Neal
receives his Munster Open Under 12 Boys winners trophy from
Michael Healy ITTA Marketing Director
It was three up for Neal in the Irish Under 12s in Cork as he added the Munster Open title to his other two wins in this season's Irish Ranking tournaments.Not that it was achieved in an easy fashion as ever improving Sam Logue pushed Neal to five sets in an exciting final. Two sets to one down in the final Neal was the coolest man in the hall and proceed to win the fourth 11-1 before taking the fifth set fairly comfortably to show why he is the undisputed best Under 12 in the country.
It was another tale of threes in the cadets when Neal clocked up his third 3rd place finish this season.He did it in somewhat unexpected fashion. Neal lost in the semi in a close 5 setter to Paul McCreery. The surprise defeat of Sam Hanley by Sam Logue meant that Neal had a tough 3rd place match. He managed to carve out a victory in five sets to complete his set of third place finishes.
It was three titles for Bernard Weiss in the Seniors. Bernard won an exciting Mens final against Conor Nolan 3 - 1. Conor, who faced Bernard in all three finals, had earlier fought off the challenge from a resurrected Ger Boyle in an exciting five setter. Bernard, who is a former Austrian Junior International, played superbly to capture the Mens and Mixed doubles titles. In the Mens he partnered John Bowe to a surprising 3-0 win over Conor and top Irish junior David Hayes. Even more notable was his win in the mixed with partner Lesley Harrington against the highly rated pair of Naomi Owen and Conor Nolan.
It was third time lucky for Mark as he made the Junior final for the first time this season. In the previous tournaments he has drawn the top seed in the quarter final on both occasions. This time around he played his clubmate Gavin Maguire. Always difficult for both players, they served up an excellent match with some high quality play. Gavin was quickest off the blocks taking the first end with an 11-4 scoreline. In the most crucial moments in the match, he looked set for a two nil advantage when he led 10-6 in the second. But Mark fought back bravely to win that set in the deuce. Although Gavin led 5-1 in both the third and fourth Mark upped his game to win these two 13-11, 11-9 to take the game 3-1.
Overall the Junior boys quarter finals were of the highest standard. Ryan Flood and Paul McCreery was a titanic struggle with Paul coming out on top 11-9 in the fifth. Sam Hanley pushed Shane Dolan all the way before shane edged him out. Daniel Keenan had three close sets with David Hayes. Anticipation was building as the semi finals loomed. In the first semi David Hayes beat Shane Dolan 3-0. Mark was due to play the rapidly improving Paul McCreery in the second semi. Mark was quickest to settle and won the first end 11-2. He was 10-5 up in the second when Paul staged a comeback to steal the second 14-12. The match was looking like a reverse of Mark's quarter when Paul played well to command the third but somehow Mark clung on and nicked it in deuce. In a magnificent show stopping fourth set Paul led 8-4 before Mark staged a fightback. He served cleverly and played some strong topspin to reel off 7 points ina row and claim the match 11-8 in the fourth.
The final with David was a more nervy,cautious tactical battle which David won in four sets. Mark can be happy with his achievments this weekend both in the Juniors and his last 16 finish in the mens where he also lost to David.
Other club results over the weekend include.last 16 exits for Andy Holohan and Niall McDonnellin the Juniors. Andy lost 3-1 to Ryan Flood and Niall lost 3-0 to Sam Hanley. Gavin was last 16 in the Seniors. Sean Slein was in second round groups in under 14 and under 17. Brian Forde and Luke OShea both were beaten at second round groups stages in under 12s and under 14s