Five
Galway Players Finish as All-Ireland 60x30 Runners Up
Galway players competed in the All-Ireland softball
doubles finals at the weekend. Diarmuid Mulkerrins and Cian O’Conghaile
suffered defeat after three close games against Kilkenny opposition. The Galway
men struggled to deal with their opponent’s serve and found themselves 20-9
down in the opening game.
They rallied to reduce the gap to 18-20 but Keith
Bourke and Shane Dunne held their nerve to seal the first game. Mulkerrins and
O’Conghaile claimed the second game as they were enjoyed a faster start to the
second start. Last year’s U21 softball doubles champions won their semi-final
match in a tiebreaker but they were unable to repeat the trick against an
experienced Kilkenny pairing of Keith Bourke and Shane Dunne
Ollie Conway lost to Wexford’s Gavin Buggy in the
Over 35 A Singles. The Williamstown man entered the game as underdog as his
opponent reached the Irish Softball Nationals final where he lost to Martin
Mulkerrins. Buggy’s power and softball experience proved too much for Conway to
handle as he won in straight games. Matt Kenny, Brendan McNeela and Morgan
Darcy also suffered defeats in their finals.
Intermediate Doubles: Keith Bourke/Shane Dunne
(Kilkenny) dft Diarmuid Mulkerrins/Cian Ó Conghaile (Galway) 21-18, 8-21, 21-15
Over 35 A Singles: Gavin Buggy (Wexford) dft Ollie
Conway (Galway) 21-7, 21-6
Masters B Singles: James Stanners (Wexford) dft Matt
Kenny (Galway) 21-3, 21-6
Emerald Masters B Singles: James Mythen (Wexford)
dft Brendan McNeela (Galway) 21-14, 21-6
Over 70 Singles: Pakie Mullins (Tipperary) dft
Morgan Darcy (Galway) 21-2, 21-0
Juvenile A 60x30 Connacht Champions
There was more success for Galway in the Juvenile A
Connacht finals. Sadhbh Ni Fhlaithearta produced an assured display as she
proved too strong for Roscommon’s Siobhan Treacy. The Galway player won 21-2, 21-5
and Ni Fhlaithearta will now hope to claim All-Ireland success for the second
year running after winning the U15 title last year. Mark Gillespie defeated his
Sligo opponent in straight games while Padraig McNeela reached his Connacht
final. Conor Duane was beaten in his U15 final.
Connacht
Finals
U15 Singles: Cormac Finn (Sligo) dft Conor Duane
(Galway)
U16 Singles: Sadhbh Ni Fhlaithearta (Galway) dft
Siobhan Treacy (Roscommon)
U12 Singles: Mark Gillespie (Galway) dft Oran
McNulty (Sligo)
Connacht Semi-Final
U14 Singles: Padraig McNeela (Galway) dft Darragh
Bourke (Sligo)
Upcoming
Events
Saturday 14th September
Diarmuid Mulkerrins will hope to respond from his
All-Ireland intermediate doubles final defeat last weekend when he pairs up
with older brother Martin. The Mulkerrins brothers enter this encounter as
underdogs with Brian Carroll and Gary McConnell providing the opposition. The
Meath pairing are the reigning All-Ireland champions and the winners of this
encounter will be among the favourites for the title. Chris Connaughton and
Alan Byrne are in the All-Ireland Junior B semi finals and Diarmuid Mulkerrins
will compete in the intermediate singles semi-final with both fixtures down for
decision this Sunday.
Crinkle,
Offaly At 11.30am
All-Ireland Senior Doubles Quarter Final: Brian
Carroll/Gary McConnell (Meath) v Martin
Mulkerrins/Diarmuid Mulkerrins (Galway)
Sunday
15th September
Williamstown, Galway at 1pm
Junior B Doubles: Chris Connaughton/Alan Byrne
(Galway) v Conor Owens/Adam Crosbie (Cavan)
Loughmacrory,
Tyrone at 1pm
Intermediate Singles: Ryan Mullan (Tyrone) v
Diarmuid Mulkerrins (Galway)
