Beech Hill Table Tennis Club

Mayfield girls had an easy passage through the Munster finals of the community games to book their place in what is most likely to be the last community games to be held at Mosney. In the first round the accounted for Kerry with Katie McSweeney and Evelyn Mullane winning their respective matches. Cliona O'Shaughnessy accounted very well for herself agains much older opposition. In the final Mayfield faced a Limerick Team who had accounted for Clare in the other Semi Final. Again the result was never in doubt with the Cork girls experience coming to the fore.

The Ballincollig lads had a much stiffer task, on paper, with Tipperary (Thurles) in the 1 round but Ivan Shorten had them well prepared and the ran out easy winners. With the tough one out of the way they proceed to play to form to also book a place in Mosney.

Thanks to Derek for organising the Garda Siochana Community Mini Bus and to Finbar our driver. To T&A Building Suppliers for sponsoring the Mayfield kit.

I'm still waiting on detailed reports from the players but our girls did very well at the Britich Schools Internationals. In the team event Ireland B (Rachel O'Connor & Amanda Mogey) taking bronze behind England A & England B. Ireland A (Linda O'Sullivan & Sabrina Conway) took silver in the Doubles event with Linda winning the Consolation and Rachel 3rd.

Our own Teddy O'Connor returned from the games with two Bronze medals. The first was won on the first day of play in the doubles event and he won the second for singles later in the week. Teddy worked very hard at training every Wednesday in Beech Hill and I have no doubt he trained equally hard in Glasheen at the Cope training sessions. Well done and well deserved.

Linda O'Sullivan and Rachel O'Connor have been selected to represent the Irish Schools in Largs, Scotland on June 28th and 29th. Well done and best of luck.

Chairman	Anthony Condron
Vice Chairman	Kieran Spitere
Secretary	Rory O'Connor munstertabletennis@eircom.net
Treasurer	Mrs. Alice-Anne Oliver
PRO	Kieran Spitere
Delegates to I.T.T.A	Anthony Condron
Childrens Officer	Mrs. Amy Flahive
Schools League	Mrs. Alice-Anne Oliver
Womens Affairs	Claire Healy

Chairman	Michael Healy
Vice Chairman	Martin Herley
Secretary	Ms. Louise Long corktabletennis@eircom.net
Treasurer/Affiliations	Mrs. Amy Flahive
PRO/Property	Con O'Callaghan
Delegates to Munster Branch	TBA
Childrens Officer	Mrs. Mary D'Arcy
Schools League	Bud Morrissey
Senior League	Tom Elliott

The Cork Community Games Finals were held at the Beech Hill club on Saturday 24 May. The boys teams were representing the Glen and Ballincollig East. A very young Glen team was drawn from the Beech Hill club and were no match for the older and more experienced Ballincollig lads who now progress to the next stage of the competition on July 12th in Limerick.

The girls event saw Mayfield, National winners in 2000 and runners up in 2001, against Goleen. The Mayfield team was drawn from our club and booked their place at the Munster finals with a 4 to 3 victory. The team was made up of Katie McSweeney, Evelyn Mullane, Cliodhna Kelly, Cliona O'Shaughnessey, and absent due to examinations was Maedhbh Kelly.

Members of the Irish Table Tennis Association Strategy committee will present a draft proposal for discussion. All members and parents are invited to attend. This is an ideal forum for parents to inform the ITTA of their views on all aspects of table tennis both good and bad from a parents perspective. It is also an opportunity for the players to communicate their views. You are being encouraged to attend.

Boys U10: 3rd Scott Shellard
Boys U12: 5th Ian Shellard 10th Dara Kelleher
Girls U10: 8th Cliodhna Kelly (Plate 2nd) 9th Cliona O'Shaughnessey (Plate 3rd)
Girls U12: 10th Evelyn Mullane 13th Orla O'Reilly (Plate 1st)
Girls U14: 9th Sarah Dorney
Girls U17: 2nd Rachel O'Connor 3rd Anna D'Arcy Sarah Dorney (Plate 1st) Katie McSweeney (Plate 2nd)

Pride of place must go to our Junior girls Rachel and Anna with an excellent 2nd & 3rd place. Scott Shellard took an excellent 3rd place in the U10's. while older brother Ian was unfortunate to be out of the medals but did finish with a very good 5th place in the under 12 Boys with Dara Kelleher recording his 1st top 10 result in the same event. Another top 10 first went to Sarah Dorney with 9th place in the Cadet girls.
In Under 12 girls there was an excellent performance by Evelyn Mullane to take yet another first top 10 place after a 5 set encounter with Cloe Nealon.
In the plate events Orla O'Reilly won the under 12's and in the under 17's Katie McSweeney and Sarah Dorney reached the final with Sarah coming out on top.
Our Under 10 Girls had their first taste of Irish ranking with 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the plate competition for Cliodhna Kelly and Cliona O'Shaughnessey

