Connacht Squash

Wecome to the home page of Connacht Squash, the governing body of squash in Connacht

Arthur Gaskin wins PSA Title in Qatar
Following his heroic performance in the recent West of Ireland Open, Arthur has gone on to even greater things by winning the first PSA World Tour title of his career when he beat Pakistan's Syed Ali Shah Bokhari in the climax of the QSF PSA Challenger, the PSA Challenger 5 squash event at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar.
Great to haver an Irish Squash player winning PSA titles and will done Arthur.

Two Connacht players on Irish Ladies team for the 2012 Senior Europeans
Congratulations to Aisling Blake and Laura Mylotte on their selection on the Irish Ladies Team to represent Ireland at the Senior Europeans to be held in Nuremberg, Germany from May 1 to May 6. They are joined by Madeline Perry and Tanya Owens.

Connacht win the Senior Interprovincials for the first time
History is made! After 34 years, the Connacht Mens A team have won their first ever Senior Interprovincial Title.
They beat Leinster 4-1, Munster 5-0 and Ulster 4-1 on the road to victory.
Congratulations to all involved. Connacht abú. Tá ár lá tagtha!
Team was: Keith Moran (Sligo), Niall Rooney (Galway), Brian Byrne (Claremorris), Ross Lillis (Galway), Ronan Tully (Galway). For pictures of teams click here.

THE PADDY 'WHACK' WALSH WEST OF IRELAND SQUASH OPEN 2012
SPONSORED BY GARAVAN'S BAR, WILLIAM STREET GALWAY.
Mark Krajcsak (Hungary) beats Joe Lee (England) to take the 2012 West of Ireland Open.
Results of all matches available on tournament software.
For all about the one and only Garavan's Bar, click here.
For promotional video click here.

READ EDWIN BRENNAN'S STROKE BY STROKE ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST ROUND PSA MATCHES HERE.
Edwin's Quarter finals report here.
Edwin's Semi finals report here.
Edwin's final report here.
Pictures here.

Colaiste Iognaid Girls Squash team wins All Ireland Schools
The girls under 17 squash team representing Colaiste Iognaid (Jes) in Sea Road Galway won the All Ireland schools competition on Friday 30th March in Sutton Dublin. The team was Evie Hayes from Salthill and Abigail Silke and Fiona Power from Knocknacarra
The girls won their final matches against the local Sutton secondary schools having won previous round matches against Colaiste na Coiribe and Claremorris in the Connacht section.
The squash team are all members of Galway Lawn Tennis Club in Threadneedle Road in Salthill and have benefited from the coaching expertise of Edwin Brennan and David Noone of Galway Lawn Tennis Club.
Congratulations and best wishes to all involved.

Connacht Win U17 Squash Girls Interprovincial Title
The Irish Squash Junior Interprovincial Championshops were held in Galway Lawn Tennis Club on weekend of 24 - 25 March.
Connacht won the Girls U17 Squash Interprovincial title.The team included two Claremorris players Lorraine Mooney and Sarah Mc Loughlin and three Galway players Fiona Power, Roisin O'Shea and Aoife Doyle.
Connacht's U15 Girls team were runners up in their section and included one Sligo player Rachel Quigley, two Claremorris players Ciara Hutton and Meabh Brennan and two Galway players Abbey Silke and Evie Hayes.
Well done to all of them.
For a slideshow click here.
Rachel Quigley (Sligo) was awarded the Laura Thorton memorial award for Fair Play and General contribution to the tournment by the donor Anita Mylotte.
For pictures of winning teams click here.

Connacht Juniors on Irish Teams
Congratulations to Rachel Quigley (Sligo) on being selected on the U13 team to represent Ireland in the home internationals. Congratulations to Conor O'Shea on being selected on the Ireland U19 Europeans Team. Well done both of you.!

Congratulations to Loughrea on winning the CBE Connacht League at the first attempt!
Galway Lawn Tennis Club and Loughrea contested the final in Loughrea on 15th March.
The final was a thrilling event and went down to the very last match, Loughrea finally winning by 9 points to 7.
The Loughrea team on the night included Galway Senior All Ireland winning hurler Peter Murphy, Eoin Lynch, former Galway senior hurler Fergal Healy and Loughrea senior hurler Kenneth Colleran. Sean Mahony also played for Loughrea during the league.The Galway LTC team was Andre Davies, Cormac McMahon, Pat Hanley and Aidan Power. Dave Lawlor and Domnic Egan also played for GLTC during the league.
Pictures here. Details of teams and captains here.
We wish to thank Sean Kenna CEO of CBE for their continued support of our league.
This was the most successful Connacht League ever and we look forward to welcoming more new teams next year.
Thanks to Helen Reapy (League Secretary) for administrating the league. Email: hreapy@eircom.net

Draw for for Irish Squash Junior Fundraising 2012 Extended to 28th April.
Draw will now take place at the Irish Open.
Irish Squash launched their 2012 Junior Development Fundraising Draw at the Nationals in December. There are some excellent prizes on offer including Wimbledon Tickets, British Open Squash Finals, Five Star Hotel Stay in Four Seasons plus more. Tickets are €5 / £5 each with a special internet rate of 5 tickets for €20. All monies will go direct to junior development.
Tickets can be purchased online here.

