NEWS
Kiersey Cup
Kiersey Cup Huge Success The fourth annual Kiersey Cup took place on sunday last in the Rainbow Hall kilmac. It was once again a huge success with sixty five players taking part. The started off with the section C competition at 11.30, for players graded 6,7 and novice. There were some very close games with many going to three sets. When it came to the final the pairs that had qualified were, David Flynn and Donna Gaynor from Dunmore and their opposition was the newly formed partnership of Ber O'Keefe (Lismore) and Frank Costigan (Kilmac). The Dunmore duo won the first set, but it was Frank and Ber who were triumphant at the end of the three sets. The plate final saw James Hurton (Kilmac) and Helen O'Donnell (Lismore) play Michael Brown and Rachael Walsh (Kilmac). James and Helen were the victors here. Next up was the section B competition where the draw was very tough and any one of a number of pairs were in with a strong chance of winning. After the first round of games both the top seeds and second seeds had been eliminated, with Ann Halley (Kilmac) and Kevin Wilkinson (Tourin) beating top seeds Shirley Kennedy and Shadju (Lady Lane), at the other end of the draw the other seeds Margaret corkery and Rashid (Lady Lane) were also beaten by Kilmac pairing Linda Kirwan and Conor Brown. At the semi- final stages Ann Halley and Kevin Wilkinson bowed out to Margaret Morrissey and Paul Casey (Lismore), while the other semi-final was an all Kilmac affair with Natalie Brown and Sean Walsh taking on Linda Kirwan and Conor Brown. In what was one of the closest games of the day, it went down to the final point in the third set to decide between the pairs. Natalie and Sean progressed to the final after a 21-20 victory in the third set. They then went on to win the final against Margaret and Paul. In the plate section there were again a number of extremely close games with many going to three sets to separate the sides. The final was contested between Margaret Corkery and Shadju against JoJo and Craig Tobin. It was the Lismore pair who won on this occassion. The final section of the day was Section A for players graded 1,2 and 3. Like as was in the B section we saw the two top seeds beaten in the first round with Kieran Cahill (Lismore) and Katherine Sullivan (Dunmore) getting the better of Aidan Walsh(Ballymac) and Nicola Morrissey (Lismore). Also Timmy Keogh and Lucia (Lady Lane) were beaten by Colin Coleman (Lismore) and Deirdre O'Donnell (Tourin). The semi-finalists were Gary Alcorn and Mary Murphy (LIsmore) who had beaten Martin Walsh (Kilmac) and Triona Keogh (Lady Lane), they played Colin and Deirdre with Colin and Deirdre progressing to the final. In the other semi-final Eoin Walsh (Kilmac) and Aoife Maher (Lady Lane) played against Kieran and Katherine, with Eoin and Aoife winning to make to their second final appearance in three years. It was a very unique final with the four players representing four different clubs. Eoin and Aoife were determined to go one better this year and claim the title that eluded them two years ago. After an entertaining final it was Eoin and Aoife who were victorious over Colin and Deirdre. In the plate section it was Nicola Morrissey (Lismore) and Robert Power( Lady Lane) who were victorious over Lucia (Lady Lane) and Peter Fleming (Dunmore). After almost ten hours of badminton all our winners were known. All the winners and runners-up received Yonex prizes. Afterwards the Kiersey Cup crystal trophy was presented to Eoin and Aoife (herself!!) in Kiersey's bar by Jim and Marie Kiersey. Waterford Badminton President commended the club on running such a successful tournament, and hopes that the numbers taking part in these competitons will increase further in the future, and in Waterford badminton in general. A great days badminton was had by all who took part. It was particularly successful for our own club with us having winners in all three sections, and Eoin is the first club member to win the A Section of this competition. The club would like to thank the following people for making this tournament the success it was. Jim and Marie Kiersey, Siobhan (Yonex Shop), Kiersey's Bar, all the competitiors from the various clubs around the county and of course all our own members who helped out with preparing the hall for the competiton and also for all the catering that was done. On the day the proceeds made from the cafe and also a raffle, in which Siobhan kindly sponsored a racket and bag, were given towards, The Haven Partnerships "Build it Week" where Martin Walsh will travel to Haiti later this year. We hope everyone had a very enjoyable tournament and we are looking forward to next year already!
- Club members
