Euros – Women are 4th & Men 13th

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The 2014 European team Championships commenced on Wednesday 30th April in Riccione on the Italian east coast just south of Rimini. Ireland’s womens team are number 2 seeds  in Division 1 while our mens team are in Division 2 seeded number 4.

For live streamed on the Glass/Gallery Court – CLICK HERE

reland’s womens team played in the 3/4th place play off this morning v. Czech Republic. Ireland were short their number i and world number 9 Madeline Perry who got injured in the semi final vs. England on Friday. This meant that the inexperienced Ciara Moloney was in at number 3 for only her 2nd cap at senior level.

Ciara played first and while up against a professional player Anna Klimundova played really well. She lost the first 2 games but won the 3rd well but went down 3-1.
Next up for Ireland was the experienced Aisling Blake from Sligo playing Olga Ertlova. Aisling playing very controlled squash won well 3-1 to level the match.
Now all down to Laura Mylotte an experienced player but not a full time player. She was playing Lucie Fialova who played in last weeks IRISH OPEN in Dublin. Laura a tough player played well but unfortunatly went down 3-0.
So 4th place for Ireland’s womens team and but for the injury to Madeline Perry it surely  would have been a bronze medal after 2 silver medals over the past 2 years.
For the 4th time in these Championships ireland drew 2 all. and for the 2 nd time won the tie on countback. At 1 and 2 Carlow’s Arthur Gaskin & Brian Byrne lost. Byrne lost a tight match 3-2, 11-9 in the 5th. 19yr old Michael Craig won at 3 in a great match 3-0 after a 18-16 first game.  All down to the 42 yr old Steve Richardson from Ballymena who won in 4 games to give Ireland victory and 13th place overall in the championships.
Match overview
Order Event Italy MITA – IRLIreland M Score Points Duration
1 MS2
Josè FACCHINI Italy
–
Ireland Brian O’BRION
8-11 11-5 11-9 8-11 11-9 1-0
2 MS1
Marcus BERRETT Italy
–
Ireland Arthur GASKIN
11-9 13-11 11-6 1-0
3 MS3
Andrea TORRICINI Italy
–
Ireland Michael CRAIG
16-18 5-11 8-11 0-1
4 MS4
Michelangelo BERTOCCHI Italy
–
Ireland Steve RICHARDSON
8-11 4-11 11-7 9-11 0-1

In the semi final played on Friday morning Ireland lost to tournament favourites England 3-0. Madeline Perry had just won the 3rd game and was 2-1 down to Laura Massaro when she got injured and had to retire.  Aisling Blake played Alison Waters who she beat in the final last year but lost on this occasion 3-0 as did Ciara Moloney who was making her debut in the championships but Sarah Jane Perry was too much for her and she lost 3-0.

So if the seeding goes as expected Ireland will play the Czech Republic for the bronze medal tomorrow. Good luck to them.

Also on Friday morning Ireland played Austria in 5-8 place play off. Arthur Gaskin had a 3-1 loss in a tight match with 3 games going to 12-10.  Brian Byrne had a super 3-0 victory as did Michael Craig. Unfortunately Conor O’Hare lost 3-0 but on this occasion Ireland won the countback after twice losing on countback to Sweden & Wales.

So last day tomorrow with Ireland’s ladies going for bronze.

On Thursday, the 2nd day Ireland’s women team lost the pivotal fixture in Group B to 3rd seeds France 2-1. Aisling Blake won 3-1 but madeline lost a tight match to world number 5 Camille Serme and Laura Mylotte lost 3-1. A semi final now with number 1 seeds England. The Czech Republic fill the other Semi final spot and will play France.

Later on Thursday evening Ireland’s men were unlucky to lose on countback to Wales. This was the second time after also drawing with Sweden 2-2 on Wednesdayevening. Number 1 Arthur Gaskin had a super 3-0 win Peter Creed 11-9, 11-9, 11-7.  Steve Richardson had another great win 3-1. Unfortunately both Brian Byrne and Michael Craig lost. So it is on to 5-8 place play off with a match vs. Austria.

After 2 great victories Ireland’s men and women had contrasting fortunes on Wednesday evening with the women’s team having a 2-1 win over Wales with a great 5 set victory for Laura Mylotte

On Wednesday morning both Irish teams had comprehensive victories over Denmark 3-0 for the women and the men beat another Scandinavian country, Norway 4-0. See full results below.