Harlequins Table Tennis Club was the venue for the final of the Cork Senior League between Beech Hill and C.I.T. Going into the match there were a number of questions; Would Milos remain unbeaten for the entire competition, would Beech Hill's less than impressive doubles results be their downfall, Would C.I.T. suffer as a result of Johnny McCarthy's absence. It took two and half hours and super-doubles (the nearest thing to extra time in table tennis) for these issues to be resolved.

Match 1 saw CIT take and early lead with Mark White taking a 3 to 0 victory over Linda O'Sullivan. Philip Shaw lost out to PJ Hurley by 3 sets to 1 giving CIT a two game cushion. Milos Soukup put Beech Hill on board with a 3 to 1 result against David O'Rourke. CIT made it 3 games to 1 with PJ Hurley having to fight very hard to take a 3 to 2 victory over Linda O'Sullivan. With CIT holding a 3 games to 1 lead it was imperative that Philip Shaw would get a result against David O'Rourke and he duly obliged by 3 to 1. With the score at 3 to 2 in favour of CIT match 6 was the one everyone was waiting for. Milos Soukup came into the final undefeated in singles play and having already beaten Mark in the Munster Open Class II final it was always going to be the match that everyone was waiting for. With Mark playing to his best form Milos suffered his first defeat of the tournament by 3 to 0. This made the score at 4 to 2 in favour of C.I.T. and with C.I.T. assured of at least one more victory, the pressure was on Munster's No. 1 Lady, Linda O'Sullivan to produce a result against Dave O'Rourke. This she did by the closest of margins 3 games to 2. With the remaining singles being played to form C.I.T went into the doubles leading by 5 games to 4.
Under pressure Beech Hill put out a new doubles combination of Linda O'Sullivan and Milos Soukup against Mark White and P.J. Hurley. Needing a win to stay in the match the Beech Hill pair tied the match with a 3 sets to 1 victory.
To decide the match super-doubles was needed and Linda was replaced by Philip Shaw for Beech Hill and Mark was replaced by David O'Rourke for C.I.T. This resulted in a 3 - 0 victory for Beech Hill and their first ever silverware.
Beech Hill from: Milos Soukup, Philip Shaw, Linda O'Sullivan, Louise Long, Clare O'Callaghan, Rachel O'Connor.
C.I.T. from: Mark White, David O'Rourke, P.J. Hurley, Jonathan McCarthy, Michael Krygier
Referee: Dan Foley (Harlequins)

Beech Hill's Michael Cummins has been awarded this years Sports Personality of the Year award for Special Olympics Table Tennis. On behalf of all the members well done and many congratulations. By the way Michaels sporting skills and not just confined to Table Tennis. Michael recently took on the World Darts Champion, here in Cork, and Louise tells me that he accounted equally well for himself as he does on the Table Tennis table.
"To a man of many talents but more importantly a nice guy well done and well deserved."

Well done to the Beech Hill members of St. Angela's College who were involved in bringing the Under 13 and Under 19 titles back to St. Angela's. The 15's were not able to make it a hat-trick of titles but they did well to take 2nd place. Well done also the their coach Louise.

National Coach, Colum Slevin will be attending a special training camp in Beech Hill on Sunday May 12th. The session is part of a 2 day camp with 9 players and their coaches attending. The objective is to provide top quality coaching for our developing players at Junior and Cadet.
The following Beech Hill players are invited to attend

Denis Mullane, Shane Minogue, Ross Griffin, Ruari Oliver, Aaron Kelleher, Emma Jane,

Saturday Dunmanway Hall 9:30am.11 tables 5 for Colm. 6 for other coaches. 12 players to be chosen by Owen as per agreed discussion.
Sunday Beech Hill 9:30 am. 4 extra tables to be included for players outside the 9. These players will be selected by Beech Hill

The following Beech Hill players and coaches were selected to represent Munster at the interpros in Antrim on May 12th. Well done all.
Anna D'Arcy was selected on the Under 17 Girl's team but is unable to travel as she is representing Ireland on the academic stage. Obviously not just handy at table tennis and we wish her the very best of luck.

