Johnny O’Keeney (Fermoy) completed a three in row of Men’s Open Singles titles at the Ballinrobe Open on Sunday last. O’Keeney having previously won the division in 2022 and 23 defeated Noel O’Callaghan (Fermoy) 3 games to 2 in the final. The shock result of the tournament came in the quarter final when current All Ireland Singles Champion, Keelan O’Gorman(Araglen) lost out to Dara McNamara of Mitchelstown. O’Gorman made amends by winning the B Singles with 3-1 win over Kevin Jennings(Castlebar) and the Open Doubles with partner, the aforementioned Dara McNamara. There was win for Colm O’Keefe(Arklow) in Men’s CD Singles and Conor O’Callaghan(Fermoy) in the Novice Singles defeating for Kilkenny hurling great Tommy Walsh from the Tullaroan club.

Unfortunately, this tournament did not have a Women’s Open Singles division and only four women competed in the Women’s CD Singles division won by Niamh Murphy(Templeudigan). Five athletes competed in the Women’s Novice Singles which was won by Aoibheann Hanrahan of Castlebar.

​Full results can be found here.

Seventy seven junior athletes entered the All Ireland Junior Championships for boys and girls at Under 10, 13, 15 & 17 played in Fermoy, Mitchelstown and Kilworth, Co Cork. There was only 2 withdrawals on the day.
Two clubs made clean sweeps of the medals in two divisions, Arklow in Boys Under 17 and Clogh/Moneenrore in the Boys Under 15 singles. Joseph Farrell winning the Under 17 for Arklow and Jack Carroll(Clogh/Moneenroe) winning the Boys Under 15 Singles. Their teammates took the silver and bronze medals in each division.
A double gold for the Galmoy club in Co Kilkenny with sisters Abbie and Cara winning the Girls Under 13 and Girls Under 17 Singles.
The other gold medals were were Great McCormack and Lucy Murphy from Castlebar in the Girls Under 9 and Under 11 Singles while Hannah Noonan)(Fermoy) won the Girls Under 15 Singles.
New club to junior racquetball Horeswood, Co Wexford saw their top Under 9 athlete, Jack O'Brien win gold. Callan's sole entry in the competition, Jake Greene won the Boys Under 13 Singles.
Fermoy's Sean Noonan was the winner of the Boys Under 11 singles.

This past weekend, Fermoy in Co. Cork played host to an exciting racquetball tournament, showcasing talent across multiple divisions. With fierce competition and impressive displays of skill, the event concluded with several notable victories and player promotions.

In the Men’s Open Singles, Fermoy's Patrick Hanley took home the title, defeating his clubmate Johnny O’Keeney. In the Women’s Open Singles, Aisling Hickey from Rossmore secured a strong win over Majella Haverty of Castlebar.

The Men’s B Singles saw Darragh McNamara of Mitchelstown overcoming Damien Kavanagh from Arklow. In the Men’s C/D Singles, Thea Coleman (Mitchelstown) defeated Jay Barnes (Arklow), earning herself a promotion to the C1 grade in the Men’s division.

In the Women’s C/D Singles, Kathleen Conway from Castlebar triumphed over Niamh Murphy of Templeudigan, earning her promotion to the C1 grade. Joseph Farrell (Arklow) defeated his clubmate Jay Barnes in the Men’s Novice Singles, also securing promotion to D grade.

The Women’s Novice Singles title went to Anne Boland of Templeudigan, who bested Mary Hogan from Mitchelstown. In the Men’s Novice B Singles, Curtis Young (Arklow) overcame Daniel White (North Sligo).

Among the juniors, Ryan Lawlor from Clogh won the Under-16 match, defeating Jake Greene of Callan. In the veteran categories, Alan O'Meara (Fermoy) claimed the Men’s 40+ Singles title, while Don Lawlor (Clogh) took the Men’s 50+ Singles, and Jimmy Gannon (Arklow) won the Men’s 60+ Singles.

In the doubles competition, Men’s Open Doubles saw Patrick Hanley and Dwayne Magner (Fermoy) triumph over Johnny O’Keeney and Joe Devenney (Fermoy/Ballinrobe). In the Men’s C/D/Novice Doubles, Kilkenny's Ken Cottrell and Billy Walsh teamed up to defeat Arklow’s Jimmy Gannon and Colm O'Keefe. Finally, in the Women’s C/D/Novice Doubles, Fermoy’s Ciara Noonan and Abbie O'Meara clinched victory against Cara Delaney and Caylee Hogan from Galmoy and Mitchelstown.

Congratulations to all the players for their outstanding performances and well-deserved promotions!

