by Ray O’Callaghan

February finals took place last Thursday in Gleneagle Squash Club, Kindly sponsored by Tim O Leary of BSPM Energy Consultancy. Paul O’Brien’s team of five faced off Donnagh Crowley’s team following a very closely fought semi-final earlier in the week.

In Division 3, While Aquila Club Manager Eoin Horan and Ryan Kavanagh had very close games it was Crowley’s team-mate Ryan Kavanagh who won out 3-0.

On to Division 4, and one of our ladies’ coaches Joanne McCarthy faced off against Seamus Howard who had made his second final in a row on his very short squash journey. The match went to one a piece but then Joanne’s experience came through to win out 3-1 for Team Paul who were now 2-0 up in matches and looking red hot favourites to take the night.

But somebody else had other ideas in Division 5. Noah Counihan and Dan Carroll were thrown into the ring and Noah knew he had to get a win for Team Donnagh. Noah, one of our up-and-coming Juniors at just 11 years of age, showed all in attendance how his training is paying off by winning narrowly against Dan. Each game was tit for tat but luck was with Noah on this occasion and team Donnagh closed the gap in matches.

Division 2 was a tale of the two Johnnies. John Cronin and John O’Sullivan were well matched – their game was played in good spirits and two similar style players went toe to toe and point for point and the match went to 1 game a piece. But John C put on the afterburners and finished out another two close games to get another win for Team Donnagh.

The decider was down to the team captains and Irish international players, Paul O'Brien and Donnagh Crowley. Our two top club players provided us with an exhibition of squash where we all aspire to be. The game was well-balanced and was point-for-point in every game. The first two games were shared. The third game was a very close encounter and could have gone any way and Donnagh for the first time took his team into the lead on the night. The last game was close again but Donnagh put everything he had into his performance and came through 3-1, winning the night for his team.