Johnny O'Keeney wins at 33rd Mayo Crystal Castlebar Open.

Fermoy's Johnny O'Keeney won the Mens Open Singles at the 33rd Castlebar Open at the weekend. He defeated clubmate Noel O'Callaghan to  win 5 of the 7 Open tournaments held this year.

Other singles winner were Alan O'Meara(Mitchelstown) Mens B Singles, Billy Nolan(Clogh) Men's C/D Singles. Women's CD Singles was won by Hannah Noonan(Fermoy) while the Novice Singles in mens & womens went to Josh Lawlor(Clogh) and Belle O'Meara(Mitchelstown) who are now promoted to the D grade.

​40 players took part in the 33rd Open in courts at De la Salle and An Sportlann, Castlebar.
Full results on R2Sports 

Photo: Johnny O'Keeney(Fermoy), Noel O'Callaghan(Fermoy)

The All Ireland Junior Championships at even ages were held on Saturday 7th March in the Co Kilkenny courts of O'Loughlins Gaels Sport Centre, Kilkenny, Callan, Clogh, Galmoy and Tullaroan.
Congratulations to Joseph Farrell (Arklow), the Under 18 Boys Champion and the runner-up, Jack Carroll (Clogh/Moneenroe). Both earned places on the Irish panel from which a team to represent Ireland at the World Championships in Chile this October will be selected. 
Congratulations also to the Girls Under 18 Singles Champion , Hannah Noonan (Fermoy)  who will be included on the panel as will runner up Ciara Noona, also from Fermoy.
Seventy seven (77) junior athletes representing eleven (11) clubs competed in the Championships.
Our thanks to Tournament Director, Thea Coleman and her team who made the Championships special for every junior.  Full Results 

A successful Irish Womens Open was held in Wexford on Saturday 28th February with 33 competitors taking part.
The Open/B Singles division was won by Antonia Neary(Arklow), demonstrating some high-level racquetball throughout the day.
The Open/B/C Doubles was won by a new pairing of Elaine Murphy(Templederry) and Abbie O’Meara(Fermoy) in a competitive round-robin draw.  Further congratulations to Abbie O’Meara for also winning the C/D singles and getting promoted from C to C1.
Sophie O’Flynn(Fermoy) deserves recognition for winning out the  U18 Girls’ Singles competition and the D/Novice Doubles event with her partner Hannah Noonan(Fermoy). Silver medals went to Grace and Olivia Hearn(Ballyanne). The U18 competition featured a full Munster contingent with Hannah Walsh(Araglen) winning silver and Belle O’Meara receiving bronze.
Sportsperson of the Tournament went to the well-deserved Niamh Murphy from Templudigan. Niamh received this award due to her contribution on the day as both a player and a volunteer, keeping everything running smoothly. She also earned a silver medal in the C/D singles and played fantastic racquetball in the Open Singles and Open/B/C Doubles with her partner Fiona Kyne. Much thanks to her for running some of the Novice games on Friday night.
The highlight of the day was the top-quality Novice division which saw 16 entrants leading to an exciting draw. Laura Molloy (St James) and Olivia Hearn(Templeudigan) fought their way to the final with some close and exciting games throughout.
Congratulations to Elayne Beel(Ballyanne) and Amanda Kelly(Templeudigan) for reaching the semifinals in this division resulting in bronze medals. Laura Molloy was the winner on the day earning herself a promotion from Novice to D. The Novice plate division also had some exciting games with the eventual gold medalist being Hannah Walsh, the silver medalist was Sally Byrne(Cloughbawn) and the bronze medalists were Kayleigh Murphy and Karina Lillis(Cloughbawn).
Huge thanks to all volunteers on the day and the cooperation from all players. It was a very enjoyable day with lots of new players, demonstrating the growth of ladies’ racquetball particularly in the Leinster area. 
Photo: Women's Novice Singles - Olivia Hearn (Templeudigan) runner-up and Laura Molloy (St. James Ramsgrange) winner.