 

The womens team is:

1 Perry Madeleine
2 Blake Aisling
3 Mylotte Laura
4 Moloney Ciara

The men are in a group with Norway (Wed 9.00) and Sweden (Wed 17.00) and are number 1 seeds in group 4. The team members are:

1 Gaskin Arthur
2 O’Brion Brian
3 Craig Michael
4 Richardson Steve
5 O’Hare Conor
6 Conroy Sean

 

 SATURDAY 3rd MAY

 

Match overview
Order Event Italy MITA – IRLIreland M Score Points Duration
1 MS2
Josè FACCHINI Italy
–
Ireland Brian O’BRION
8-11 11-5 11-9 8-11 11-9 1-0
2 MS1
Marcus BERRETT Italy
–
Ireland Arthur GASKIN
11-9 13-11 11-6 1-0
3 MS3
Andrea TORRICINI Italy
–
Ireland Michael CRAIG
16-18 5-11 8-11 0-1
4 MS4
Michelangelo BERTOCCHI Italy
–
Ireland Steve RICHARDSON
8-11 4-11 11-7 9-11 0-1

FRIDAY 2nd MAY

Match overview
Order Event Ireland MIRL – AUTAustria M Score Points Duration
1 MS4
Conor O’HARE Ireland
–
Austria Daniel HAIDER
6-11 6-11 9-11 0-1
2 MS1
Arthur GASKIN Ireland
–
Austria Aqeel REHMAN
10-12 12-10 10-12 3-11 0-1
3 MS2
Brian O’BRION Ireland
–
Austria Jakob DIRNBERGER
11-8 11-8 11-3 1-0
4 MS3
Michael CRAIG Ireland
–
Austria Markus GRESLEHNER
11-5 11-8 11-7 1-0

 

THURSDAY 1ST MAY

Match overview
Order Event Wales MWAL – IRLIreland M Score Points Duration
1 MS2
Joel MAKIN Wales
–
Ireland Brian O’BRION
11-5 11-5 11-2 1-0
2 MS1
Peter CREED Wales
–
Ireland Arthur GASKIN
7-11 9-11 9-11 0-1
3 MS4
David HALEY Wales
–
Ireland Steve RICHARDSON
7-11 7-11 11-9 0-11 0-1
4 MS3
Scott FITZGERALD Wales
–
Ireland Michael CRAIG
11-8 6-11 11-5 11-5 1-0

 

Standings of Men – Division 2 – Pool D
Points Played Won Draws Lost Matches Games Points
1 SWE[SWE] Sweden M 3 2 1 1 0 6 – 2 22 – 7 298 – 229
2 IRL[IRL] Ireland M 3 2 1 1 0 6 – 2 19 – 11 305 – 248
3 NOR[NOR] Norway M 0 2 0 0 2 0 – 8 1 – 24 153 – 279

Show draw…

Pool Matches of Men – Division 2 – Pool D
Time Home – Away Score Court
Wed 30/04/2014 10:00 Ireland M [4]Ireland – NorwayNorway M [12] 4-0 Figs National Centre – 4/5
Wed 30/04/2014 18:00 Ireland M [4]Ireland – SwedenSweden M [5] 1-3 Figs National Centre – 1
Thu 01/05/2014 12:00 Sweden M [5]Sweden – NorwayNorway M [12] Figs National Centre – 1/2

WEDNESDAY 30TH APRIL

Unfortunately Ireland lost out to 5th seeds Sweden 3-1 with the experienced Steve Richardson the lone victor @ no. 4

Match overview
Order Event Ireland MIRL[IRL] – SWE[SWE] Sweden M Score Points Duration
1 MS3
Michael CRAIG Ireland[IRL]
–
Sweden[SWE] Christian DRAKENBERG
9-11 8-11 8-11 0-1
2 MS1
Arthur GASKIN Ireland[IRL]
–
Sweden[SWE] Romain TENANT
8-11 11-5 11-9 3-11 16-14 1-0
3 MS4
Steve RICHARDSON Ireland[IRL]
–
Sweden[SWE] Alex CHRISTENSSON
10-12 11-6 12-10 6-11 11-6 1-0
4 MS2
Brian O’BRION Ireland[IRL]
–
Sweden[SWE] Rasmus HULT
8-11 10-12 11-3 6-11 0-1

On Wednesday morning the mens team have had a great start beating Norway 4-0.

