Badminton: Tullamore Sacred Heart School scores for Offaly
After just pipping St. Brendan’s Community School to earn the honour of representing Offaly in the U14 Post-Primary Schools Division 3 competition, Sacred Heart School headed for Baldoyle Badminton Centre in Dublin. Other teams representing Offaly were Ard Scoil Chiaráin Naofa Boys, Division 2, Colaiste Naomh Cormac girls, Division 2 and CNC boys, Division 3.
Tullamore Sacred Heart School were seeded into a Pool with Loreto Navan andNewbridge College.
Evelyn Varghese led off for SHS against Loreto and scored a 30/23 win. Bilha Traji played 2nd singles for SHS. She met a very strong opponent and lost 14/30. Bayley Conway Bracken won 30/20. Shruthi Verradoddi met a very inexperienced 4th singles and scored a massive 30/4 win, giving SHS a 3-1 lead heading into the doubles. Evelyn and Bilha found themselves in a very competitive game against the player Evelyn defeated and the player Bilha lost to. The game swayed back and forth with Loreto easing ahead at the end, to score a win, 30/27. A quick tally of scores before the 2nd doubles showed Loreto having to hold the SHS players to 5 scores or less for them to earn a draw and finish ahead on points. Bayley and Shruthi did not let SHS down, and scored a big 30/12 win. Sacred Heart won the match 4-2.
The next opponent for Sacred Heart was Newbridge College. Two points can make a huge difference in a match, and the match score of 4-2 in favour of Sacred Heart was not a real reflection of the dominance of Sacred Heart. Evelyn earned SHS a strong start with a 30/7 victory. Bilha’s opponent matched her point for point and on the last stroke of the game finished on top, 30/29. Bayley and Shruthi scored very one-sided wins in 3rd and 4th singles.
Newbridge fought back in the doubles games to atone for the singles losses. Evelyn and Bilha kept the pressure on and scored a 30/14 win. Faith and Jennifer from Newbridge showed that sometimes the whole is better than the parts, when they teamed up for another 1 point win for their school. Even though Bayley and Shruthi had scored big wins in their singles matches, they lost the doubles 29-30. Maryfield College Dublin flew through their Pool with very little challenges to meet Sacred Heart in the Division 3 Final. Sacred Heart were no match for them, losing all 6 games to a team that would not have been out of place in Division 2.
Sacred Heart heads were held high as they came home with Silver Medals in Division 3 Leinster badminton finals.
Colaiste Naomh Cormac girls, Kilcormac represented Offaly in Division 2.
CNC were very lucky with the draw, meeting the weakest team in the group, St. Colmcille, Dublin, in their first match. Aisling Mooney played 1st singles for CNC and set the tone for the match. Aisling won 30/2. Saoirse Murphy followed with a 30/7 win in 2nd singles. The remaining 4 games were very one-sided in favour of CNC. Ava Dunne won 30/4 and Siún Joyce finished the singles 30/1. Saoirse gave a demonstration on low serving and how to keep opponents off-balance by throwing in a few high serves and only with the score 29/0 did she and Aisling make a mistake. On the next St. Colmcille serve, the CNC pair closed out the game 30/1. Ava and Siún won 2nd doubles 30/4.
In Pools of 3 teams, the loser of the first game meets the remaining team, so CNC got to scout Kilkenny College playing St. Colmcille’s. Kilkenny were as ruthless to St. Colmcille’s as CNC had been, so even though Kilkenny College looked strong, they didn’t look invincible. The match against Kilkenny College became a semifinal. The winner would meet the Pool topper in Pool A in the Division 2 final. Aisling led off and started very slowly, making many unaccustomed errors. After the changeover, she was able to match the KKC player point for point, but not make inroads on the gap.