West of luck to the following Beech Hill players who were selected to represent Munster at the Senior Interpros. Louise Long, Linda O'Sullivan, Philip Shaw

West Cork Open 2003

>>> Double for Ian Shellard as Beech Hill wins 7 events
>>> First Munster Title for Evelyn Mullane in the Under 12 Girls
>>> Rachel O'Connor makes it 5 out of 5 in Junior Girls
>>> Louise long wins the Ladies title
>>> Philip Shaw takes the Senior Men and Vets

Ian Shellard put a sequence of 2nd place results firmly behind him to wrap up this seasons Munster rankings with a fine double, taking both the Under 12's and Under 14's boys titles. Ian took the under 14 final from Munster No.1 Denis Mullane of Thurles in a cracking 5 sets. It was a good week-end for the Shellards with younger brother Scott overcoming the disappointment of loosing the under 10 final to take a very good 3rd in the under 12's.

Beech Hill came away with 3 wins on the first day of the event with wins for Rachel O'Connor in the U17 Girls, Ian Shellard in the U12 Boys and Evelyn Mullane in the U12 Girls. The Junior girls served up the usual final pairing of Rachel O'Connor and Anna D'Arcy.This was the fifth time the girls had met in a Munster final and again Rachel took the honours. Yvonne Hurley avoided the scenic route on this occasion, to third place. Still in the under 17 girls; not to be outdone by her older sister, Emily D'Arcy, who is still only U13, took the first place in the U17 plate with a solid victory over Marie McSweeney (Kenneigh) in the semi-final and then won the final with an excellent win over our own Rebecca McCarthy.

The Under 12 girls saw Evelyn Mullane (Beech Hill) having to contend with the three previous U12 winners.In the first round she defeated UCC Open winner Ronja Bailey (Goleen). Later she was up against the Under 12 winner from the Dunmanway Open Eliza Woods (Goleen) before reaching the final against the Cork Close Under 12 Winner Susan Harvey (St. Angela's). Evelyn made no mistake this time ensuring the result was reversed giving Evelyn her first Munster Title.

Under 12 Boys saw Beech Hill players take 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th. Ian Shellard was always favourite to take the title but made very hard work of defeating Fiachra Landers (Scoil Eoin). Ian had to come from 2 sets down and looking in big trouble in the 3rd at 10 8 down, but Ian rallied to take the set. Ian went on the record his first Under 12 title of the season having taken 2nd place in the four other events. To complete the occasion for the Shellard boys, younger brother Scott had a very fine 3rd place, having been defeated by Aidan Grabe in the under 10 final earlier in the day.

Sunday saw the under 14 girls in action and it was no suprise that Andrea Shorten (Kenneigh) and Katie McSweeney (Beech Hill) reached the final as was to be expected the result went with the form book giving Andrea 1st place with Katie 2nd. Beech Hill provided the 3rd and 4th sports also the Sarah Dorney having her best result of the season to defeat club mate Emily D'Arcy who was also scoring her higest ranking points of the season.

There was a very small entry in the senior ladies as most of the contenders were preparing for exams. Beech Hill provided most if not all the opposition for the eventual winner Louise Long.

The senior men also had small turnout with the final result going to Philip Shaw. Philip also won the Vets competition.

Coach Development
We are looking for parents and senior players to get involved with our existing qualified coaches in coaching our beginners. We are hoping to bring a new batch of players to the club towards the end of the season (May/June) in preparation for next season. These players will be from the local primary schools. The future of the club lies in our ability to develop our young players to a standard where they can enjoy competing with the best in the country. In order to do this we need to have a much smaller player/coach ratio at training. Working with the existing coaches at Under 10 & Under 12 sessions is an ideal way of preparing for a Level I coaching course.

Rachel O'Connor selected for the Irish Junior Girls team traveling to Cardiff on March 28th for the Junior Six Nations Championships.
Louise Long has been selected as the junior team NPC. Best of luck to both of them!!!!!!

Beech Hill had the narrowest of wins over Kenneigh by 6 games to 4 to reach the final of the Cork Senior League. Kenneigh trailed by 5 games to 4 going into the deciding doubles but their chances of levelling the match took a blow with Owen Kelly injuring himself towards the end of the 1st set. Beech Hill now await the outcome of the other semi-final between CIT and Harlequins.

There will be a Munster Girls Under 12 Squad training at Beech Hill on Sunday next, February 8th. Training will commence at 10am and conclude at 2pm and will be conducted by Vicky Ridgeway. Please ensure that you bring some food and drink, to keep you going, and try to avoid training on an empty stomach.
The Following Beech Hill players have been selected to attend: Evelyn Mullane, Cliodhna Kelly, Maedhbh Kelly, Sara Ross.

