League finals

Congratulations to all the winning teams in the County Mixed League Finals held in GLTC last Saturday. The results were as follows:

• Division 1 | Winners: GLTC | Runners-up: Oranmore | Score: 4-2
• Division 2 | Winners: GLTC | Runners-up: Loughrea | Score: 4-3
• Division 3 | Winners: Oughterard | Runners-up: Claregalway | Score: 4-1
• Division 4 | Winners: Oranmore B | Runners-up: Oranmore A | Score: 4-3
• Division 5 | Winners: Oughterard | Runners-up: Cortoon | Score: 4-3
• Division 6 | Winners: Oughterard | Runners-up: Corofin | Score: 4-1

It was a great day of badminton with some thrilling finals taking place. The Division 4 match between the Oranmore teams went to 24-22 in the 2nd set of the 3rd Mixed with the B team coming out on top. Likewise Division 2 offered what appeared to be a great comeback by Loughrea, clawing back a 3-0 opening deficit to take it to the 3rd set of the 3rd Mixed before GLTC were finally able to close it out. Oughterard were also given a tough game in Division 5 by Cortoon, despite topping the Galway West league comfortably enough. They went 3-1 down after the singles and doubles, and the 1st Mixed went to 3 sets before Oughterard came out on top and won the remaining Mixed as well. A strong performance all-round from the Oughterard teams saw them clinch victory in all 3 finals, also beating Claregalway in Division 3 and Corofin in Division 6. GLTC also made it a double with the Division 1 side beating Oranmore in a very close match that could have been closer if not for a few unlucky breaks and unforced errors in some of the games.

Like I said, a great day! I'll put up some photos of the teams and winning captains later in the week. For now, let's hope all the teams from this season, in addition to some new blood from other newly revived clubs, help to make next seasons league even stronger.

Also a final reminder: Our AGM is on this Friday in GLTC at 7:30pm. This is followed by an end-of-year social in GLTC at 9pm - all welcome. See you there!

The GLTC badminton courts continue to be busy. Following on from last Friday's open tournament, the club plays host to the All Ireland Championships next weekend.

Press Release - GLTC Host All Ireland Badminton Championships

The All Ireland Intercounty Badminton Championships, will be held in Galway Lawn Tennis Club next weekend. There are four sections with Galway competing in Class 3 and Class 4. County Team Manager, Anthony Conneely, has entered a youthful side and is hopeful that the team can progress to the finals in May. In Class 3, Galway will meet Tipperary, Meath and Cork while in Class 4 Galway again play Meath and Cork. The action starts at 10am in GLTC.

The full draw is as follows:

• Class 1: Kildare, Meath, Donegal, Wexford
• Class 2: Section 1: Wexford, Kerry, Meath Section 2: Tipperary, Kildare, Cork
• Class 3: Section 1: Wexford, Kerry, Sligo, Louth Section 2: Tipperary, Galway, Meath, Cork
• Class 4: Section 1: Waterford, Roscommon, Wexford, Tipperary Section 2: Louth, Kerry, Tyrone, Sligo Section 3: Galway, Meath, Cork

League tables are updated again. Efforts are on-going to ensure accuracy - please get in touch if you spot an error.

GLTC Open. This took place last Friday and resulted in a very enjoyable evening of badminton for the 48 participants.

The event, sponsored by Tommy Hehir's on-site pro-shop, kicked off at 5pm on Good Friday 21st March, with play getting underway around 5:30pm. The 7 courts of the GLTC hall were sizzling with badminton action for the evening as six teams participated, each populated with eight players, inter-mixed from all the clubs throughout the county. All skill levels were represented with players from teams in each league division entering. The teams played mens/ladies doubles and mixed against one another until two group winners emerged for a final. This was incredibly close and the overall winners were unknown until the GLTC tournament officials had spent some time ensuring the arithmetic was correct. After 2 mens doubles, 2 ladies doubles and 4 mixed games, the points total in the final was 176 - 173.

Winning team: Cormac O'Connor, Enda O'Connor, Derek Small, Keith Reilly, Anne Reilly, Ber Keane, Jennifer DeLacy, Corinne Kelly.
Runners-up: Colm Franks, Frank Lydon, Pawel Biezunski, Brendan Ivors, Helen Sheehan, Mary Wade, Aoife Mooney, Mary Forde.