The Inaugural Mayo Junior Open
Held over the weekend of February 25-26 in refurbished Kiltimagh Squash Courts.
Results
Girls U 11 Novice Winner: Nacoimh Jordan   Runner-up: Aoife Culhane Plate Winner: Clodagh Healy
Girls U11/13     Winner: Rachel Delaney Runner Up: Sorcha Hohson Plate Winner: Amy Ring
Girls U15/17    Winner: Ciara Hutton Runner-Up: Lorraine Mooney
Boys U11/13    Winner: Oran O Malley Runner-Up: Ronan Kelly Plate Winner: Sean Heaney

Lots of pictures here.

Squash is enjoying a rebirth all over the country and here in Mayo we now have clubs in Claremorris, Ballinrobe, Kiltimagh, Ballina, Charlestown, Knock, Crossmolina, Westport and Killala.

Connacht Senior Open 2012
The Connacht Senior Open takes place at Sligo Lawn Tennis Club on 2 - 3 March 2012.
Deadline for entry is Friday 24th February 2012.
Online entry here.
Further information from Tournament Director Keith Moran (keith.moran@slcontrols.com)

NUIG and UCC claim titles at the Intervarsity Squash Championships in Galway
125 Squash players and 25 teams from seven Universities came to Galway for the Intervarsity Squash Championships on the weekend of 17-18 February. An action packed weekend seems to have been enjoyed by all given the very positive feedback.
Summary of Results:
Ladies A: NUIG
Ladies B: UCC
Mens A: UCC
Mens B: NUIG
Mens C: NUIG
Mens D: UCC
Congratulations to Lisa Kiely (Captain), Shane Touhy (PRO) and Brendan Murtagh (Treasurer) of NUIG Squash Club on the success of the tournament. Sincere thanks to Jim Hynes who manned the desk and a really special thanks to Edwin Brennan who scheduled the matches and oversaw the overall running of the squash part of the tournament. He also coached the winning NUIG teams. Thanks to Galway Lawn Tennis Club for the use of their courts and facilities.

Connacht Senior (Closed) Squash Championships 2012
This tournament took place on 3 - 4 February at Galway Lawn Tennis Club (091-522353)
Full match results of the A section here.
B Section: Winner: Peter Murphy; Runner Up: Edwin Brennan
C Section: Winner: Jim Hynes; Runner Up: Mike Flattery

Connacht Junior Closed
Connacht Junior (Closed) took place in Sligo on Saturday 28 January.
Results here.

Mediation outcome
As previously announced, a mediator was nominated to mediate on the differences between Irish Squash and the three provinces; Connacht, Munster and Ulster. Following meetings and consultations between the three provinces, a joint submission was made to the mediator, Dr. Geraldine Barniville. The mediation meeting was held in Dublin last Saturday and it proved to be a very constructive meeting in which most of the issues were resolved.
Arising from this, Connacht Squash have now decided to reinstate its representative to the Board of Irish Squash.
Connacht Squash takes this opportunity to extend its sincere gratitude to Dr. Barniville for the time and effort she has put into seeking a resolution and for the very capable and fair manner in which she addressed the issues.
We now consider any issues of the past to be in the past and wish to move on without referring to them again.

Jennifer Hegarty has received a Galway Sports Star of the Year 2011 award for SQUASH
Connacht Squash congratulate Jennifer on her well-deserved award.
Jennifer follows in a long line of successful squash winners including 5 times winner John Rooney, Niall Rooney, Rory Gilligan, Laura Mylotte and more.
It is a great achievement for Jennifer and GLTC and hopefully there will be a good turnout from the club for the event.
The award will be presented at the annual gala dinner in the Ardilaun hotel on Saturday 21st January. Starting with a wine reception at 7 p.m., followed by dinner and live music, the dress is formal, it is always a great night.
There are limited spaces available to award winners and tickets (costing €70 each) must be reserved in advance.

Best Wishes for 2012 from Connacht Squash
Connacht Squash extends new year's greetings and best wishes to all Connacht squash players and hopes they will have a happy and injury-free year.