Order Event Ireland MIRL – NORNorway M Score Points Duration
1 MS3
Michael CRAIG Ireland
–
Norway Ronny AASBO
11-4 11-4 11-6 1-0
2 MS1
Arthur GASKIN Ireland
–
Norway Kim Are KILLINGBERG
11-9 11-4 13-11 1-0
3 MS4
Conor O’HARE Ireland
–
Norway Edvard EGBOM
11-5 11-5 11-2 1-0
4 MS2
Brian O’BRION Ireland
–
Norway Kristian SOLHAUG
11-8 12-14 11-4 11-7 1-0

 

 

Saturday 3rd MAY

Match overview
Order Event Ireland WIRL – CZECzech Republic W Score Points
1 WS3
Ciara MOLONEY Ireland
–
Czech Republic Anna KLIMUNDOVA
3-11 2-11 11-8 3-11 0-1
2 WS1
Aisling BLAKE Ireland
–
Czech Republic Olga ERTLOVA
11-3 6-11 11-4 11-9 1-0
3 WS2
Laura MYLOTTE Ireland
–
Czech Republic Lucie FIALOVA
7-11 3-11 5-11 0-1

 

FRIDAY 2nd MAY

Match overview
Order Event England WENG – IRLIreland W Score Points Duration
1 WS1
Laura MASSARO England
–
Ireland Madeleine PERRY
11-9 11-3 10-12 11-2 1-0
2 WS2
Alison WATERS England
–
Ireland Aisling BLAKE
11-9 11-3 11-4 1-0
3 WS3
Sara-Jane PERRY England
–
Ireland Laura MYLOTTE
11-4 11-1 1-0

Standings of Women – Division 1 – Pool B

Points Played Won Draws Lost Matches Games Points
1 FRA[FRA] France W 6 3 3 0 0 7 – 2 24 – 12 343 – 284
2 IRL[IRL] Ireland W 4 3 2 0 1 6 – 3 21 – 13 336 – 280
3 WAL[WAL] Wales W 2 3 1 0 2 4 – 5 15 – 20 293 – 330
4 DEN[DEN] Denmark W 0 3 0 0 3 1 – 8 10 – 25 288 – 366

 THURSDAY 1st MAY

Ireland just lost out to France 2-1 which will mean a semi final vs England.

Match overview
Order Event Ireland WIRL[IRL] – FRA[FRA] France W Score Points Duration
1 WS2
Aisling BLAKE Ireland[IRL]
–
France[FRA] Laura POMPORTES
7-11 11-8 12-10 11-0 1-0
2 WS1
Madeleine PERRY Ireland[IRL]
–
France[FRA] Camille SERME
7-11 11-3 9-11 7-11 0-1
3 WS3
Laura MYLOTTE Ireland[IRL]
–
France[FRA] Cyrielle PELTIER
7-11 11-13 11-4 4-11 0-1

WEDNESDAY 30TH APRIL

A solid victory over 6th seeds Wales with wins for madeline & Laura. next up the big one vs. France to decide the group, on Thursday @ 13.00 (Irish time) on the show court which is being live streamed. Click HERE
Match overview
Order Event Ireland WIRL – WALWales W Score Points Duration
1 WS1
Madeleine PERRY Ireland
–
Wales Tesni EVANS
11-7 11-7 11-7 1-0
2 WS3
Laura MYLOTTE Ireland
–
Wales Jenny HALEY
11-5 11-4 8-11 11-7 1-0
3 WS2
Aisling BLAKE Ireland
–
Wales Deon SAFFERY
7-11 4-11 11-2 6-11 0-1

 

The womens team had a super start also with a 3-0 victory over 7th seeds Denmark

Order Event Ireland WIRL – DENDenmark W Score Points Duration
1 WS1
Madeleine PERRY Ireland
–
Denmark Line HANSEN
12-10 11-4 10-12 11-8 1-0
2 WS3
Laura MYLOTTE Ireland
–
Denmark Mathilde LAURIDSEN
11-7 10-12 11-5 11-5 1-0
3 WS2
Aisling BLAKE Ireland
–
Denmark Sally SKAARENBORG
16-14 11-6 12-10 1-0