Monday, February 06, 2017

KBC’s Super Six in Semis

The Dublin District Cup took the spotlight last week for KBC with six teams competing in semi finals all contested in Baldoyle Badminton Centre, writes Kilcullen Badminton Club PRO Enda O'Neill.

On Wednesday 1 February our Division 2 Ladies and Division 9 Ladies captained by Sinead Kelly and Maeve Valroy played their semis. Sinead's girls faced league rivals Ailsbury and in a tight match the KBC ladies were two games all and level also in sets. So this intense semi final went to point countback and the Kilcullen ladies managed to beat their counterparts by just 17 points.

This is a great result for the ladies who now face a tough Mount Pleasant in the Final which will be played again in Baldoyle on Friday 10 February. The KBC girls have faced this team twice already this season and been victors on both occasions so hopefully they can keep their 100 per cent record against them going. Good luck Sinead, Gillian K Smith, Lynsey Walsh and Debbie Mangan in their final.

Maeve's Division 8 Ladies were also out on the same night and they faced Ashbourne in another cracking game of badminton. Maeve and her team wanted to go one better than they did last year and make the finals for the first time. They did so in style and kept their nerve beating the Ashbourne ladies 3-1 on the night.

Maeve and her team will now face Raheny Smashers, again on Friday night 10 February, good luck to Maeve, Orla Brophy, Emer Flynn and Grace Elliot in the final.

Thursday 2 February two of Kilcullen's Mixed outfits were representing the club, Court 6 saw Olivier P Valroy and his Division 9 team faced a very competitive Baldoyle District (in their home venue!). Alas this wasn’t to be KBC’s night and after a hard fought match the Kilcullen team were beaten 3-0. All three games went to the three sets with Baldoyle just edging the third set each time. Hard luck to Olivier and his team Theresa McGlynn, Maeve Valroy and Sean McGrath, at least they are still in contention for the league title so all is not lost.

Again out on the 2 February were Enda O’Neill and his Division 6 Mix team this time on Court 7. Enda and his team made the Cup final last year only to be beaten by their club mates in an all KBC final. Their opponents for this semi were Knocklyon Mix 2 and in a great match Enda and his team were pipped at the post losing 3-2 in a tough game of badminton which could have gone either way. The team are still well in the hunt for the league and are currently top of the table half way through the League campaign. Hard luck to Enda, Kathrin Logan, Jennifier Monaghan and Barry O’Neill.

One team travelled to badminton HQ on Friday 3 February and this time it was Tara O’Neill and the Division 4 Ladies team who played St Brigids and if we thought that the Division 2 Ladies match was close, there was only a whisker separating both teams in this semi. After the four games both Kilcullen and St Brigid's were locked even 2-2 and also sharing the same amount of sets. The match would now be decided on point countback. The “Ragettes” squeezed through winning by a mere seven points in the end. This match will probably prove to be the match of the season, so well done to captain Tara, Siobhan Willis, Karen O’Neill and Bernie Smyth and good luck against Rathmore in your final.

Our last semi final was contested between Tara’s Division 5 mix and their counterparts South Dublin played on Saturday 04 February. The match unfortunately didn’t go Kilcullen's way and our fab four were beaten 3-1 in again a tight match. The team gave it their all but sadly they just couldn’t get over the line. Hard luck to Tara, Chelsey Cox, John “the fox” Mullen and Vincent Coller.

So overall a great week for the Club with three out of the six semi finalists making the finals which will be played on Friday 10 February, good luck to all our teams and hopefully there will be more silverware back in the club come Saturday!

Don't forget you can check Kilcullen Badminton Club on www.kilcullenbadmintonclub.com or on our Facebook page Kilcullen Badminton Club for all our news and upcoming fixtures.

Pictured are are Debbie Mangan, Sinead Kelly, Lynsey Walsh and Gillian K Smith.