Leinster season concludes for 2015-2016

For a number of our club players 2015-2016 was their first full season of Leinster competitions and each tournament brought improvement and great experience.

Over the season we have had Plate successes and some have moved closer to the finals!

In the Junior Masters on April 3rd/4th we had Adam, Sean, Kevin, Bence, Ciaran, Alex, Anna, Masem, Tim & Sadbh competing.  All had the chance to play a good few matches throughout the weekend.

On Saturday Tim played the U15 and gained some great experience for his first time in this age category.  He had a tough first group which included Alan Pattison, Paddy Vaughan and Orqo Hickey.

Sadbh & Anna played the U11 girls.  Anna finished in 4th position and Sadbh came 1st.

On Sunday we had a number taking part in the U13 boys and girls.  Alex played in the Plate semi-finals and Masem finished 7th.  Tim made it to the semi-final where he faced Tommy Nyugen (York Road TTC).  He lost to Tommy and played a very exciting 3rd/4th match against Gellert from Carlow losing 11-8 in the 5th set.

Sadbh played in her first U13 girls event this season and finished in 1st place doing the double!

Well done to all!

The Junior Interprovincials tournament takes place in DCU on the weekend of April 16th/17th April where the top junior players in Leinster will battle it out against the best of Connacht, Munster & Ulster to retain the shield.

Sadbh won U13 girls

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!