IRISH TABLE TENNIS ON IRISH TELEVISION!
No this is not a prank email. The Sports Monthly Programme scheduled for 1.30pm on Network 2 and repeated on Tuesday will show footage from the Munster Open 2003. Some of you will be at the Leinster Open so set you video recorders!
It might never happen again!

It will also be repeated on cable television around Dublin during the week.

Beech Hill welcomes new members Kelby Duggan, Hayley Collins and Sarah Dorney. All three are from the Ursulines Convent Secondary School in Blackrock where they have been playing under the coaching of Gus Coughlan. We are delighted that they have recently joined the club and wish the well.

Munster Open 2003

How we did - Main Headlines
2 Titles for Beech Hill. Milos wins Class II and Linda O'Sullivan wins Under 21's
Linda, Louise, Anna & Yvonne dominate the u21 semi-finals
Linda & Louise runners-up in ladies doubles
Another 3rd place for Rachel O'Connor in Junior Girls as Anna D'Arcy reaches her first Junior semi-final with fine result over Irish No.1 Sabrina Conway.
1st year Junior Claire O'Callaghan gets inside top 10 after a big come-back against Dublin's Sinead Kelly
All our under12 boys get through group stages

FULL REPORT ON THE MUNSTER TABLE TENNIS OPEN 200317th-19th JAN
Sponsored by Permanent TSB & Fitzgerald & Associates.
By Owen Kelly (Slightly modified by RO'C) sorry Owen!!!!

NA NING CROWNED "KING OF PING" AT MUNSTER OPEN
Na Ning originally from China and now living in Dublin had the tournament of his life. This talented junior, still under 17yrs has had a number of notable successes this season but no body expected him to take four of the Munster Open titles, the largest tournament in Ireland. In the Mens Open he revenged his defeat at the hands of Tommy Caffrey at the Connacht Open earlier in the season and moved into the semi final where he met local favourite Brian Fitzgerald who had already disposed of the No.2 seed John Bowe in the quarter finals, which produced a thrilling semi with both players striking the ball from every part of the court in a battle to dominate the table. NA Ning moved on to meet No.1 seed Damien Lynch in the final which was watched by a number of guests including the Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Kelleher and 5 of the 6 Munster Special Olympic Table Tennis squad who have been selected to represent Ireland at the World Games in the summer. They were treated to a superb example of fast attacking table tennis that was well supported by the impartial crowd.

NA Ning went on to take the U21 title from Conor Nolan who was also NA Ning's victim in the junior final on Sunday.

Elizabeth Dennett from England made it a good day for the foreign players taking the junior title from Amanda Mogey and completed the double with a victory over current Irish No.1 Tara Fusco (TIBHAR) in the senior ladies. A superb and well deserved victory for Beech Hill girl Anna D'Arcy over the current Irish No.1 Sabrina Conway saw her take a well deserved 4th place finish behind another Beech Hill girl Rachel O'Connor (TIBHAR).

Sabina Kazimagomedova from Russia who is currently based at the Terenure Club caused a stir in her first Irish National tournamet by reaching the final of the U14 girls but was beaten by Amy Tobin (ALSAA) in the final. David Hayes from England went one further in the U14 boys by defeating Michael McDonnell who is part of a new crop of Connacht based players who are starting to appear more regularly at national level.

The U21 event was dominated by Munster players with Linda O'Sullivan beating Louise Long in the final and Anna D'Arcy and Yvonne Hurley finishing in third. All these players are from the new Beech Hill Table Tennis Club in Cork. Linda O'Sullivan and Louise Long combined reached the ladies doubles final but were unable defeat fellow Cork player Linda Mountjoy and Irish No.1 Tara Fusco in the final of the ladies doubles. The mens final saw NA Ning take his fourth Munster Title partnering John Bowe by beating Damien Lynch and Marcus McDonnell in the final.

Milos Soukup from the Czech Republic took the Class 2 title against Mark White from Cork.

The Mixed Doubles final saw Munster No.1's Brian Fitzgerald (Friends First) and Linda Mountjoy (UCC) take on Tara Fusco and rising talent Peter Graham from Ulster. Fitzgerald and Mountjoy partners off and on the table combined well together to please the local support to take the Munster Mixed Doubles title.

Our Beech Hill II Senior League team captain Benoit Beaufort is returning home to live in his native France on Friday 31st January. It is always sad to loose a club member so maybe as a result of Benoit's departure our club may forge a link with whichever Benoit decides to join, on his return to France, and that we may meet again.
On behalf of the Players, Coaches and Management Committee we wish you a Bon Voyage.

