Malacky Open, Slovakia

After a busy weekend at the Butterfly National Junior Championships, Art and Dillon traveled to Bratislava in Slovakia for a 4 day training camp where they trained with other players representing Germany, Czech Republic, Spain and Slovakia.

 

They then made the trip to Malacky to represent Ireland along with their team mates (David Taylor, Thomas Joyce, Natasya Barry & Nicole Scott) in this mini-cadet open.  It was a great experience for all with details about the tournament here

Dillon & Art with team mates Thomas Joyce & David Taylor - Coach Conn Higgins

Connacht Junior/Senior Open & Butterfly Junior National Championships

Butterfly Junior National Championships took place 5th/6th March in the NBA, Tallaght.

This was last National tournament of the 2015-2016 season.  Mia had a great double win in both the Cadet and Junior events.  Art came 3rd in the Cadet boys and 2nd in the U13 event after a 5 set thriller.  Dillon reached the U13 semi-final but lost to Thomas Joyce taking 3rd place.

Well done to Sadbh, Anna, Bence, Ciaran, Alex, Adam, Kevin, Tim, Joe & Paul who also took part. For some members it was their first National event.  More details on the event can be found here.

Photographs from the event

          

            

               

  

The Connacht Open took place in Breaffy, Mayo in February.

Mia had a great tournament winning the Cadet girls and the Senior women's singles!  She also won the mixed doubles senior event with Conor Mullally.

This was Tim's first National tournament and it was a great experience.  Art took 4th place in Cadet boys and Sadbh won the Hopes event.  More details about the tournament can be found here.

Junior British League, Derby, February 2016

Mia headed over to Derby on the weekend of 6/7 February to play Junior British League for Warrington TTC. 

This was the final weekend of two. The previous weekend in October, Warrington had won all their matches and were leading Division 1.  Their aim was to consolidate that and gain promotion to the Premier Division for 2016/17 by finishing in the top two.  Mia's teammates were Rachael, Amy and Rebecca. 3 players are on a team for each match and each player plays two singles each.

Warrington got off to a great start on the Saturday morning winning v London Academy Bournemouth 5/1 and  Ulster 6/0.  Their final match of the day was v Batts and this saw another win for Warrington - 6/0.

Warrington were still on top heading into Sunday, knowing that to be guaranteed promotion they needed to at least draw their first match on Sunday when they were up against Burton Uxbridge and draw they did! 3/3.  

In the last match they beat Draycott EM Girls 5/1 emerging as Winners of Division 1.  Mia played a total of 16 matches over the two weekends winning 15. Well done Rachael, Amy, Rebecca and of course Mia!

Griffeen Boys represent Ireland in Hungary

At the start of February, Art and Dillon made the journey to represent Ireland at the 21st Janos Molnar tournament in Budapest, Hungary.

This boys tournament is held annually by the BVSC Table Tennis Club in Budapest in memory of their former player Janos Molnar, a talented young boy who tragically lost his life in a car accident in 1995.

Joining them at the tournament were Thomas Joyce of Mayo Academy, Conor Nugent (Glenburn TTC) and Eoin Cathcart (Ormeau TTC).

Dillon and Thomas played first in the 2004 boys tournament with Dillon making it to the quarter finals!  He was knocked out by Balogh (Hungary) but brought home a medal.

Dillon & Art played in the 2003 boys the next day.  Art topped his group but was unfortunately knocked out of the next round by the Spanish player Lloret (Spain).

Both took part in the U15 and U18 events with both players performing very well.  Art was unfortunate to lose out qualifying for the 2nd round of the U15 through countback.

Further details about the tournament can be found here.

Well done to both.

Dillon & Art heading to Budapest, Hungary

Dillon with quarter final medal

Club success at Newbridge Challenger, February 7th

Some of our players took part in the Newbridge Celtic TT Challenger event.

Well done to Tim and Paul for reaching the final of Division 3.  Tim took 1st place and Paul 2nd.

Alex reached the final of Division 4 finishing in 2nd place.

Well done to all!

Alex, Tim & Paul at the Newbridge Challenger

Munster Junior & Senior Open, Neptune Stadium, January 15th-17th 2016

Griffeen Valley Table Tennis Club had a fantastic weekend at the Munster Junior Open in Cork City.

