faced Dan Magee in the final, who partnered Sam McKay. It was the McKay/Magee partnership which took the first set 21-15 before David & Ciaran came back and took the second 21-19 bring the final into a 3rd set. As with the 1st & 2nd set it was very close but it was Dan & Sam who snuck it 21-18. A great run for Ciaran with a different partner than usual.

In the ladies singles Anna Comer reached the Semi finals but lost out to Orla Flynn 21-13, 21-13 after 2 great wins in the earlier rounds against Jenny O’Leary & Camille Leclere.

For full results click here

Munster U13 & U17

Matthew Cheung once again proved he is the player to beat in the U17 event this season winning the Boys Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

In the singles having had a bye in the 1st Round he won his 2nd Round match comfortable against O’Rourke 21-6, 21-11. In the Quarter Final he faced his doubles partner Vincent Pontanosa and it proved to be a very difficult opening set with Vincent playing great and Matthew slightly off his game and it was Vincent who took advantage taking it 25-23. Matthew then composed himself in the break and came out brilliantly in the second set taking a big lead and maintaining it winning 21-10. The third set followed the same story as the second and Matthew showed his great skills to take it 21-10 and progress to the Semi final. In The Semi final Matthew maintained his great play of the last 2 sets of his quarter final and won 21-8, 21-12. In the final he faced David Downey who had a good 3 set win the his semi against O’Donoghue. Matthew maintained a high level for the final and took the title 21-16, 21-12, and remains undefeated in the U17 events this season. A great achievement!

In the Doubles Matthew and Vincent had a great battle in the Quarter final against the Downey brothers with 3 brilliant sets coming out with a victory 22-20, 22-24, 21-16. They boys proved to strong for the remainder of the competition beating Nolan & O’Donoughue 21-11, 21-10 in the final.

The Mixed Doubles Matthew played with Sophia Noble. The very strong pair have been unstoppable this season and in Munster this continued with the pair not dropping a set in the competition winning the final 21-12, 21-13 against Fox/Pontanosa and complete Matthew’s Hattrick of titles!

Ulster’s Laura Comer reached the final of the Girls Singles beating the Top seed in the second en route to the final. She had great Quarter Final and Semi Final Wins against Fiona McAdams and Sinead O’Sullivan respectively but unfortunately her run came to an end in the final were she faced the very strong Sophia Noble, losing out 21-11, 21-11.

U15 player Chloe Woods had a fantastic Girls Double reaching the final with partner Nessa Flynn. After a tight 3 set win in the first round they girls played top seeds Laura Comer & Fiona McAdams. Having got off to a great start winning the first set 21-16 the top seeds fought hard to sneak the second set 30-28. Chloe & Nessa regained the upper hand in the third set and took it 21-16 to progress to the semi Final. They faced the Yip sisters in the Semi final and high on confidence from the last round they comfortably beat the sisters 21-14, 21-13. In the final they played the very Strong Partnership of Sophia Noble & Julia O’Reily and it proved a match too far for the young pair losing out 21-8, 21-14. A great run and deserved Silver medal.

Christopher Chee was the big winner in the U13 Event winning the boys singles aster an all Ulster Final against Jeffery Rong. Both boys who train in the Raw Performance Squad had different routes to the final with Christopher having a relatively smooth passage to the final. It was the U11 player Jeffery who had the macth/win of the competition beating the Top seed for the singles, Darragh Murtaghin the first round. A brillaint opening set seen Jeffery take the opening set 21-12 but Darragh fired back in the second taking it 21-15. The third set was point for point upto 20-20 before Jerry played 2 great points taking the macth 22-20. A straight forward 21-17, 21-16 win in the Quarter final against Brian Bourke was followed by another 3 setter in the the Semi Final. Playing Aman Kothiyal Jeffery hit first taking the opening game 21-18 before Aman took the second 21-17 but it was Jeffery who played well in the latter stages of the 3rd game to win 21-18.  

The all Ulster final seen Christopher start the more composed and maintained this throughout the final winning 21-12, 21-14. Great to see 2 young Ulster players in the final!

Both players also reached the Semi Final of the Boys doubles. Christopher partnered Carrig Muldoon but lost out to top seeds Dowling & O’Rourke. Jeffery partnered Andrew Hassett and were seeded 2nd for the event but lost out to Kothiyal/Murtagh 21-16, 21-13.

For Full results click here

A great event for both the Seniors and Underage players. Special thank you to Munster Badminton for arranging and running the event. Next event up for the Seniors is the Forza Irish Open International with the Connacht U15 next up for the juniors.