Then disaster struck. Aisling went over on her ankle. She finished the match, losing 19/30. Saoirse met another strong opponent and only managed 20 points in her loss. Ava reversed the fortunes for CNC, winning 30/18, and Siún followed with a 30/27 win. Aisling, with a well strapped ankle, and Saoirse went on court for 1st doubles. Aisling’s limited movement forced the girls to change their usual pattern of play, and they lost 9/30. Ava and Siún levelled the score at 3-all but with a points tally of 158 to 138, Kilkenny College went forward to the final. Aoife Feighery and Alana Geller were subs for CNC, but Badminton Ireland school rules permits substitutes only if a player is so badly injured he/she cannot continue playing, so the girls did not get to see action.
Colaiste Naomh Cormac boys played in the largest competition, 12 schools divided into 4 groups of 3 schools each. CNC were drawn in a Pool with St. Peter’s of Wexford and CBS Naas.
CNC’s first opponent was St. Peter’s, a school familiar to CNC players in both badminton and hurling. Sean Lambe played 1st singles for CNC. Sean was slightly ahead at the halfway changeover, but fell behind in the closing rallies and lost 27/30. Sean was the only player on the team with match experience except the Offaly blitz.
The other players were not fazed by lack of experience. Harry Heffernan Feighery won 30/18. Aran Kelly outscored his opponent 30/12. Charlie Lock finished the singles with a 30/19 win. The doubles only got better for CNC. Sean and Aran won 30/13 and Harry and Charlie won 30/14. CNC finished the match 5-1 winners.
CBS Naas was a different story. Sean suffered a very heavy 7/30 defeat in 1st singles. Harry scored better, but still lost 20/30. Aran lost 3rd singles, this time 12/30. Charlie had the measure of his opponent to where they exchanged point for point throughout their game, with one player never going more than 2 points ahead. With the score level at 29-all, Charlie’s opponent hit a shuttle he wasn’t able to return, so the game finished 29/30 to CBS Naas. Sean and Aran did better together than either had done in singles, but they still lost 22/30. Harry and Charlie became the heroes of the day. They scored a very good 30/25 win in 2nd doubles to prevent a whitewash. Match score 5-1 to Naas. With no injuries to allow him on court, sub, Luke Guinan had to watch all the matches from the sidelines.
Ard Scoil Chiarain, Clara was the only Offaly school guaranteed three matches. They were drawn in a Pool with Kilkenny College, Ard Scoil Rís, Dublin, and Templeogue College.
Jake Cornally led off for ASCN against Kilkenny College. Jake played his best badminton of the day, but lost 30/15. Dean Bracken followed with a 30/9 loss. Kilkenny College made it 3 in a row with a 30/16 loss by Lewis O’Neill in 3rd singles. Jack Cornally fought hard and scored the best of the ASCN players, but lost 26/30. After their losses in singles, Jake and Dean teamed up and met their singles opposition and lost 30/11. Lewis and Jack had ASCN hopes riding high as they fought point for point, but were crushed with a 29/30 loss. Kilkenny College won 6-0.
Ard Scoil Chiarán Naofa scored their best results against Ard Scoil Rís. The ASCN team was very evenly balanced with no strong player or no weak player. Jake again led off for ASCN and was heavily defeated. Dean was up next and managed 14 points. Lewis scored the first win for ASCN in 3rd singles,30/22. Jack followed with a 30/16 win. Jake and Dean improved on their singles scores, but still lost 16/30 in 1st doubles. Lewis and Jack secured a 3-3 drawn with a win in 2nd doubles. When the scores were added, Ard Scoil Rís won 145-128.
ASCN would not top the Pool, but they still had one more opponent to play, Templeogue College. Again, Jake was the 1st player on court, and again he struggles, losing again by a huge score. Now scores started to improve. Dean lost, but scored 18 points. Lewis managed 20 points, and Jack scored 22. Instead of going up, Jake and Dean went down in 1st doubles, losing by a huge score. Lewis and Jack again came close, but with only 27 points, they finished behind their opponent’s 30. Templeogue College won 6-0.
The final 2025 badminton action takes place in Baldoyle Badminton Centre on April 6th when many of these same players will represent Offaly in the U15 Leinster Intercounties Blitz.