To send Benoit on his way, with happy memories of his association with Beech Hill Table Tennis Club, we will meet him for a few drinks at the Country Club Hotel on Monday 27th at 9:30. All members eligible to be in a Licensed Premises are invited to attend.

Rachel O'Connor selected for the Irish Junior Girls team traveling to England for the Junior British Leagues in February. Louise Long has been selected as the NPC. Best of luck to both of them!!!!!!

Given the time of year, this event, which is one of the oldest in the Irish Table Tennis calendar, was well attended and well supported also by most of the top players.
The Under 12 boys was won by favorite Ian Shellard (Celtic TableTennis) with brother Scott (Celtic TableTennis) and Niall O'Callaghan making it a clean sweep for the Beech Hill Club. St. Angela's were on the mark in the Under 12 Girls with a victory for Susan Harvey with Beech Hill's Evelyn Mullane 2nd and Ruth Corcoran from Kinneagh in 3rd spot.
The Under 14 Boys was won by Ballincollig's Ruairi Oliver with Barry Horgan from Kinneagh in 2nd place. Aaron Kelleher took the Bronze for Ballincollig.
The Under 14 Girls went as expected with Kinneigh's Andrea Shorten (Celtic Table Tennis) winning from Beech Hill's Katie McSweeney and surprise 3rd place Sarah Dorney from the Ursulines.
Under 17 Boys title went to Mike Spitere, with Killian Healy 2nd and 3rd to Ruairi Oliver giving Ballincollig another clean sweep at Under 17's
Under 17 Girls Beech Hill dominated the final placings in an event which saw yet another Anna D'Arcy Rachel O'Connor final with victory to Rachel O'Connor (TIBHAR) on the day. Meanwhile Yvonne Hurley was taking the scenic route to 3rd place by coming 2nd in her 1st round group and following this with an excellent win over Emma-Jane Helen in the quarters. Having lost to Rachel in the semis she took 3rd spot from Ursulines Kelby Duggan.
With Milos out and Bertie returning, the Senior men took on a different dimension from previous events. The first semifinal saw Brian Fitzgerald winning his way to the final from Philip Shaw while in the other semi Bertie got the better of Tom Elliott. Brian won the final as to be expected and Tom extracted revenge for Dunmanway and took 3rd place from Philip.
With the top 4 senior ladies entered and making it to the semis there was the prospect of the best being kept to last. Five set matches were the order of the day with Linda Mountjoy & Rachel O'Connor heading group 1 but not until Rachel had made the former Irish No 1 fight all the way over five sets. The other Group saw Linda O'Sullivan and Louise Long emerge to the Semis after a five set match which saw Linda top the group. In the first Semi Linda Mountjoy beat Louise over five sets, while in the other semi Rachel took a long awaited victory from Linda O'Sullivan in yet again another five setter. The final saw Rachel continue to keep up the pressure on the top seed and finally had to be satisfied with 2nd place after conceding defeat 11/7 in ,yes you guessed it, another five set match. Linda & Louise, not wishing to risk another five set match agreed to settle for joint 3rd.

"Five Munster titles for Beech Hill with Katie McSweeney and Cliona Kelly taking their first wins"

Katie McSweeney took her first Munster title at under 14's when she defeated Kloe Wood from Goleen in the final by 3 sets to 1. Hazell Mullins put in an excellent performance to get to her first semi-final only to lose out to Kloe Wood in a very hard fought match. In girls under 10 Cliona Kelly capitalised on the absence of Aisling O'Callaghan to record her first win with Cliona O'Saughnessey 3rd. Cliona Kelly took her first title from Aisling Healy of Ballincollig. Overall Beech Hill players performed well at the 3rd Munster ranking of the season. Also in the Saturday session we had a one-two in the Girls under 17 with the all Beech Hill final between Rachel O'Connor and Anna D'Arcy. This is the 3rd time this season that these players have met in the final and with Rachel coming out on top by 3 sets to 1 these two have clearly staked their claim to Munster Junior Team places. The 3rd 4th play-off was between Yvonne Hurley and Emma-Jane Helen from Kinneigh with victory to Emma-Jane. In Boys under 10 No. 1 seed, Scott Shellard, was not put under pressure in taking his 3rd ranking of the season to remain unbeaten in the event. In under 12 boys, newcomer Wayne Fitzgerald did very well to again reach the quarter finals. He had a very good victory over Scott Shellard but was no match for older brother Ian in quarters. Ian went on to the final against Ross Griffin with an improved performance taking a set in the process of coming second. In the plate competition Niall O'Callaghan took first place with a win over Darragh Buckley. At under 17 the Ballincollig club dominated the event with the all three trophies going to Owen Hegarty, Mike Spitere and Eoin McNally (Must be the Marks and Spencers Crisps supplied by Beech Hill). The plate win went to Ruairi Oliver with runner up John Cuffe of Beech Hill. Evelyn Mullane put in another solid performance in coming 3rd in the Under 12 Girls having lost her semifinal match to the eventual winner, Ronja Bailey from Goleen. Under 10 Cliona Kelly took 2nd place in the plate event. Ian Shellard took 4th place in the Boys under 14's, loosing out to old rival Ruairi Oliver in the Semi-finals. Linda O'Sullivan and Louise Long took 1st and 2nd in the Under 21's. Senior Ladies saw Louise Long take 2nd place and Linda O'Sullivan 3rd. Senior Men Milos Soukup reached the Final to be beaten by Brian Fitzgerald. Well Done All !!!!!!!!!!!!

