Paul Brady, Martin Mulkerrins, Robbie McCarthy and Killian Carroll have all advanced to tomorrow Friday’s semi-finals.
First into action on Thursday morning @ 10am was Martin Mulkerrins the Irish Men’s Team captain who played Clare hot shot Colin Crehan. This was a tricky encounter for Mulkerrins as Crehan is no soft touch. But the Galway handballer took control of the first game and won it easily 21-13 but there was a different story in the second as Crehan started strongly to lead in the early stages. This game was very tight with little between both players but in the end Mulkerrins won the important last few aces to take the second game and the match 21-17.
The second QF saw Boston based Killian Carroll #1 ranked player in the draw take on Diarmuid Nash (Team Ireland). Nash, the current Irish #4 has come into this championships as many peoples dark horse, given his form, but also his fantastic tournament play. Nash started strongly and built up an early 8-2 lead before Carroll got into top gear and clawed his way back to level at 14 all. Carroll the Cork native powered his way to take the opening game 21-14. In the second Carroll took control from the word go and sealed a 21-14, 21-8 win.
Next up was Robbie McCarthy (Team Ireland) against the extremely gifted Sean Lenning (USA) in a clash of the #4 & #5 seeds. This was a repeat fixture from three years ago at the last championships when a dramatic 11-10 tie-break win for McCarthy sealed it for the Westmeath man. Lenning started brightly and went into an early lead but McCarthy was never too far behind with only a couple of aces separating both players throughout this game. At 17 all the game was finely balanced but McCarthy got his nose in front with a subline kill and he never looked back as he took the first 21-19. Game 2 followed a similar pattern with little between both players but once again McCarthy took the initiate in the closing stages and sealed the victory 21-19, 21-14.
The final QF saw reigning FIVE time World champion Paul Brady take on Luis Cordova. Brady has not seen much competitive action over the last three years since his last World title so he was coming into this tournament in a somewhat unknown quantity. Cordova had a good Last 16 win the day before against Emmett Peixoto 21-11, 21-11 which must have given him confidence to pull off a shock today. He certainly raised to the challenge today with a good start and then Brady had to take an early injury timeout with an ankle injury. But Brady fought back to level at 6 al,l but the pressure was on, as Cordova was always in the lead with Brady fighting back to level the game on no fewer than SEVEN times before it reached 17 all. But Brady came out of the blocks and finished out the game with an explosive finish to take the first 21-17.
In the second Cordova started strongly and went into an early 10-0 lead before he extended it to 15-7 and the large crowd was thinking of the tiebreak. But Brady had a different idea as he quickly moved up the gears and levelled at 15 all to the amazement of everyone. There was an amazing rally at 15-17 before Brady killed the ball stone dead to get back into serve. Within a few minutes another explosive finish by Brady resulted in him closed out the second game to win 21-17, 21-15 to keep alive his drive for six!
It’s much of the same story in the Ladies Singles with our Irish girls showing their class yet again against international competitors. Ciana Ni Churraoin, Aoife McCarthy and Aishling O’Keeffe are all safely through to the next round with Ireland’s top players Aisling Reilly, Martina McMahon, Catriona Casey and Pauline Gallagher entering at the QF stage tomorrow Friday.
Day 8 Key Results (4-Wall) - Thursday 16th:
- Mens Open Singles QF: Killian Carroll dft Diarmuid Nash (Team Ireland) 21-14, 21-8
- Mens Open Singles QF: Robbie McCarthy (Team Ireland) dft Sean Lenning (USA) 21-19, 21-14
- Mens Open Singles QF: Martin Mulkerrins (Team Ireland) dft Colin Crehan (Clare) 21-12, 21-17
- Mens Open Singles QF: Paul Brady (Team Ireland) dft Luis Cordova Jr (USA) 21-17, 21-15
- Ladies Open Singles L16: Aoife McCarthy (Westmeath) dft Suzanne Entzeroth (USA) 21-11, 21-7
- Ladies Open Singles L16: Ciana Ni Churraoin (Galway) dft Aimee Fadden (USA) 21-1, 21-2
- Ladies Open Singles L16: Aishling O’Keeffe (Cork) dft Jennifer Schmitt (USA) 21-14, 21-11
- Mens 19&U Singles R16: Shane Dunne (Team Ireland) dft Cian Conneely (Gal) 21-9, 18-21, 11-3
Day 9 Key Fixtures (4-Wall) - Friday 17th:
- Mens Open Singles SF: Killian Carroll v Robbie McCarthy (Team Ireland) @ 11am
- Mens Open Singles SF: Martin Mulkerrins (Team Ireland) v Paul Brady (Team Ireland) @ 1pm
- Ladies Open Singles QF: Catriona Casey (Cork) v Aoife McCarthy (Westmeath) @ 11am
- Ladies Open Singles QF: Ciana Ni Churraoin (Galway) v Pauline Gallagher (Mayo) @ 10am
- Ladies Open Singles QF: Martina McMahon (Team Ireland) v Tracy Davis (USA) @ 10am
- Ladies Open Singles QF: Aishling O’Keeffe (Cork) v Aisling Reilly (Team Ireland) @ 12noon
- Boys 15&U Singles L16: Josh Kavanagh (Team Ireland) v Antonio Flores (USA) @ 4pm
- Boys 17&U Singles L16: Eoghan McGinnity (Team Ireland) v Lorcan Conlon @ 5pm
- Girls 15&U Singles QF: Mairead Fox (Team Ireland) v Cliona Dunning @ 9am
Times are Minnesota Local times – Irish time + 6 Hours
Click Here for Men’s 4-Wall Singles Open Draw
Click Here for Ladies’s 4-Wall Singles Open Draw