Irish Squash Fundraising Draw 2012
Irish Squash launched their 2012 Junior Development Fundraising Draw at the Nationals last weekend. There are some excellent prizes on offer including Wimbledon Tickets, British Open Squash Finals, Five Star Hotel Stay in Four Seasons plus more. Tickets are €5 / £5 each with a special internet rate of 5 tickets for €20. All monies will go direct to junior development.
Tickets can be purchased online here.

Connacht players disappointed at Nationals
Both Aisling Blake and John Rooney ended as runners-up in the Ladies and Mens Finals at the Gillen Markets Nationals held in Fitzwilliam over the weekend of 16-18 December.
In the ladies final, Aisling won the first game and pushed Madeline Perry (World #4) all the way. However, at two games all, Madeline drew on her wide experience to take the fifth game and her 13th National title.
In the mens final, Arthur Gaskin took an early lead in the first game against John Rooney and went on to take the game. John came back strongly to take the second game. However there was no stopping Arthur and he went on to take the match with a convincing 3-1 victory and his first National title.
Congratulations to both Madeline and Arthur and well done to both Aisling and John for providing us all with two great finals. Connacht Squash are proud of both of them.
Full details available at Irish Squash.

Connacht Masters' Open Squash 2011-2012
The Connacht Masters' Open took place in Galway Lawn Tennis Club on weekend of 2-3 December 2011.
Overall a successful and enjoyable tournament rounded off with a truly memorable final in the Mens O-45A between Kevin O'Rourke and Neill Stone-Wigg with Kevin eventually prevailing on a score of 3/2.
Complete results are available on the Tournament Software website.
For pictures click here.
Summary results:
Ladies: Winner: Norrie O'Grady; Runner-up: Sheryl Abernethy
Men O-45A: Winner: Kevin O'Rourke; Runner-up: Neil Stone-Wigg
Men O-45B: Winner: Peter Murphy; Runner-up: Karam Singh
Men O-50: Winner: Gerry McGolderick; Runner-up: Damine O'Reilly
Men O-55: Winner: Martin McDonnell; Runner-up: Kyran Hurley
Men O-60: Winner: Martin Maher; Runner-up: John Kielty
Men O65A: Winner: Tom Cantwell; Runn-up: Frank Faney
Men O-65B: Winner: Brian Williams; Runner-up: Brian McNally

Upcoming Irish Squash Federation Tournaments
10 - 11 December EMC2 Munster Junior Open Tour 3 (Cork)
16 - 18 December Irish Senior Nationals (Fitzwilliam LTC)
13-15 January All Ireland Club Championships (Dublin)
20-21 January Senator Windows Munster Masters' Open (Cork)
28 January Connacht Junior Closed.
2 - 5 February Connacht Senior Closed (Sligo?)
24 - 26 February Connacht Senior Open Tour 7 (Sligo)

Connacht Representative to Irish Squash withdrawn
As previously announced Connacht Squash withdrew its representative from Irish Squash until further notice. This is due to dissatisfaction with what we consider to be the failure of our governing body to adequately address important matters relating to good governance. Be assured that this will have absolutely no effect on Connacht players at club, provincial or international participation level. Munster Squash has made a similar decision.
A mediator has now been nominated and has been accepted by all.
A joint submission by Connacht, Ulster and Munster outling our grievances is being prepared.

World Squash Day 2011 5 November 2011
For more information, click here.

PROGRAM OF EVENTS – GALWAY LTC

COME AND TRY IT EVENTS
THURSDAY 3 NOVEMBER – FREE ‘COME AND TRY IT’ EVENT – GALWAY LTC
JUNIORS 6.30 pm - 8 pm ADULTS 8 pm - 9.30 pm
THURSDAY 10 NOVEMBER - FREE ‘COME AND TRY IT’ EVENT – GALWAY LTC
JUNIORS 6.30 pm - 8 pm ADULTS 8 pm - 9.30 pm

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE –
SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER – 1 pm - 5 pm – WORLD SQUASH DAY CHALLENGE
NUI GALWAY vs UCC (15 players per team).

SPORTS EXPO
IN CONJUNCTION WITH GALWAY CITY SPORT PARTNERSHIP
PROMOTION OF LOCAL SPORTS CLUBS AND EVENTS – SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER - 12 pm - 4 pm

JUNIOR SQUASH TEAM EVENT
OPEN COMPETITION FOR ALL JUNIOR PLAYERS
SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER – 11 am - 1 pm


Can we beat the Biggest Junior Event Ever?
Omar El Borolossy is reputed to have organised the largest junior event ever at the ElBorolossy Squash Academy in Egypt.
He had 620 junior players playing on 10 courts from 9 am to 10 pm daily from 9 - 15 September. An average of 150 matches were played each day. See www.sitesquash.com for a breakdown of the age groups.