Friday 15th January:

Mia and Art took part in the Women's & Men's singles event.  Mia made to the quarter finals.  Art nearly made it to the final 16 but was knocked out by Ballincollig's Alan Walsh.

Mia entered the Women's Doubles with Leeside's Zofia Wawrzyniak and won the competition!  Dillon & Art entered the Men's Doubles and made it to the quarter finals.


Saturday 16th January:

The U15 & U11 events took place on Saturday and Griffeen Valley took three out of the four golds!

Mia & Art did the double by taking 1st place in the girls and boys U15 events while Sadbh took 1st place in the girls U11.

Mia & Art U15 winners

Sadbh with U11 girls

Sunday 17th January:

The U18 & U13 events on Sunday brought more prizes for the club.

Mia beat Chloe O'Halloran 3-0 in the girls final to take 1st place in the U18 event.  Art came 2nd in the U13 boys after a tight final against Thomas Joyce.  Dillon took third place after a tight semi-final against Art.  Sadbh came 5th in the U13 girls event.

Dillon 3rd U13

There was more to come with another great win for Mia in the U21 girls event.

There are more photos from the tournament at Munster Table Tennis and further reports available at ITTA.

Well done Griffeen Valley players - you did us proud!

Challenger success at Mountrath

Well done to Paul Lynch who finished second in his division at the Mountrath Challenger event on December 12th!

Douglas Huston Ulster Open, November 2015

Mia, Art, Dillon & Sadbh made their way to Lisburn for the Douglas Huston Ulster Open.  The event attracted top class junior and senior players from Ireland as well as abroad.

FRIDAY

Art & Mia played the Men's and Women's singles on Friday evening with Mia qualifying through to the final stages on Saturday.  She beat the Ireland number 1 to qualify for the semi-finals against the Welsh no. 1 who knocked Mia out and went on to win the trophy.

SATURDAY

Mia, Art & Dillon played in the U15 events on Saturday while Sadbh took part in the U11 event.

Mia got through to the final beating Natasya Barry of Connaught to take the U15 gold.

In the boys event Dillon was knocked out of the quarter finals by Alan Pattison and Art played an exciting semi-final match against the Swedish player Jonathan McDonald.  It was a close match which went to the fifth set. Art was knocked out but beat Alan Pattison for the bronze trophy.

Sadbh won all her matches to win the U11 girls event.

Art & Dillon paired up for the Men's Doubles event.  They went through to the consolation event after losing to Dylan Grace and Alan Walsh of Ballincollig but were knocked out in the final.

Mia played the Women's Doubles event with Zofia Wawryzniak to win the consolation final.

SUNDAY

On Sunday, Mia played in the U18 girls and Art, Dillon & Sadbh took part in the U13 event.

There were some great games throughout the day and Mia came through her matches with a second gold after meeting Nya Nyugen in the final.

Sadbh played some great matches and took 2nd place in the Band 1 final of the U13 girls.

Dillon & Art made it through to the semi-finals of the U13 boys to meet their old rivals David Taylor and Thomas Joyce from Connaught.  Art beat David for a place in the final but it wasn't to be for Dillon who eventually took 3rd place position.  Art and Thomas played a thrilling final which went to the fifth set with Art winning 11-9 to take the gold.

Well done to all - you made the club proud!

Read more about the Ulster Open results here

 

Great performance from Griffeen in first Leinster Junior of the season

Palmerstown Community School provided the venue for the first Leinster Junior Classification of the season.

For some of our players it was their first time playing in a Leinster competition. The U13 and U18 events were played in the morning.  Mia O'Rahilly Egan played in the U18 girls event and Bence Gellert, Masem Ali, Tim Mullaney, Dillon Byrne and Art McLaughlin entered the U13 boys event.

Bence had to play club mate Dillon in the first round with Dillon going through.  Tim went through to the second round but was knocked out at this stage.  Masem made it into the U13 plate competition final and won!  Art & Dillon met in the final with Art winning 3-0 to take 1st place and Dillon 2nd place in the U13 event.  

