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!

Leinster Classification - 3rd Ranking

The 3rd Leinster ranking took place on January 10th at Palmerstown Community School.

For some members of the club, Adam Banim, Alex Dinkov & Ciaran Murphy, it was their first Leinster tournament.

The U18 & U13 events took place in the morning.  Mia took first place in the U18 girls event while Dillon took 1st place in the U13 boys.  Tim reached the quarter finals of the U13 boys and Masem won the plate.

Leinster 3rd ranking January 2016

The U11 and U15 events took place in the afternoon.  Joe, Paul & Adam took part in the U11 boys event with Joe taking the bronze trophy!  Sadbh won the U11 girls event and Anna took 3rd place.

Dillon took 3rd place in the U15 boys event.

Well done to all!

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