Connacht Junior Open 2011 - Galway Lawn Tennis Club 24-25 September
A total of 80 juniors competed in the tournament.
Sincere thanks to Edwin Brennan and his team who as usual ran a well organised tournament.
Click here to view the draws and the complete results on the Tournament Software.
Click here for pictures.

Summary of winners and runners-up.

Girls U-19 Winner: Elaine Ware Runner-up: Victoria O'Donnell
Girls U-17 Winner: Breanne Flynn Runner-up: Labhaoise Dunbar
Girls U-15 Winner: Casey Luther Runner-up: Stephanie Ryan
Girls U-13 Winner: Victoria White Runner-up: Sheila O'Keefe
Boys U-19 Winner: Seán Conroy Runner-up: Conor O'Shea
Boys U-17 Winner: David Ryan Runner-up: Oisín Logan
Boys U-15 Winner: Philip McSweeney Runner-up: Oisín Dunne
Boys U-13 Winner: Luke Logan Runner-up: Scott Gillanders
Boys U-11 Winner: Conor Moran Runner-Up: Sam Buckley

European Club Championships 2011
The European Club Championships took place in Belfast over the weekend of 8-10 September. It was a great tournament with some wonderful matches and I enjoyed it greatly.
PADERBORN (Germany) retained their Men's title seeing off the challenge of fellow-German club Worms. Much to the great delight of a packed gallery and the host club, BELFAST BOAT CLUB are the new Women's European Club Champions after an historic win over holders Edgebaston Priory (England). The game between Senga McFie and Lauren Selby that clinched the title for the Boat Club was one in which Senga displayed great tactical maturity to achieve the required win (3/1).

Peter Cassidy RIP
It was with great sadness and shock that we learnt of the sudden and untimely passing of Peter Cassidy on Saturday afternoon just after the tournament finished. Connacht Squash send their deepest sympathies to the family, Ulster Squash and his many friends in the squash community.
Peter was a regular in the Connacht Masters Open and we all came to admire his incredible skill and unique style of play. He represented Ireland at Masters level.

Connacht League 2011-2012
We hope to start the League in October this year as we anticipate that more clubs will participate.
If you intend to enter a team, please communicate your interest to Helen Reapy as soon as possible.

Jonah Barrington (LL.D)
The great Jonah Barrington, one of Ireland's most famous squash players recently received an Honorary Degree from Trinity College and also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Irish Squash.

Irish Squash Junior Coaches
Irish Squash is currently reviewing its junior coaching structures and invites all coaches who are interested in becoming part of this initiative to send their details to info@irishsquash.com for review.

AGM of Irish Squash
The AGM of Irish Squash took place on Sunday 13 June 2011.
The four-year term of office of the President (John O'Connor) and Michael Hynes (Chairman) were completed and they were not eligible for re-election.
Of the existing officers, only Gerry Connaughton (National Children's Officer) was re-elected. An organised proxy-vote campaign resulted in the replacement of all the other officers except Rory Gillen. The following are the details:

None of the officers are from Connacht with Edwin Brennan as a temporary Rep until our AGM.

CONNACHT SQUASH ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2010-2011
The 2010-2011 Connacht Squash Annual Report is now available here.
This contains details of all squash activities in Connacht during the 2010-2011 season.
Since thanks to all who made it such a successful season and we look forward to meeting you all again in 2011-2012.

Jim Hynes awarded the 2010-2011 Irish Squash Player of the Year Award.
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to Connacht and Irish Squash both as a player and tournament organiser over many years, Jim Hynes was presented with the 2010-2011 Irish Squash Player of the Year Award during the Connacht Masters' Open. (see pictures). This is a well deserved award as Jim has served squash well both as a player and tournament director/organiser. He has been Connacht Masters Secretary for many years and has helped to run the West of Ireland Open for more years than most of us care to remember. When a tournament is being run, Jim is rarely far away. We wish him heartisest congratulations.

Coaching
Eleven members of Galway Lawn Tennis Club completed the Level 1 coaching course this weekend (5/6 March). The tutor for the course was Frank Donnelly and Eddie Murphy (Irish Squash Coaching Secretary) was the assessor. We are grateful to both of them for putting in a long intensive weekend. Before the coaching certificates are presented, candidates who have not already done so must complete the Code of Ethics and Good practice in Children's Sports course, a Child Protection course and obtain Garda Clearance. We look forward to a big celebration when the certificates are presented. This represents a significant step forward in squash development in the Galway area. It is hoped to run a course in Sligo in the near future.