Power failure brings Ulster Junior Open to a premature end with Rachel O'Connor (Beech Hill) & Sabrina Conway (ALSAA) due to play Beech Hill pair of Anna D'Arcy & Yvonne Hurley in the Doubles Semi-Final.

I will put all the results up on Monday night. Here are some Provisional Results from Stuart & Con

Junior Girls: 3rd Rachel, 5th Anna, 8th Yvonne, 9th Katie
Under 14 Boys: Scott & Ian Shellard joint 9th
Under 12 Boys: Scott and Ian joint 9th
Under 12 Girls: Evelyn Mullane 12th
U14 Doubles: (Results gone missing at the moment)
Girls Doubles: (Event abandoned due to power failure.)
Rumour has it that it was because there were too many Beech Hill Girls in the Semi's

On the 8th of November 4 Beechhill players, Louise, Linda, Anna and Yvonne headed up to Galway for an Irish Senior Ranking tournament. Although this tournament is seen more of a social event there were great results for Beechhill players.

The ladies and mixed doubles were played on the Friday night. Unfortunately, Anna & Yvonne came up against Louise & Linda in the first round with Louise & Linda coming out on top. They went on to beat Tara Fusco and Ronda Fox a 5 set match getting them to the final. They lost a very close final losing in the 5th set 11-9 against Theresa Devaney & Orla Folan. In the mixed doubles Louise and her partner managed to get to the semi finals.

Beechhill players came out with good results in the Ladies singles. Yvonne Hurley came up against Tara Fusco in the Quarter finals. Tara won the first 2 sets and in the 3rd Yvonne decided that she was going to beat her in Table Tennis so she decided to introduce gymnastics into her game. The whole hall came to a halt with floods of laughter when long legged Yvonne accidentally did the splits. This, however did not turn Tara off and she continued into the semis.

On form birthday girl Linda O Sullivan beat Ronda Fox getting her into the semi finals. Linda then lost to number 1 seed Tara Fusco. Louise beat Orla Folan but then lost to Theresa Devaney in the Quarters. Also on form was Anna D'Arcy who only lost in the 5th set to Rhonda Fox putting her into the plate competition. She sailed through this competition but unfortunately lost to Orla Folan in the final.

The second Munster Ranking of the season was held in Dunmanway 2nd & 3rd of November. Beech Hill had a number of under 10's and 12's who were playing in their first ranking tournament, with Wayne Fitzgerald and Aaron Landy getting through their groups in fine style, but the performance of the event must go to Evelyn Mullane for making it to the under 12 final at her 1st attempt.

In the under 10 girls Cliona Kelly took herself to her 2nd under 10 final of the season only to loose out to Aisling O'Callaghan from Kinneigh. Cliona O'Shaughnessey did very well coming home in 5th place.

In the Girls under 12 Evelyn Mullane put in an excellent performance to reach the final only lose out to Munster no.1 Eliza Wood from Goleen.

The girls under 14 saw Katie McSweeney make her first under 14 final to be beaten by Munster No. 1 Andrea Shorten [CELTIC TABLE TENNIS] from Kinneagh. Excellent performances from Hazell Mullins and Emily D'Arcy taking 5th & 6th positions.

The girls under 17 final was a repeat of the Beech Hill Open with Rachel O'Connor [TIBHAR] 1st, Anna D'Arcy 2nd and a first trophy of the season for Yvonne Hurley in 3rd place.

Scott Shellard confirms his no 1 status taking his 2nd under 10 title of the season from Aidan Grabe from the Ballincollig club, with newcomers Tony Kennedy and William Corcoran doing very well for first time out taking 6th & 7th places.