The tournament was strongly supported by all the city clubs and there were also several entries from Loughrea, Oughterard and Claregalway to flesh out the 48-strong entrant list. Everyone played 6 matches over the course of 3 hours and all took place in great spirit with a fun atmosphere. Mary Caulfield and Micheál O'Móráin along with several volunteers from the club patrolled the hall, ensuring the competition progresed without a hitch. After all the games had finished the players were invited upstairs for refreshments and prizegiving.

Have a look at a few photos I took.

League tables are now up-to-date as of last weekend. Please ensure the league secretary has received any outstanding scoresheets. If you have any queries with the league tables please have your club rep contact the league secretary.

The final date for league results to be received is Sunday 6th April. After this results will not count so use these finals three weeks productively.

GLTC Open. The GLTC Open is on Good Friday, 21st March at 5pm. Click here for the entry form.

The Galway Badminton Association is holding its AGM on Friday 18th April. A change of venue has it taking place at 7:30pm in GLTC to facilitate GLTC's end-of-year social event the same night. Please ensure your club has a representative in attendance. An email will be going out next week requesting any motions that clubs wish to present to the committee for next season.

Updated league tables

With just over a month to go to the end of the County Mixed League many of the divisions are heating up as clubs strive to get as many points as possible out of their remaining fixtures. Check the sidebar or the league page for the numbers!

Intervarsities

The Intervarsities are taking place next weekend (March 8th) in Trinity College Dublin. NUIG will be fielding a strong team so good luck to those participating!

New club 2008/09 season - Ardrahan

Ardrahan have joined the growing list of clubs that are aiming to swell the ranks of Galway badminton clubs for next season. The club details have been added to the clubs page and their training times will be Thursdays at 8pm. More details on new clubs opening their doors for next season will be forthcoming after the next committee meeting and the AGM.

Committee meeting - Friday 14th March

The next committee meeting will take place in Oranmore hall on Friday 14th March at 8:30pm. Please ensure your club has a representative present!

GLTC Open re-scheduled - Friday 21st March

The GLTC Open tournament scheduled for today, 2nd March, has been postponed until Good Friday, 21st March. It will take place in the evening; entry details will be posted in the next week.

The Oughterard Open took place last weekend, running for over 4 hours and showcasing some of Galways upcoming badminton talent. Kudos to the folks at Oughterard who organised the competition - Richard, Martin, Lorraine, Jennifer and all the "backroom" staff who produced refreshments throughout and an incredible spread of sandwiches and cakes at the end of the day for all the players taking part. Here's a quick review from the club:

On Sunday the 17th of February the Oughterard badminton club held its first open invitational tournament for players graded in the Div 4/5 leagues. With 28 players representing seven clubs from all over the county, we constructed 7 teams consisting of 2 men and 2 women. Each team played a mens doubles, a womens doubles and 2 mixed doubles.

With a Cup and Plate format in place and the games set to 30 points, each competitor raised their game as it was the total team score that counted. Some thrilling matches ensued giving a measure of how highly competitive this competition was. It was great to see players from different clubs gelling successfully to produce some of the finer skills of the game.

When it boiled down to the Cup final there was just 4 points separating the two teams after the mens and womens doubles. In the end after 2 very good mixed games it was the team consisting of Malachy Ruane (Oughterard), Tony Furey (Oranmore), Kay O'Cara (Claregalway) and Jennifer DeLacy (Oughterard) who won out over Derek Small (Oranmore), Trevor Jennings (Claregalway), Bridie Brennan and Michelle Egan (Claregalway).

The Plate competition turned out to be a very close affair indeed. Three teams battled it out, each playing the other once and in the end with only 5 points to spare over their nearest rivals, it was Shane Gilmore (Cortoon), Des Fahy (Oughterard), Mary Forde (Claregalway) and Belinda Flaherty (Belclare) who were victorious.

The club would wish to thank everyone who entered and supported this competition. There was a terrific atmosphere and it turned out to be a great success, one which we hope to build on next season.

I was also sent a few photos from the day - you can view them by clicking here.

Don't forget to get your entries in for the GLTC and Oranmore Opens on Sunday 2nd March (next weekend!!). Entries to badmintoncaptain@gltc.ie and adrian.furey@abbott.com respectively. Alternatively, click here for the GLTC entry form and here for the Oranmore entry form.

