The O'Neill's Men's and Ladies Senior Singles fields have been whittled down to four after a hectic weekend of quarter-final action.
In the tie of the round, Charly Shanks of Armagh came through in three against Clare's Colin Crehan, with top seed Robbie McCarthy surprisingly dropping a game against veteran Dominick Lynch.
The 43-year-old Kerryman, who had upset Patrick Funchion in the round of 16, lost the first and third in lopsided 21-1 and 21-3 reversals but claimed the second set 21-19 against the champion, who was having his first outing.
Elsewhere, Diarmaid Nash (Clare) and Martin Mulkerrins (Galway) were impressive straight games winners over Peter Funchion and Brian Carroll respectively. The duo will meet in the semi-final next Saturday, with former winner Mulkerrins happy with his performance against experienced Kells clubman Brian Carroll.
“I wouldn't say it was comfortable, Brian and I go back along way to when I started in UCD in 2011, he is a super competitor and at 9-9 in the first there was nothing in it,” the Moycullen man told GAAHandball.ie.
“He missed a few that other days he would have rolled out which gave me that opportunity to get ahead but overall I felt I played well.”
Mulkerrins showed excellent form on the pre-championship tournament circuit but has been aiming to peak for championship since the outset. He is now one win away from a second final appearance but will face an extremely tough semi-final against the in-form Nash.
“I think all of the training has started to come together, the championship was my main focus from the start of the season and to have won my first pro stop, won the ranking tournament in Breacach and to have performed well in the Gaffney, Montana and the Irish Nationals have been all positive,” Mulkerrins stated.
I view them all as stepping stones and preparation to peak for this. Although tournaments are nice to win, championship and three games to 21 is completely different.
“The tournaments and my training have been to keep sharp on the court but also to build the conditioning that is necessary and I think that has all come together in the past few weeks.”
The semi-finals next Saturday in Kingscourt will feature three former winners in Mulkerrins, holder McCarthy and Shanks while Nash has previously featured in two finals.
Meanwhile, in the Ladies Senior Singles, there were no upsets with top seeds Martina McMahon, Catriona Casey and Aisling Reilly easing into the semis as expected.
McMahon was in imperious form, giving up just six points in her win over last year's intermediate champion, Megan McCann of Armagh.
Likewise, Casey was a comfortable 21-4, 21-4 victor over friend and training partner Aoife McCarthy of Westmeath while Reilly, fresh from reaching the final of the Irish Nationals, was pushed in game one against Tipperary's Sinead Meagher but ran out a 21-14, 21-6 winner.
The final quarter-final saw Roscommon's Fiona Tully pick up a walkover against Kildare teenager Mollie Dagg. The semi-final line-up is Tully v McMahon and Casey v Reilly.
Results:
Men’s QF's:
- Westmeath (Robbie McCarthy) dft Kerry (Dominick Lynch) 21-3, 19-21, 21-1
- Armagh (Charly Shanks) dft Clare (Colin Crehan) 19-21, 21-9, 21-6
- Galway (Martin Mulkerrins) dft Meath (Brian Carroll) 21-11, 21-8
- Clare (Diarmuid Nash) dft Kilkenny (Peter Funchion) 21-11, 21-4
Ladies QF's
- Limerick (Martina McMahon) dft Armagh (Megan McCann) 21-5, 21-1
- Roscommon (Fiona Tully) W/O Kildare (Mollie Dagg) scr.
- Antrim (Aisling Reilly) dft Tipperary (Sinead Meagher) 21-14, 21-6
- Cork (Catriona Casey) dft Westmeath (Aoife McCarthy) 21-4, 21-4