Ian Shellard reached his second under 12 final only to lose out to his old rival Ross Griffin from Co. Clare. Brother Scott finished 6th with Wayne Fitzgerald doing very well for first time out with 8th place.

As he did at the Beech Hill Open, Ian Shellard again reached the under 14 boys final and again the opposition was provided by Denis Mullane from Thurles. While Ian had to settle for 2nd place it was a fair achievement for an under 12.

There was a small entry for the under 21 ladies with Linda O'Sullivan loosing to Linda Mountjoy in the final. Sandra Morris & Rachel O'Connor [TIBHAR] shared 3rd spot

The Senior Ladies saw some earlier results reversed with Anna D'Arcy taking the 3rd place from Rachel O'Connor and Linda O'Sullivan taking the Senior title from Linda Mountjoy.

The Senior men went to Brian Fitzgerald from the Eastpoint club in Dublin, with Tom Elliott from Harlequins 2nd. Milos Soukup from Beech Hill took 3rd place from clubmate Philip Shaw.

The Veteran men saw a great 5 setter between Beech Hill and Harlequins. Tom Elliot took the first and second sets but Philip Shaw took the third and tourth. The final set was a cracker with each player going for the result. Tom had edged ahead at the change of ends but Philip had brought the game to 10 - 10. Then misfoutune struck when Tom served in to the net. Philip wrapped up the match with a smash after an exciting final rally.

Well done to Vicky, Ian, Michael, Alice-anne for running the event and well done to the players and the parents for transporting them

Well done to Louise on being selected as a NPC for a Junior Girls team travelling to the Roskilde Open

Sept '02: Ian Mogey has invted us to accept an invitation to have our clubs indulge in an annual event. The Carmoney club is based in Co. Antrim Please email me with positive suggestions as to the format this could take.

Nov '02: Both Beech Hill and Carmoney Club committees have welcomed the idea of an end of season match. The matter is due to come up for further discussion the week-end of the Munster Open when representatives of both clubs will get together in a secret "watering hole" somewhere on the northside of Cork city, to agree the format etc. I suspect there will be more emphasis on the etc bit.

Rachel O'Connor selected for Irish Junior Team which will participate in the Junior British League

Training for all players wishing to be considered for Munster Senior, U21 and Junior squads will take place at 2:30pm sharp on Saturdays when there is no Junior tournament. For regular training times see Normal Training

The first Munster ranking tournament of the season was held at the Beech Hill club on the 14th and 15th September with players from clubs in Cork, Tipperary, and Clare taking part. This was the clubs first ranking tournament and it was also the first time that a Munster event was computerised on the day of the event. Munster has had computerised entries for the past 2 seasons.

The first event of the tournament was boys under 10 with Scott Shellard from the home club justifying his No 1 seeding by taking the title from Aiden Grabb from the Ballincollig club.

Continuing with the Boys events the Under 12's had fine entry considering that many players are only just returning to training after the summer holidays. Again the result went very much to form with the final placing going to the top three seeds. Last years No. 1, Ross Griffin from Co. Clare took the title again this time from last years No 4, Ian Shellard in a thrilling 5 setter 11/8 5/11 9/11 11/9 11/9, with Darren Casey from Ballincolling 3rd.

The under 14 boys saw No1 seed Denis Mullane from Thurles make his way to the final to be joined there by Beech Hill's Ian Shellard. It was Shellards first under 14 final and a fine achievement for an under 12. The match result went to form with Mullane taking the title over a bitterly disappointed young Shellard. The 3rd spot went to Left-hander Aaron Kelleher from the Ballincollig Club, with probably his best result to date.

The Under 17 boys was always going to be a tight affair with the top seeds closely matched. In the first semi-final Killian Healy defeated club mate David Buckley 11/9 12/10 11/7 to book his place in the all Ballincollig final against Eoin Hegarty who defeated Alan Hurley from Kinneagh in 5 sets. The final was an excellent match with the first two sets to Hegarty by the minimum margin, 11/9 14/12. Healy now under pressure fought back to take the third and fourth sets 12/10 11/8. The fifth and final set went to the wire and again by the minimum margin of 2 points 13/11 the match and 1st Munster title went to Eoin Hegarty.

