Paul Brady & Catriona Casey have retained their WPH New York Pro-Stop Titles in a tournament that saw fantastic showing from young Irish players.
In the Men’s grade, Brady blitzed his way through the entire field in what is now almost become an expected outcome. A first round 15-4, 15-3 win over Vic Perez (California), was followed up with QF & SF wins over two more Califorinian’s Mando Ortiz 15-10, 15-3 & Naty Alvarado Jr 15-3, 15-10. In the final, Brady was in no mood to hang around, with his incredible power game simply too much for Minnesota’s Andy Nett, who himself had a great tournament, ousting Luis Moreno (#2 seed) & Sean Lenning (#3 seed) en route to his maiden Pro-Stop Final.
Young Clare man Colin Crehan also had a bit of a fairytale tournament, winning through two qualifiers to make the main event, the Last 16. There he fought back from a 15-1 first game loss, and trailed 15-14 in the second (must win by two aces in this particular format), to seal a 17-15, 15-13 come back win over Dave Fink. Crehan’s run ended at the hands of Nett in the QF’s 15-2, 15-9.
In the Ladies grade, Ireland dominated, with all four semi-finalists being Irish. Top seed catriona Casey took down Westmeath’s Aoife McCarthy 15-7, 15-0, before Galway teenager Ciana Ni Churraoin took out Limerikc’s Martina McMahon 15-4, 15-7. The final saw Casey blitz Ni Churraoin 15-1 in the opener, and leading 7-1 in the second.
But Ciana, playing in her maiden Pro-Stop, found form and her attacking power game saw her produce a stunning comeback to take the second 15-13. Casey has not been pushed to such an extent for a long time but held her nerve under supreme pressure from Ciana, and after a close start where she led 8-6, pulled through to win out 15-8.
Casey will head back to Ireland now to face Aisling Reilly in next weekends All-Ireland Senior Singles Final in Kingscourt HC, with the winner becoming Irish Team Captain for this summers World Championships in Calgary.
Pic courtesy of WPH