Kildare's Curragh Squash Club hosts Irish Masters event

Last weekend the fastest thing in the Curragh wasn’t the horses. Ninety entrants from Ireland and the UK battled it out for the Irish Masters squash titles in The Curragh Masters Squash Open 2023.

Entrants aged from over 35 to over 65 showed that playing and competing at International squash events is possible right into over 70 age groups.

The skill, speed and endurance displayed by players well into their retirement years was amazing to watch. Where most sports have retired players in their 30s, squash has a full national calendar for masters players to keep fit and play national level squash.

FIRST UP

The Men's Over 35 section had former Irish International Sam Olwill from Carlow seeded 1 to play Shane Hickey from the Aer Lingus club in Carlow in the final. Both players are from serious squash families with Olwill's uncle, Willie Hosey a nine times Irish Champion and Hickey's father a masters international squash player and well known squash coach in Dublin.

Sam Olwill plays with a full throttle attacking game and managed to keep on top of Shane Hickey from the very outset of the match. Hickey tried using a mixture of hard running and front court attack to stay in the game.

However no one runs faster than the squash ball and eventually Hickey ran out of steam.

Sam Olwill took his first Curragh Masters in style watched on by his brother Fintan Olwill, who also played in the Over 35 event.

Fintan showing a lot of promise on re entering the master squash circuit.

Local players Peter Kenny and Conor Mc Closkey were debutants in the masters arena and did well for their first events and were well supported by the local crowd.

LADIES

The ladies section was hotly contested with ex camogie player Sandra Walshe from Kilkenny beating Ciara Davey from Dublin in the women’s final.

Sandra Walshe won through in the final match with heavy hitting and a highly committed physical approach leaving Ciara

Davey with work to do before the next event to catch up to the standard set by the Kilkenny player.

Sandra showing great early season form looks as if a good season awaits her this year.

A great show from Patricia Ryan and Christine Mooney in the semi finals made a highly committed tournament for the ladies event.

Over 40s

The over 40 event saw a line up of International stars from all over the country. Ken O'Keeffe from Cork , joined Aer Lingus club international Brian Butler , new comer Abhisker Thapar and recently returned to masters squash Niall Farag from Galway to create a really strong draw.

Top seeds Niall Farag and Mark Furlong won through the early rounds to create an eagerly awaited final. With plenty of ego on show these two were both trying to set down a marker for the rest of the season.

Niall Farag as a previous professional player showing his usual great deception and ‘Furlong’ as his name suggests was built for the chase. It was a serious contest from the off.

Farag has an exceptional forehand but is more predictable on the backhand side. Furlong needed to keep all the play on the backhand side or Farag would win through.

Furlong tried everything but couldn’t neutralise the shot play of Farag. Its been a long road back for Niall Farag from a series on injuries and he received a well deserved Curragh masters win.

OVER 45s

The over 45 men's saw old rivals hunting each other for the weekend.

The Dubs were represented by seasoned International players Ronan Peyton and Dara O'Flynn. Kildare’s Lilywhite Neal Murphy and Waterford's Deise county Kevin Knox made up the other side of the semi final draw. All these players are team mates on the Over 45 International side and each player came expecting a win.

Team mates never like losing to each other and all matches were played to a standstill. The semi finals came down to a photo finish with Dara O'Flynn and Kevin Knox edging tight matches to set up a serious final.

'Flynn, giving away a few years, nearly managed a huge upset rolling back the years in the final.

In a tough fought final it was the fast feet of the Waterford man that came through in a tight 3 games to 2 in the end. Kevin Knox setting a high standard early in the season.

OVER 50S

The Over 50s was dominated by local favourite Cuan Mac Aogain from Naas.

Seeded 1 for the draw Cuan went though early tough matches with Robert Fay and David Cassidy before out classing Tipperary's Conor Gleeson from Thurles in the final.

An ex hurler the big Tipperary man was due on the sideline of a hurling match later in the day. If he had his mind on the squash rather than the hurling he might have gone home with the Curragh masters trophy. However taking the hurling out of a Tipperary man and replacing it with squash could have been the hardest match of the weekend.

Mac Aogain a regular on the Irish international teams has started the season well and Naas hope for another Irish team place for the Naas man again this year.

Another local favourite, Brian Lalor from The Curragh Squash club out classed Fitzwilliam’s golden boy Gerry Shorbagy in the

Over 55s

Gerry prides himself on sub 3 hour marathons but was no match for the local player.

Brian Lalor with a long list of Irish masters titles led Shorbagy on a merry dance around the court in the final.

With the Fitzwilliam jersey hanging off his back, Shorbagy was out on his feet trying to match the skilled Curragh man.

A very popular win for Brian Lalor and one wonders if Gerry Shorbagy will ever want to see the Curragh masters event again after such a comprehensive defeat.

Fitzwilliam squash and Curragh squash have a long rivalry and so the win for local man Lalor was one for the crowd to enjoy.

OVER 60s

Galway’s Dave Lawlor and Karim Singh fought out a hard final in the men's over 60 event with Karim Singh winning through in a great final.

Early favourites Ger Cassidy And Brendan Murphy couldn’t upset the seedings.

In the oldest age group, Naas and Curragh legend Kyran Hurley stepped back from his over 70 age group to enter the over 65 age category.

Kyran played a remarkable final with Peter Stephens from Dublin. To see over 60s and 65s squash played with such tempo and skill makes us all proud to be involved in these events. They compete and physically work as hard on court as much younger men and it is with great awe and admiration that we watch these players still enjoy the battle.

As a club the Curragh squash club was delighted to have all on court for a great weekend of Masters Squash.