Connacht Squash

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

CBE Connacht Spring League
We are pleased to announce the 2012 CBE Connacht Spring League. Full details (teams, rules, fixtures) here.
We are delighted to welcome Loughrea to the league and it's great that Sligo has entered a team this year.
Many thanks to our Team Captains Peter Murphy, Pat Hanley, Tony Quigley and Tom Traecy.
Finally we wish to thank Sean Kenna CEO of CBE for their continued support of our league.
Best of luck to all our teams
Helen Reapy (League Secretary) Email: hreapy@eircom.net

Sligo Junior Closed
Sligo Junior Closed takes place in Sligo on Saturday 28 January.
Entries close on Wednesday 25 January.
Tournament Organiser: Tony Quigley (Email: tony_quigley@standardlife.ie)

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.

Connacht (Closed) Squash Championships 2012
This tournament takes place on 3 - 4 February at Galway Lawn Tennis Club (091-522353)
Tournament director: Edwin Brennan (edwinbrennan@eircom.net)
Further details and entry form available here.
The results from this tournament will have a significant impact on the selection of the Connacht Interprovinical Squash Teams.

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.