The Annual General Meeting of the Association was held in the Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly on Sunsunday 8th of September.
Clubs represented were Arklow, Ballinrobe, Ballyanne, Cavan, Castlebar, Clogh/Moneenroe, Fermoy, Kilkenny, Tullaroan. 

The following committee was elected for the coming year.
President: (2-year term) Susan Farrell (Arklow)
Treasurer: (2-year term) Antonia Neary (Arklow)
Junior Development Officer (2-year term) VACANT
Communications & Media Officer (1 year term): Kathleen Conway (Castlebar)
Women’s Officer: (1 year term) Elaine Murphy (Templederry)
Registrations Secretary : (1 year term) Michael Kelly (Ballinrobe)
Designated Liaison Person: (1 year term) Antonia Neary (Arklow)
National Children’s Officer: (1 year term) Sean Lyng (Ballyanne)
Anti-Doping Officer: (1 year term) Jimmy Gannon(Arklow)
General Secretary: (2-year term) Michael Haverty(Castlebar) next election 2025
Tournament Secretary: (2-year term) Jimmy Gannon(Arklow) next election 2025
Development Officer: (2-year term) Patrick Hanley (Fermoy) next election 2025 
​
We welcome new member Elaine Murphy from Templederry Racquetball Club, Co Tipperary on the committee as Women's Officer for 2024/25
A new online Referees Course was sanction by the AGM and will be available shortly. It will be compulsory for all players graded Open & B from the 1st January 2025.

The Annual General Meeting of the Association will be held on Sunday 8th September 2024 at 11.30am in the Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly
Each affiliated club is invited to send two delegates to this meeting.
Please register your attendance online at https://tinyurl.com/bde5zkw9
The agenda of the meeting can be viewed  here 
The Annual Report of the Association 2023/24 can be viewed here 

Well done to all who took part in the 60x30 All Ireland Doubles held in Kilkenny clubs, Clogh-Moneenroe and Talbots Inch on Sat 25th May.

The O’Neill brothers, Sean and Mícheál from Templeudigan, proved too strong in the Men’s Senior winning all of their 4 matches in a league format while only dropping 1 game from which was to be their closest challengers, Don Lawlor and James Smith.

In the Men’s intermediate, again 2 brothers – Shane & Ian Brennan from Clogh-Moneenroe clinched the title. But they had to do it the hard way, coming from 2 games down against Gary O’Grady & Allan Ronan in a very tight final.

Templeudigan sisters Grace & Olivia Hearn, working extremely well together in the final, found themselves at match point in the 3rd game against their club mates Niamh Murphy & Ann Boland. Niamh and Ann dug in to eventually clinch that 3rd game. From there Niamh and Ann gathered momentum and eventually closed it out 3-2 in what was the match of the competition. Suzanne Fitzharris and Maggie Walsh took the bronze to bring back the full collection of medals to Templeudigan for the ladies.

Jack Carrol and Shane O Dowd took the Boys U16 title against their Clogh-Moneenroe clubmates Ryan and Josh Lawlor.

​A big shout out to Jack Carroll who has contested 9 finals this season across all 40x20 and 60x30 competitions and finishes the season with both U16 singles and doubles national titles in the 60x30.

 ​AND HERE WE HAVE IT…. Our Racquetball Ireland Player of the Year for 2024.....

Aisling Hickey, hailing from Rossmore in County Tipperary, boasts an impressive 23-year tenure in Racquetball, commencing her journey at the age of 8.
Her dedicated pursuit of excellence has resulted in her remarkable achievement as the sole woman in Ireland to clinch the All Ireland Open Singles title for an astounding 12 consecutive years.

A seasoned competitor, she has represented Ireland in the World Championships on the National team, participating six times—three as a junior and three as a senior.
In the Junior World Championships, Aisling secured a bronze medal in both the 18-and-under singles and doubles categories.
As a senior, she garnered attention by triumphing in the Red Division and securing a commendable 17th place overall in the world rankings.

Beyond global competitions, she showcased her prowess in the European championships twice and at the most recent championships in 2024 she set a new record by taking home 4 gold medals.
She also earned herself some bragging rights when she beat the formidable Noel O’Callaghan in the first round of the Fermoy Open, this year.

​Up until this point Aisling had not lost a Ladies Open Final this season, going as far as to beat the LPRTs number 10 ranked lady in the semi-finals of the Irish Open and taking the number 19 to a very closely contested tie-breaker in the final.
Her extraordinary achievements reflect not only her skill but also her unwavering determination to surpass her own records.

A massive congratulations from all of us in the RAI and our wider Racquetball family to you Aisling, our player of the year for 2024.