The Connacht Closed Championships took place last weekend at Galway Lawn Tennis Club. The tournament was a resounding success, with some brilliant games of badminton on display to the many spectators. For photos, winners & runners-up and a brief report on the event by the Galway County chairperson, Adrian Furey, click here. Other events coming up:

• Oughterard Open: Sunday 17th Feb, 2pm
• GLTC & Oranmore Opens: Sunday 2nd March, 2pm
• Intervarsities: Saturday 8th March (TCD hosting)

It's been a very busy 2008 so far for Galway Badminton! We had our Galway County Championships for Singles and Mixed Doubles throughout January, the finals for which took place last Sunday 3rd Feb in Galway Lawn Tennis Club. Click here for all the Championships winners, photos and match reports. I've uploaded a selection of the photos, but not all - some came out very blurry, for which I blame the GLTC hall lighting and my shaky hand!

The Connacht Championships are taking place this weekend at GLTC. Singles @ 10am Saturday, Doubles all afternoon, then the Mixed on Sunday morning. There is a very healthy entry in all divisions, particularly from the Galway clubs, which is great to see. Good luck to all taking part!

Oughterard Open: Sunday 17th February marks the first club open tournament of the season, in Oughterard. It's open to Division 4 & 5 players and entrants will play in mixed teams of 2 men and 2 women in a round robin group format. Click here for the promo poster, and click here for the entry form.

Happy New Year from all at the Galway Badminton Association! Hopefully badminton players throughout Galway are fully recuperated after the Christmas break and are ready for a busy badminton schedule in the months ahead. See below for our opening 2008 press releases.

Everything up for grabs in County Badminton Leagues

The County Badminton Leagues, sponsored by ACS Computers and Communications, have passed the half way point with interesting situations in all divisions.

Division 1: GLTC have won this division for the past number of seasons but this year face stiff opposition from a couple of clubs. The NUIG Badminton team, backboned by Ross and Orla Creaven, take the favourites tag this year with Oranmore an outside bet for a final position. Oranmore have lost the past two League Finals to GLTC and with new acquisitions in Colm Franks and Orla Bishop hope to go one better this year. Maree are also in the running but an opening defeat to neighbours Oranmore means they have plenty to do when the league resumes in earnest in January.

Division 2: This division appears to be in Loughrea's hands to lose. They have recorded three fine wins so far and are justifying their favourites tag. An interesting battle is taking place for second. Mullagh will be hoping to upset the odds, and GLTC, by joining them in the final. Mullagh have recently won the Division 3 title and have the ability to make the final.

Division 3: This division is proving to be the most competitive of all with four of the six teams very much on contention. Oughterard have emerged in recent seasons as a very determined outfit and have recorded four wins from five outings. Richard and Martin Gibbons are playing very well and will be hopeful for the remainder of the season. However they are not having it all their own way with Belclare and Loughrea on their heels. Claregalway, with two games in hand, could also make the April finals to be held in GLTC.

Division 4: This division is proving to be a two horse race with Oranmore A and B teams battling it out for the county title. Oranmore won the Division 5 title last season and have also recruited a number of new players at this level. The teams contain players who are destined to play at much higher levels in the coming years.

Division 5: Over the past three seasons there has been an upsurge in the numbers of new players registered with the Galway Badminton Association. As a result it has been necessary to set up two sections. In the West, Oranmore lead the way but NUIG A and Oughterard will push them all the way. In the East, Claregalway and Cortoon are battling it out and may yet be challenged by Loughrea or Mullagh.

Badminton Events in Full Swing

Over the coming weeks the Galway Badminton Association County Championships will be held in Galway Lawn Tennis Club. The Mixed Doubles qualifier rounds will be held on Wednesday 9th and 16th January with the Singles qualifiers being held on Wednesday 23rd and 30th January. The Championship finals will be held on Sunday 3rd February at 6pm in GLTC. Entry forms available here - please inform your club County representative. Entry fees to be paid to your club rep.

The Galway Badminton association will also launch a new Division 6 league aimed at developing new teams. The new League will be organized over the coming months and will consist of four teams – Killanin, Claregalway, Oughterard and Corofin.

The Connacht Badminton Championships will be held in Galway on the weekend of February 9/10. This is the first time in many years that the Association will host the event with competitors from all Connacht counties attending. The action starts at 10am on Saturday February 9th - entry form available here in the next few days. Promotional poster available here.

Doubles Championships winners.
Mixed & Singles Championships - Finals Poster.
Connaught Championships - Finals Poster.

