Many thanks to all who supported the competition it was very much appreciated. The standard of badminton on the day was excellent and the sportsmanship and co operation from the players likewise. Hope to see you all again next year.

Trudy.

This year we decided to run the competition early in the season, Oct 23^rd in UL. Three Teams entered the Cup section (last year there wasn’t any Cup as only one team entered) and five Teams entered the Shield section.

The Cup started at 10am and all games were a very high standard. The format of the competition was the same as last year, each match consisted of 2 sets, 1 pt for each set won. The scores were as follows,

The Haynes Cup which is 80 yrs old was presented to the Captain of the UCC Team Liam NcNamara by the Munster Chairman Liam Chadwick.

The Shield competition started directly after the Cup, the five Teams were Melbourne(Cork), UL(Limerick), Lismore(Waterford), Roscrea and Templemore (Tipperary)

This was a very busy competition, it was a round robin competition, so by the end there was plenty of Bio Freeze, deep heat and any sort of energy drink players could get their hands on used.

The competition was played in great spirit and there was great co-operation from all the players.

The Shield was presented to Albert Chui, captain of the UL Team.

In total 154 sets of Badminton were played on 4 Courts that day.

Thanks to all the Teams for entering this competition.

The 60^th Brewster Cup Tournament was played last Sunday in Killarney (6^th March) with three counties, Cork, Kerry and Waterford, competing for the trophy. It was decided to adopt a system that would allow all three counties to play each other at the same time rather than adopting a round robin format. This was done to help to ensure that none of the competing counties would have an early advantage.

From early on it became apparent that this tournament was going to go down to the wire with a number of the early games going to three sets with wins being shared between the counties. Of these, Sean Murphy and Billy Lacey (Kerry) had a fine win against David O’ Driscoll and Conor Leahy (Cork) in 1^st mens doubles 23-21 in the 3^rd set . On court at the same time as this doubles match was being played the mens singles match between Eoin Walsh (Waterford) and Neil Moynihan (Cork) was heading to its conclusion, the result eventually going in Waterfords favor 24-22 in the 3^rd set. Of the other early match ups Trish Doyle and Patricia Herlihy (Cork) narrowly beat Gemma Tobin and Aoife Maher (Waterford) 21-16, again in the 3^rd set.

Coming into the final round of games the result was still in the balance with both Kerry and Cork having a slight edge over Waterford. Of these, Patricia Herlihy and Terence Rumley (Cork) had a narrow win against Peggy Horan and Sean Murphy (Kerry) in 3^rd mixed, eventually coming through 21-15 in the 3^rd set. Two other mixed doubles were on court while this game was being played; Sinead Galvin and Michael Crossan (Kerry) came through 2^nd mixed against Emer O’ Keeffe and David O’ Driscoll (Cork) and when Trish Doyle and Neill Moynihan (Cork) came through a tough encounter in 1^st mixed against Helen Twomey and Billy Lacey the calculators had to come out….

The final result going in favor of a worthy Cork team on a sets count back.

Final score: Cork 10 points (24 sets), Kerry 10 points (22 sets), Waterford 7 points.

While all would agree that the tournament was a great success and a very high standard of badminton was on show for all who watched on, it is hoped to have more counties involved in the coming years..

As the 8 courts in the Killarney sports centre eagerly awaited the arrival of the players who would, for the next 8hrs keep them company, the players were checking strings, grips, making sure the water bottle was full of water the essential fuel to keep them going for the day ahead. Players checked in, entry fees paid… and the battle commenced.

The courts wondered which of them would have the first final and sure enough by 12.30 the finalist were decided in the Singles in both the Senior 1 and Junior competitions. Court 8 hosted the first final of the day and as the day went on all ten titles were decided. Finals in all sections were of a very high standard. Each title was certainly hard fought and well earned. As silence returned to the courts again as the players departed, some with prizes, a few aches and pains and a few broken strings the courts were left to think about the marvellous games that had been played during the day and wonder when will the Badminton tour return again.

As 10am approached on the 23^rd of Jan the car park at the sports centre in Killarney started to fill with cars with registrations from Waterford, Cork, Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and of course Kerry all packed with players hoping to win Munster Badminton titles. Players checked in any were promptly given a court to start their campaign. As soon as one match finished another was waiting to go on. By 1pm the first competitions were completed and the singles winners were decided. Feathers were airborne for the next 5 hrs until all competitions were decided. The competition was excellent all day and all those who watched from the balcony were treated to a very high standard of badminton. As the cars left some with new Munster title winners others retaining their title and some like myself, wondering if only I had practiced a bit more….. Another day.

The butterfield cup which was hosted by Kerry was played in listowel on Sunday 12th with cork beating kerry 5/0

Three of the five games were three setters with cork winning all three in the top games of the day

Paul Foy cork beat Tom Burke 21/14 9/21 21/18 while in the ladies doubles Trish Doyle/Michelle Hayes
cork beat Helen Twomey/Eileen OConnor 21/14 9/21 21/18

This Munster Class 4 Team event took place on the 28^th Nov in Killarney. Despite the weather conditions all teams entered travelled to the event. Five Teams took part, Kerry, Cork x2, Limerick and Tipperary.

After five rounds of competitive badminton Cork “A” proved to be the strongest Team on the day with Tipperary coming second.