Kilcullen Badminton Irish champs again
On the weekend Dec 12, Kilcullen Badminton Club players competed in the Badminton Ireland Graded National Championships and managed to win two All Ireland Medals in different badminton disciplines, YES, KBC players are All Ireland champions again!!
As the saying goes, “ladies first”. Two of our ladies pairings competed in the Grade G Ladies doubles competition. The girls in question were partners Siobhan Willis and Katherine Logan and Sarah Walshe and Tara O’Neill. Both pairings had been drawn at either end of the draw and you’ve guessed it, they met in the final. This Grade G final went all the way to three sets with Sarah and Tara taking the first while Kat and Siobhan took the second. Sarah and Tara took the third set giving them the title. A major “shout out” goes to the four ragettes on such a great day for themselves and the club. These ladies are really phenomenal and are dominating in their grade, Kath and Siobhan play on the KBC Ladies Grade 4b team and are due to meet Tara and Sarah on the KBC Grade 4a team in the South West Ladies Grade 4 Final this month. Good luck to both KBC teams and the girls in the final.
In the Grade G mix discipline John (the fox!) Mullen and already newly crowned Ladies champion Tara were out against some stiff opposition. In some very tight matches the Kilcullen pair got through to the Final where they met the equally good Ciara Maher and Ian Frizzel from Galway lawn Badminton Club. Tara and John got off to a great start winning the first set 21-15, but the Galway duo showed that they weren’t going to be beaten easily and won the second set 21-10, Tara and John regrouped in the third set and won convincingly 21-14 taking the second All Ireland Title of the day back to Kilcullen and rounding off a fantastic day for the gang representing “The Rags”.
Also worth a mention is Tara’s mix partner John had also been unlucky in the Mens Grade G Final earlier that day and lost the final in three sets playing with Kildare CWMS player Joe Kirwin but Im sure winning the mix made up for it.
So Tara, Sarah, Kat Siobhan and John you now are in the same league as the elite Lynsey Walsh and Dave Mc Clean who two years ago also won an All Ireland for the club, well done guys and as that famous cartoon duo once discussed when Pinky asked, “What will we do today, Brain?” Brain replied “Try take over the world!!”
In photographs are Siobhan and Kat, runners up Grade G Ladies and centre Tara and Sarah, All Ireland Grade G Ladies Champions, and Tara and John, All Ireland Grade G Mix Champions.