With top seeds Brian Fitzgerald and Mark White missing and Dan Foley struggling with a wrist injury the senior event always likely to throw up a new pairing for the final. Newcomer Milos Soukoup recently joined the Beech Hill club from the Czech Republic was seeded at 4. Having defeated Dan Foley in the Quarter Finals, he defeated training partner Philip Shaw in the semi-final to book his place in the Final. The other Semi-Final was fought out over 5 sets between Eoin Hegarty and Alan Hurley with Hegarty coming out on top 7/11 8/11 11/4 12/10 11/9. While the result of the final was never in doubt with the much more experienced Soukup in control, it still was a good "Day at the Office" for young Eoin and his coach Dan Foley, winning the Under 17's and getting to the senior final.

Next up were the ladies events. The girls under 10 saw No.1 seed Aisling O'Callaghan from the Kinneagh club taking the honours from Cliodhna Kelly from the Beech Hill Club who was having her first outing in a Munster ranking event and Aisling Healy of Ballincollig shared the 3rd place with Cliodhna O'Shaughnessey from Beech Hill.

In the Under 12's The form book was still in tact with No. 1 Seed Ruth Corcoran from Kinneagh taking the title from Cliodhna Kelly, Beech Hill, who was collecting her second runners up trophy with her sister Maedhbh in third spot.

Moving on to the Under 14's the surprise of the event was that young Sarah Kelleher joined her older sister Jessica, both from the Beech Hill club, in the semi-finals. They were joined there by the No. 1 seed Andrea Shorten from Kinneagh and Katie Mc Sweeney from Beech Hill. In the first semi Andrea defeated Sarah 11/8 11/8 11/2, and a repeat of last years final was very much on the cards with Jessica taking the first set from Katie 11/8 however Katie had a different plan and took the next set 12/10 to ensure the match went to 4 sets with Jessica eventually booking her place in the final. The play off for 3rd and 4th saw the more experienced McSweeney take 3rd spot with young Kelleher content with a place at the upcoming Munster Squad Training. The final was another lively affair between two very good hitters and a lively audience of Beech Hill and Kinneagh supporters did nothing to dampen the atmosphere. The first set went to Jessica 17/15, Adrea replied with a 16/14 win in the second, 12/10 in the 3rd and finished the match 11/5 in the fourth much to the delight of her coach Ivan Shorten.

With Linda O'Sullivan, who had dominated the under 17 event for the previous three seasons gone Senior the No. 1 spot was up for grabs. With on of the largest entries of tournament the top seeds all managed to come through the group stages, albeit not in line with their seeding. This resulted in the No1 seed Rachel O'Connor from the home club, meeting the No.3 seed Emma-Jane Helen from the Kinneagh club in the quarter finals with victory to O'Connor 11/7 11/2 11/8. O'Connor then proceeded to book her place in the final when she defeated another Kinneagh girl Rebecca Shorten 11/3/11/8 11/5. While O'Connor was busy in one half of the draw her old pal and club mate Anna D'Arcy had arrived at the quarters to face another Beech Hill girl, under 14 Jessica Kelleher. D'Arcy took the match in straight sets 11/7 11/4 11/6 to meet yet another Beech Hill girl Jenna-Mehigan Collins in the semis. The No. 2 seed looked in serious trouble after loosing the first two sets 11/13 7/11 but regained her composure to take the match 11/4 11/6 11/2 and to book her place in the final. The playoff for 3rd and 4th went to Mehigan-Collins 12/10 11/6 11/6 assuring the Beech Hill club of a clean sweep in this event. Finals between club mates are generally quiet affairs with supporters taking a neutral stance. The match result went to seeding with Left-hander Rachel taking her 1st Munster title.

The Senior Ladies also had a big entry but with last years No. 1 Linda Mountjoy unable to attend the top 2 seeds looked favourites to contest the final. The first semi-final saw Linda O'Sullivan from Beech Hill beat Emma-Jane Helen Kinneagh 11/5 11/8 11/3 to book her place in the final. The other semi was between two Beech Hill girls Rachel O'Connor and Louise Long. With O'Connor taking the first set 12/10 the pressure was on Louise to respond and this she did by taking the next two sets 11/9 11/7. However young O'Connor was not giving in and pushed Long all the way (Pardon the pun), finally conceding defeat 10/12 in the fourth. The all Beech Hill final was again a quiet affair with Ms Long defeating Ms O'Sullivan 11/7 11/8 11/6. Meanwhile as the hall was almost cleared the 3rd 4th playoff between O'Connor and Helen was about to commence and as if for spite they settled into a five setter that exhibited the art of pushing in no small way, but when Push finally came to Shove the match went to O'Connor taking the fifth 15/13 along with a much needed boost to her finances and relief all round that we could all go home after a very successful 1st Munster Ranking of the season.