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

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!

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

 

Leinster Junior Metropolitan - 2nd Leinster ranking of the season

The 2nd Leinster ranking tournament of the season attracted many young players from the province and there was quite a buzz at Palmerstown Community School on November 8th.

The players from Griffeen Valley Table Tennis had a fantastic day!

Mia won both the U18 and U15 girls tournament, while Art took 1st place in the U13 and U15 boys event.  Dillon took 2nd place in U13 and 3rd place in U15.

Omar came 2nd in the U18 boys plate while Ravi took silver in the U15 boys plate.  Tim and Masem met in the U13 boys plate final with Tim winning the plate.

In U11 girls Sadbh came 1st, Aine 3rd and Anna 4th.  In the Under 11s Paul and Joe both won some matches and went home with medals

Well done to all our players for taking part.

Congratulations to Mia on her selection to represent Ireland in the individual event at the Senior Six Nations in Lisburn November 13th-15th - Good luck!

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

First club night for Griffeen Valley Table Tennis Club

Welcome to all who attended the first club night (7th May) for Griffeen Valley Table Tennis Club! 

There were some new faces on the night and also our regulars who enjoyed the new premises at Griffeen Valley Educate Together National School in Lucan.

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