It might be an idea to print these out and put them up on your club noticeboard. A quick summary of the latter two:

• Mixed & Singles Championships Finals: GLTC, Sunday 3rd Feb, 6pm
• Connaught Championships Finals: GLTC, Sat 9th & Sun 10th Feb, 10am (both days)

And a final reminder, please submit any outstanding league results as soon as possible!

A few other things:

• A Division 6 beginners league is going to start in the New Year. Currently five teams have entered (Corofin, Killanin x2, Claregalway, Oughterard). The league will be using a slightly modified format (click here for rules), removing the singles matches and adding a fourth mixed. Scoresheet here.
• The Roll of Honour is uploaded. Please feed any updates to this to any committee member - it's largely incomplete at present.
• The League Tables are updated and are current as of last Friday 7th. (Results are not up-to-date but all are captured in the tables.)
• I uploaded reports from a few of the finals of the doubles c'ships, take a look!

Minutes from the December committee meeting are up. Please make a note of the Mixed and Singles championship dates after Christmas and see the Information page for entry forms. Entries must be received by Monday 7th January for the Mixed and Friday 18th January for the Singles.

Also the league tables are starting to look a bit more fully fleshed and will hopefully be appearing in the local papers this week or next. Please get any outstanding league results submitted to the League Secretary as soon as possible!

... And have a great Christmas! =)

Click here to view the Doubles Championships winners.

The mixed leagues are also well underway at this stage. Some results are up on the League page and more will follow as we receive and process them. The main thing is to get as many played as possible before the Christmas break to leave a less hectic new year schedule!

The next committee meeting is on Friday 7th December (tomorrow!) at 8:30pm in the Oranmore badminton hall. The main agenda point is preparation for the Mixed and Singles County Championships that are coming up in January. We will also be reviewing the recent Doubles C'ships, the mixed league so far, organising the County squads as well as providing several other updates. See you next week!

Photos from the Doubles finals are up. I don't have shots from every match because I was playing or reffing, or just too busy spectating some excellent games! :-) Official results to follow in the next few days...

Photos from the Doubles (division 1, 3 and 5) are up in the photo gallery More to come after next Wednesday when the other divisions are playing. Also, the minutes from the last meeting are up on the info page.

The league and clubs pages will also be getting populated with data soon by the way!

Finally, please note that the NUIG Open has been postponed for the moment, likely until after Christmas. This is because the college is closing earlier than normal this year for conferrings and exams.

The Doubles championships player registrations were taken at the committee meeting last Friday. Kathy will be sorting through the entries over the next couple of days so no details here for now. A limited number of signups will be taken on the night, though it does mean some last minute re-organisation. :-) It's all taking place in the Galway Lawn Tennis Club, and times and dates are:

• Div 3/5: Wednesday 7th November @ 7pm (Div 3 starts at 8pm)
• Div 1: Sunday 11th November @ 6pm
• Div 2/4/6: Wednesday 14th November @ 7pm

Update from Tommy Hehir on badminton in the west of Ireland:

1. Irish open will be held in Lisburn, Co. Antrim, 6th-9th December.
2. Easy to get in and out of, just off Motorway.
3. Saturday is the best day you get to see the best of the players all day.
4. Offer of free shuttles with tickets on Badmintonireland.com website.
5. Great day out for Adults and Juveniles.
6. Good idea for club day out. Contact me, will get deal on tickets.
7. Get to see the best of the Irish against the best of Europe.
8. Check this page for more info.

November coaching:

• 4th of November Introductory course in the Galway L.T.C. (still places left)
• 20th November Introductory course in Buncranna Co. Donegal
• 24th of November Introductory course in Lisdoonvarna
• 25th of November refresher course for all coaches in the G.L.T.C. (FREE)

Don't forget we have a committee meeting this Friday 2nd Nov, 8:30pm, Oranmore badminton hall. This meeting will cover the start of the league and the Doubles tournament that is taking place over the next few weeks.

Also, click here for the Galway County calendar as an Excel spreadsheet. The content of this will be placed on the corresponding Calendar link here imminently.

We took registrations for 30 teams on Friday night at the committee meeting. Over the coming week we'll be sending out details to all clubs of their league opponents and fixture lists. Division 5 will once again be split because of the large number of entries at that level.

Hi! This website will be coming online over the next week or two. For the moment just check out the Calendar and Info pages for upcoming tournaments and some useful documents.

Check back in the next few days/weeks. I'll be putting up details of the mixed leagues and all the clubs in the County, in addition to fleshing out the events calendar in full.