Double joy for Joseph Farrell

Rossmore's Aisling Hickey captured her 14th National Open Singles title at the 2026 All Ireland Singles & Doubles Championships held in Kingscourt Handball & Racquetball Club. The record breaking Tipperary woman defeated Antonia Neary of Arklow in the final.

The Men's Singles title was retained by Joe Dillon of Kingscourt. Playing at his home venue, Dillon defeated Kilkenny's Mark Murphy in a close final by 3 games to 2.

The only player to win two singles title was Joseph Farrell. The seventeen year old Arklow student won both the C Singles title and the B Singles title. He now becomes one of the youngest players to join the top ranks in Irish Racquetball.

The Women's B Singles won by Niamh Murphy(Templeudigan) who will play in the Open ranks next season. Promoted to the B  grade for her win the Women's C Singles is Abbie O'Meara from Fermoy.

​In the other Singles divisions, there were wins for Billy Nolan(Clogh/Moneenroe) in Men's D Singles while Fiona Kyne from Castlebar was the winner of the Women's D Singles.
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​The Novice divisions were highly competitive with Dan Coogan from the Clogh/Moneenroe club winning the title. Sophie O'Flynn (Fermoy) made up for her loss in the Novice Singles at last years Championships defeating the youngest competitor at the Championships 13-yerar-old Lucy Murphy(Castlebar)
All the Doubles division saw competitive matches and the full results of the championships can be viewed on R2Sports

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.

Fermoy's Johnny O'Keeney made it a four timer at the Kingscourt Ulster Open when he won the Men's Open Singles.  He followed up on his wins this season at the Galway, Ballinrobe and Fermoy Opens . In a close final at Kingscourt Handball & Racquetball Centre, O'Keeney defeated current All Ireland Champion and local hero Joe Dillon by 3 games to 2.

Consolation for Joe Dillon the the Open Doubles when he and former Irish junior international Daire Gargan (KIngscourt) making a welcome return to the sport winning the Men's Open Doubles.

Fifteen racquetball athletes contested the Men's C/D Singles with Joseph Farrell continuing his good form in defeating his club mate and fellow Arklow player James Smith by 3 games to nil in the final.

Jack Carroll, from the Clogh/Moneenroe club in Co Kilkenny won a very competitive Mer's Novice Singles in which 19 racquetballers competed in. He defeated Craig Young(Arklow) by 3 games to nil in the final and Jack is rewarded by being promoted to the D grade.

THe Men's C/D/Novice Doubles was won by Paddy Dodd and James Smith of Arklow while the Womens CD Singles was won by Niamh Murphy(Templeudigan)

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Photo of Sean Gargan, Tournament Director,
​Johnny O'Keeney & Joe Dillon

Touraneena, Co Waterford native, Pat Keane has been inducted into the Racquetball Association of Ireland (RAI) Hall of Fame at a ceremony at the Fermoy Open on Saturday 18th of January 2026.

​RAI President Susan Farrell presented Pat with his award.
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​Pat is a former President of the Association and served in many roles such as PRO and Junior coach.
We proudly welcome Pat to the Association's Hall of Fame

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The Men's Open Final at the 2026 Fermoy Open went all the way to a tie breaker but it was the Irish number 1, Johnny O'Keeney who prevailed in the end to make it for him three Open wins in a row. In the tie breaker, Fermoy's O'Keeney had to come from behind winning the game 12 points to 10 over his opponent, Reese Young of Arklow. O'Keeney defeated Conor O'Callaghan (Fermoy) and Sean Lyng (Ballyane) to reach the final. 

​Rossmore's Aisling Hickey was again the winner of the Womens Open Singles. Her opponent in the final. was Antonia Neary (Arklow) but it was the Irish number 1 day running out the winner by 3 games to 1.

Other notable winners were Leigh O'Brien (Horeswood) in the Men's C/D Singles, Leigh gains promotion to the B grade.
Leon Galvin (Templeudigan) was Men's Novice Singles winner who is now promoted to the D grade. Also gaining promotion to the D grade was Eva Horgan(Mitchelstown) who won the Women's Novice Singles.

In Doubles, Ken Cottrell(Galmoy) & Sean Lyng(Ballyanne) were the winners of the Men's Open Doubles while Arklow's Jay Barnes and Joseph Farrell won the Men's C/D Doubles. In the only womens doubles competition (C&D), local athletes Abbie O'Meara and Ciara Noonan were the winners.

​These Championships were held in An Sportlann,  Castlebar on Saturday 29th November .

Congratulations to the winners and the runners up in Boys Under 11, Doubles , Boys Under 13 Doubles and Mixed Doubles.

Also congrats to winners & runners-up in the Under 12B & Under  14B Singles.
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Thanks to the parents and coaches who attended and to Castlebar Racquetball Club for hosting the Championships.

Upcoming Junior Competitions
Leinster Close Junior Championships -  31st Jan 2026
All Ireland Even Age Championships - 7th Mar 2026
Irish Junior Open - 21st Mar 2026