 The Junior Uneven Championships took place on Saturday, 8th November in Fermoy, Mitchelstown and Kilworth. 56 athletes competed across 9 divisions.
We saw fantastic competition, sportsmanship and skill throughout the day! A massive congratulations to all the juniors who competed! Thanks to parents for travelling, and a massive thank you to the volunteers who made this event possible. Full Results HERE  .
Following his defeat at the Wexford Open, Irish number 1, Johnny O'Keeney showed his true form when he won the Men's Singles at the Galway Open played in Moycullen. The Fermoy athlete defeated Dara McNamara of Mitchelstown by 3 games to nil who was contesting his first ever Open Singles Final. Rossmore's Aisling Hickey was the Women's Singles winner in a repeat of the final at the Wexford Open with Antonia Neary of Arklow. Other winners at the Galway Open were James Smith (Arklow) Men’s C/D Singles, Liam Joyce (Castlebar) Men’s Novice Singles, Barbara Bradley (Moycullen) Women’s Novice Singles. Full Results HERE Pictured: Johnny O'Keeney(Fermoy), Ray Keleghan(Tournament Director) and Dara McNamara(Mitchelstown)  Noel O'Callaghan rolled back the years at the Wexford Open when he won the the Open Singles in the final played in St Josephs Community Centre in Wexford. The Fermoy veteran defeated number 1 seed Johnny O'Keeney (Fermoy) by 3 games to 1-
Aisling Hickey continued her unbeaten run in the Women's Singles. The Rossmore athlete defeated Arklow's Antonia Neary by 3 games to nil in the final. Other winners were Mark Murphy / Dara McNamara (Kilkenny/Mitchelstown in the Men's Doubles, Don Lawlor / Billy Walsh (Clogh- Moneenroe / Kilkenny) Mens C/D Doubles, Patrick Brennan (Kilkenny) Men's Novice Singles and Leigh O'Brien , CD Singles. Draws & Full Results on R2SPORT Pictured Johnny O'Keeney & Noel O'Callaghan After four days of top-class racquetball at the World Singles & Doubles Racquetball Championships in Denver, the O’Callaghan family delivered a series of impressive results on the international stage. Conor O’Callaghan secured two bronze medals, battling his way to the podium in both the Men’s B and Men’s C Singles divisions. His father, Noel O’Callaghan, added to the family success with a superb run to gold in the Men’s 45+A division, reaffirming his place among the sport’s top masters players. Darragh O’Callaghan also produced excellent racquetball throughout the event, finishing second in his group after some tightly contested matches. Unfortunately, he narrowly missed out on a place in the knockout stages but gained valuable experience against world-class opposition. The family effort was rounded out by Bernadette O’Callaghan, who travelled to Denver as a dedicated supporter. Her encouragement and presence throughout the tournament were a huge boost to the players. Congratulations to Conor, Noel, Darragh, and Bernadette on representing Ireland with pride and passion on the world stage.
The Annual General Meeting of the Association was held on Sunday 7 th September in the Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly.
Clubs represented were Arklow, Ballinrobe, Castlebar, Cavan, Clogh/Moneenroe, Kilkenny and Templederry. A number of motions were passed and a new committee (EXCO) was elected for the coming season. One position remains vacant, that of Development Officer Michael Kelly(Ballinrobe), Registrations Secretary and Patrick Hanley(Fermoy) Development Officer have stepped away from the EXCO. We thank both for their hard work in promoting Irish racquetball.
 Ireland had an incredible week at the European Racquetball Championships in Aesch, Switzerland (24th–30th August), with outstanding performances across all divisions. Team Competitions
Women’s Open
Men’s Open
Mixed Open Doubles
Juniors
Masters
**25 Gold** **20 Silver** **13 Bronze** 58 medals for Ireland! What a phenomenal performance, huge congratulations to all players and coaches.
 The 12th World Games will be held in Chengdu, China from the 7 th – 17th August 2025.
The World Games are a multi-sport event organized by the International World Games Association and supported by the International Olympic Committee . Held every four years, the games showcase a variety of sports not typically featured in the Summer Olympics. Racquetball features in the 12th World Games and Ireland will be represented by Aisling Hickey (Rossmore) and Johnny O'Keeney (Fermoy). The World Games website https://www.theworldgames.org/ The World Games Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/iwga.theworldgames An exciting weekend of racquetball action on the 18th of May 2025 at the All Ireland 60x30 Doubles Championships, with thrilling matches across all divisions. Men’s Senior Doubles Mark Murphy and Tom Morissey emerged victorious in a hard-fought final, edging out Don Lawlor and James Smith in a gripping 3-2 battle. The match showcased high-level skill and determination from both sides, with Murphy and Morissey ultimately holding their nerve to claim the title. Men’s Intermediate Doubles Dan Coogan and Shane Brennan also clinched a narrow win in the Intermediate final, defeating Scott Young and Elliot Young 3-2. The encounter was evenly matched throughout, but Coogan and Brennan's resilience proved decisive in the final game. Congratulations to all the players for an outstanding display of racquetball and sportsmanship!
 There are not many people in any sport who can claim to have brought two World Championships to their home club and town, but for Sean Gargan this is true.
In 2008. when the European Racquetball Federation failed to secure Paris for the WorldRacquetball Championships Sean stepped in and proposed Kingscourt as an alternative venueto host the Championships. Twenty-eight countries and over 200 athletes were welcomed toKingscourt in August 2008. It was a major success for all three federations, InternationalRacquetball Federation, European Racquetball Federation and the Racquetball Association of Ireland. Not content with just one world Championships, Sean and Kingscourt also hosted the World Seniors Doubles Championships in 2010. While not as large as the 2008 event, it was just assuccessful with athletes from Europe , and North, South and Central America competing. Those two major achievements did not just define Sean's abilities, he was also President of the Racquetball Association of Ireland from 2007 – 2009. He has been actively involved in junior coaching over the years and coached Irish Junior teams at two World Junior Championships in the USA. He has been involved in administration from a very young age and can relay the story of how he became Secretary of Kingscourt Handball Club at the age of 15! Sean is still very involved in racquetball as an administrator, he is Chairman of Kingscourt Racquetball Club, and Tournament Director for the annual Kingscourt & Ulster Open racquetball tournament. It gives us great pleasure to welcome Sean into the Association Hall of Fame.  We are delighted to announce our player of the month for March 2025 ….Joseph Farrell from Arklow Racquetball Club!
Joseph started playing Racquetball in May 2023 following in his family’s footsteps. He played in local and provincial tournaments for the first year and as it became apparent that he had some skills, he began travelling to Provincial, National and Open tournaments, where he dominated in the Under 16 and 17 categories U16 Junior All Ireland Doubles in wexford with Conor O’Callaghan November 2024 U17 Junior All Ireland Unevens in Fermoy November 2024 U17 Junior Irish Open in Fermoy March 2025 He also tried his hand at the Men’s events and has already advanced through 2 grades to become a C player Mens Novice at the Fermoy Open October 2024 Mens CD at the Kilkenny Open March 2025 With this criteria he was selected to travel to and compete in the German Open as part of an Elite squad of juniors and was successful in winning the Men’s B Division His latest win and the cherry on top of Racquetball the cake was a Gold in the All Ireland Mens D singles in Kingscourt Looking forward to seeing Joseph in action again at the Irish Open in May Congrats Joseph from all of us here in the RAI |
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