Mia played a great match against Kate Whelan (Mountrath) narrowly losing to take 2nd place in the U18 event.

The U15 and U11 events started in the afternoon.  Ravi Seth, Art & Dillon took part in the boys and Mia O'Rahilly Egan took part in the girl's event.  Ravi went into the U15 plate competition and finished in 2nd place.

Art & Dillon came through the 2nd round grouping to meet each other again in the semi-final.  Art got through to the final against Paddy Vaughan (Mountrath).  A 3-0 victory saw Art do the double by winning the U15 boys event.

Mia got through to the final of the U15 girls but lost out to Jessie Hayes (Mountrath) to take home the 2nd place trophy.

Paul Lynch took part in the U11 boys event and played very well.  Aine Carles, Anna Gellert and Sadbh McLaughlin took part in the U11 girls.  The girls put up a great performance with Sadbh taking 1st place and Aine taking 2nd place.

What a great day for the club.  Well done to all who took part!!

Junior Interprovincials 2015, Little Island, Cork - 18th April

A number of our players headed to Cork to represent their province in the last tournament of the table tennis season – the Junior Interprovincials 2015. 

The coveted Victor Barna shield was won by Leinster after going down to the wire against some strong Ulster teams. 

Art and Dillon's U13 boys team took gold along with Mia’s U13 girls team coached by Conor Mullally and Jacqui Mullally respectively. 

At the tournament Mia was presented with a trophy for ending the season as No. 1 in Ireland U13 girls player and Art was awarded U13 player of the tournament. 

Some images from the day:

U13 NPCs - Jacqui Mullally & Conor Mullally

Mia presented with trophy as overall winner U13 for Season 2014-2015

Art won U13 player of the tournament

Primary Schools International, Blackburn, England - 10th-12th April, 2015

Club players Mia O'Rahilly Egan, Art McLaughlin and Dillon Byrne were all selected to play for Ireland at an important international tournament in the junior table tennis calendar. The venue was Blackburn, England 10th-12th April where the top four U13 players from Ireland (boys and girls) represented their country against teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.

Primary Schools boys & girls team included Mia, Dillon & Art

After a tough start on Friday against Scotland the girl’s team managed to emerge victorious with gold medals. Mia O’Rahilly Egan then went on to take bronze in the girls singles event.

The Irish boys team got off to a flying start beating Guernsey and Isle of Man. After beating a tough Scottish team the following morning, they met a solid English team. While most matches were very close, England eventually emerged winners. However, the Irish boys went on to beat all the remaining countries to take 2nd place silver home.

In the singles event Art McLaughlin came back from 2-0 down to knock out the Scottish number 1 and eventually took bronze.

National Junior Championships, 21st-22nd March 2015

Some images from the National Junior Championships:

Mia O'Rahilly Egan came 2nd in the U13 girls

Art McLaughlin took 3rd in the U13 boys

Some of our younger players also took part in the Hopes U11 series

Girls U11 Hopes

Luke in action

Mia

Donie

Art

Dillon

Sadbh

Munster Open, Neptune Stadium, Cork - January 2015

Club Donic players bring Munster Open trophies back to Leinster

The Munster Open 2015 table tennis tournament took place January 16th-18th. A national event for both senior and junior players it attracted over 200 players to the Neptune Stadium in Cork for an action packed weekend.

The junior events saw some great play from the Club. On Saturday, Mia O’Rahilly Egan took 3rd place in the U15 girls event. Sunday started with the U18 event in which Evin McGovern took fourth place.

It was in the U13 events that the club players excelled. Art stormed through his rounds to win his place in the final after a thrilling 5 setter against the Irish U13 No.1 Thomas Joyce. Dillon Byrne made it an all Leinster final after beating No. 2, David Taylor. Art took the gold after defeating Dillon 3-1 to bring the 1st and 2nd place U13 boys trophies back to Leinster. Mia brought home the gold trophy in the U13 girls category.

In the plate competitions, Donie Mullally took 1st in U18 boys and Sadbh McLaughlin came 2nd in the U11.

Some images from the tournament:

Mia 1st U13 girls

Art 1st U13 boys

Dillon 2nd U13 boys

Sadbh took part in U11 Hopes Series