Louth Badminton Association

Louth County Badminton Association’s inaugural Táin Tournament took place the weekend of the 10th and 11th of January in Dundalk Sports Centre. Overall 66 entrants competed consisting of 9 teams from Dundalk (Dundalk BC, Phoenix BC and Lios na Ri BC), Shercock, Kilkerley, Drogheda (Boyne BC), Castlebar, Dublin (Beag is Beo) and Derry (Rossville BC).

The tournament used the Swiss ladder system where partnerships are drawn at random. The aim of the event was to provide a fun, social badminton weekend. This is the first such event organised for adults in Ireland outside of the Irish Student Badminton Tournament which runs in Limerick each year. The event was very successful with many close games over the weekend. The social evening on Saturday night was also very well attended and included a meal in Café Metz.

Individual results Class A: Ladies doubles, winners Ashleigh Coyne (Dundalk BC) and Claire Walters (Phoenix BC), runners-up Deirdre Murray (Shercock BC) and Michelle Ruddy (Rossville BC). Men’s doubles, winners Tony Richardson (Dundalk BC) and Melvin Oii (Boyne BC), runners-up Mark Gore (Dundalk BC) and Oliver Ruddy (Rossville BC). Mixed doubles, winners Johnny Corcoran (Beag is Beo BC) and Valerie Comer (Dundalk BC), runners-up Oliver Ruddy (Rossville BC) and Ashleigh Coyne (Dundalk BC).

Individual results Class B: Men’s singles, winner Brian Morris (Boyne BC), runner-up Frank Reid (Phoenix BC). Ladies doubles, winners Julie Hannen (Shercock BC) and Aoife Soraghan (Beag is Beo BC), runners-up Gráinne Jackson (Shercock BC) and Anne O’Sullivan (Phoenix BC). Men’s doubles, winners Tony Mason (Beag is Beo BC) and Patrick Hand (Shercock BC), runners-up Walter Rountree (Shercock BC) and Gerard Rafferty (Dundalk BC). Mixed doubles, winners John Maguire (Shercock BC) and Catriona Ryan (Beag is Beo BC), runners-up Eamonn Savage (Dundalk BC) and Roberta Hamilton (Shercock BC).

Teams entering with 5 or more players were eligible for the overall team prize. This years winner was Dundalk Badminton Club, beating Beag is Beo in an extremely tight result.

Two spot prizes were awarded for those players deemed to be having the most fun. These were presented to Marie Finnegan (Kilkerly BC) and Patrick O’Connell (Boyne BC).

Overall the competition was a great success and the Louth Badminton Association look forward to running it again next year as an even bigger and better event.

Photos from the tournament are available here and full results available here.

Next in the Louth Badminton Calendar are the County Tournaments. Closing date is Wednesday the 14th of January. Entry forms are available at http://www.louthbadminton.com.