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

Six Nations Senior Schools International 2015

Mia travelled over to Perth in Scotland as part of the Irish Senior Schools team for the Six
Nations Senior Schools on Friday 28th June. Her teammate on the U14 girls team was Natasya Barry. 

On the Friday night the girls got off to a great start beating Isle of Man 5-0 and Scotland B 4-1.

Saturday was a busy day starting off with a match against Wales. Mia played Anna Hursey, the Welsh nine year old. Mia was 2 sets to 1 and 7/5 down when coach Gavin Maguire called a time out. This proved decisive and Mia came back to win in 5 sets! 

Mia and Natasya had won the doubles and the final score against Wales was 3-2. Matches against England A and England B were tough and Mia and Natasya went down 4-1 and 5-0 respectively. Mia scored an excellent win against Charlotte Bardsley the English number 1. With a victories against Guernsey 5-0 and 3-2 v Scotland A, Mia and Natasya ended up getting bronze. A great result.

The individual competition took place on Sunday. Mia beat Lauren from Wales and then lost to Charlotte Bardsley 3-1 so Mia came out of her group in 2nd place.

In the last sixteen Mia bt Scotland's Jenny Yang in 5 sets. In the quarter final Mia lost to Gauri (English no. 2) in 5 sets. Gauri ended up getting silver losing to her teammate Charlotte in the final. Mia was happy with her weekend and felt she played at a high and consistent standard.  Well done Mia!

Team Ireland at Senior Schools International 2015 included Mia O'Rahilly Egan

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.

Joola Cadet Open, Hungary, 2015

Joola Mini Cadet Open Championships, Budapest, Hungary, January 9-11th 2015

Well done to Mia O’Rahilly Egan who was one of a team of four junior players selected to represent Ireland in the Joola Mini Cadet Open.

More information about the event can be found here