The draws for the M Donnelly 40x20 Senior Singles championship have been released and the big news is that Cork star Killian Carroll will not take his place due to injury.
The 21-year-old reigning Irish Nationals and Canadian Nationals champion was expected to have a major say in the destination of this year’s title, having been beaten by eventual champ Robbie McCarthy in a close third game in the 2014 semi-final. Carroll has since gone on to win the last three Irish Ranking events to rocket up to third in the Official Irish Rankings. However, an elbow injury has forced the Mallow man to withdraw, which leaves McCarthy and Diarmaid Nash as the two-standout contenders.
McCarthy, who has qualified for the last eight by virtue of his Leinster Championship win last month, is seeded no 1 and will be strongly fancied to advance to the semi-finals, where his likely opponent will be Connacht champion Joe McCann or last year’s semi-finalist Brian Carroll of Meath. McCann had an eye-catching win in the Connacht final over Galways Martin Mulkerrins, whilst Brian Carroll only fell 21-19 in the third in last years semi-final with Nash, in the best match of last years Championship.
However, Peter Funchion, Colm Jordan or CJ Fitzpatrick – who recently pushed Clare’s Nash to a nail biting 21-19 third game in the Munster semi-final – are all in good form and will fancy their chances of recording an upset.
Nash, meanwhile, leads the lower half of the draw as the no 2 seed. The former Banner underage hurler faces a tough path, though, if he is to repeat last year’s run to the final.
Former champion Eoin Kennedy of Dublin will be favoured to come through to the quarters, where Michael Finnegan – who took a game from Charly Shanks in the Ulster final – lies in wait. The winner of that section plays into Nash while Shanks, for his part, will have to fend off one of lefties Niall O’Connor and Vinny Moran or Galway hot-shot Mulkerrins in the other section.
Meanwhile, reigning champion Aisling Reilly heads the field in the Ladies Singles. The Antrim right-hander scored a straight games win over Cork’s Catriona Casey in last year’s decider at Kingscourt but Casey has since turned the tables on her great rival at the US Nationals in Minneapolis, the US Open in LA and the Irish Nationals in Kilkenny.
The outstanding pair will be fancied to advance for what should be another mouth-watering final. However, there are a number of ‘sleepers’ in the draw who will try to upset the script. The talent pool in the ladies grade is arguably deeper than ever and that is borne out by the fact that several of the first-round matches are tricky to call.
Limerick left-hander Martina McMahon, the current One Wall Open champion, takes on the experienced Patricia Byrne of Wicklow, with Down’s Lorraine Havern faces Aoife McCarthy of Westmeath.
Another intriguing tie is the clash of Wicklow’s Shauna Hilley and Mayo’s Amy Corrigan, while former champion Maria Daly of Kerry meets Roscommon youngster Lauren O’Riordan in what will be an interesting match.
Young Galway dual player Ciana Ní Churráoin – a powerful player widely-tipped to make a big impact in the near future - meets Kilkenny’s Ciara Mahon, with Kerry’s Ashley Prendiville pitted against Casey’s doubles parter, Aishling O’Keeffe.
Action serves off this weekend with games taking place in Kingscourt, Cashel, Broadford, Cullohill & Monavea.
Preview by Paul Fitzpatrick
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