Irish Team Captain, Martin Mulkerrins, will face fellow Irish man Killian Carroll in the Men’s Open Singles Final tomorrow (Saturday) after today’s semi-final.
First into action on Friday morning @ 11am was Robbie McCarthy who played Boston based Killian Carroll. McCarthy had an explosive start and quickly went into an 8-0 lead before Carroll gathered himself and fought back to trail 8-9. But McCarthy with some terrific back wall kills went 14-8 before extending his lead to 16-8 and then 20-10. Carroll had a mini revival at this stage when he fought back to trail 13-20 but McCarthy with a left corner kill from the back of the court sealed game 1 on a 21-13 score-line.
There was a very cagey start to game 2 with little between both players as they were level at 2 all and 3 all before Killian upped his game and went 4-3, 6-3 and then 8-3 up. But McCarthy was not to be outdone as he fought back to trail 8-9. For the next while there was very little between both players with each player fighting hard to get back into serve, points were hard to get and rallies were long to the on looking crowd’s delight. In the end Carroll got an ace down the left which put him 10-8 up and he followed that up with another at 14-10 and at 16-10, in the end Carroll won the important last few aces to take the second game 21-13. A tiebreak to 11 aces was all that stood between both men and a World Final spot.
In the tiebreak Robbie started brightly and led 1-0 but Carroll had other ideas and quickly levelled before going 4-1 up, Carroll was outstanding at this stage and he extended his lead to 8-1. McCarthy tired his best but Carroll closed out the tiebreak to win 11-3.
The second semi-final between Martin Mulkerrins and Paul Brady was next up, but word soon circulated around the arena that confirmed that reigning 5 time World Champion Brady had been forced to withdraw due to an injured ankle that he picked up the previous day in the SF. This meant that Irish Team Captain Mulkerrins now advances to the World Final.So this means a new champion will be crowned for the first time in 15 years tomorrow Saturday.
It’s much of the same story in the Ladies Singles with our Irish girls showing their class yet again. Martina McMahon cruised to a win against Tracy Davis, Aisling Reilly accounted for Aishling O’Keeffe, Catriona Casey powered past Aoife McCarthy and Ciana Ni Churraoin took out Pauline Gallagher.
So the semi-finals Saturday morning are Casey v Ni Churraoin and McMahon v Reilly. The Irish are certainly dominating the world stage.
Day 9 Key Results (4-Wall) – Friday 17th:
- Mens Open Singles SF: Killian Carroll dft Robbie McCarthy (Team Ireland) 13-21, 21-13, 11-3
- Mens Open Singles SF: Martin Mulkerrins (Team Ireland) W/O Paul Brady (Team Ireland) injured
- Ladies Open Singles QF: Catriona Casey (Cork) dft Aoife McCarthy (Westmeath) 21-1, 21-2
- Ladies Open Singles QF: Ciana Ni Churraoin (Galway) dft Pauline Gallagher (Mayo) 21-5, 21-5
- Ladies Open Singles QF: Martina McMahon (Team Ireland) dft Tracy Davis (USA) 21-1, 21-3
- Ladies Open Singles QF: Aisling Reilly (Team Ireland) dft Aishling O’Keeffe (Cork) 21-2, 21-8
- Boys 15&U Singles L16: Josh Kavanagh (Team Ireland) dft Antonio Flores (USA) 21-2, 21-0
- Boys 17&U Singles L16: Eoghan McGinnity (Team Ireland) dft Lorcan Conlon 21-8, 21-5
- Girls 15&U Singles QF: Mairead Fox (Team Ireland) dft Cliona Dunning 21-14, 21-11
Day 10 Key Fixtures (4-Wall) – Saturday 18th:
- Mens Open Singles Final: Killian Carroll v Martin Mulkerrins (Team Ireland) @ 11am
- Ladies Open Singles SF: Catriona Casey (Cork) v Ciana Ni Churraoin @ 1pm
- Ladies Open Singles SF: Martina McMahon (Team Ireland) v Aisling Reilly (Team Ireland) @ 12noon
- Mens Open Doubles SF: Robbie McCarthy/Diarmuid Nash (Team Ireland) v Amando Ortiz/Vic Perez (USA) @ 2pm
- Mens Open Doubles SF: Martin Mulkerrins/Killian Carroll v Marcos Chavez/Sean Lenning (USA) @ 3pm
- Ladies Open Doubles SF: Martina McMahon/Aisling Reilly (Team Ireland) v Ciara Mahon/Pauline Gallagher @ 3pm
- Ladies Open Doubles SF: Catriona Casey/Aishling O’Keeffe v Tracy Davis/Suzanne Entzeroth (USA) @ 2pm
- Boys 19&U Singles QF: Shane Dunne (Team Ireland) v Ivan Burgos (Canada) @ 9am
- Boys 17&U Singles QF: Eoghan McGinnity (Team Ireland) v Alegandro Garcia Jr (Mex) @ 10am
- Boys 15&U Singles QF: Josh Kavanagh (Team Ireland) v Jack Darcy @ 9am
- Girls 19&U Singles SF: Megan McCann (Team Ireland) v Aoife Holden @ 10am
- Girls 17&U Singles SF: Niamh Heffernan (Team Ireland) v Belisa Camacho (Canada) @ 10am
- Girls 15&U Singles SF: Mairead Fox (Team Ireland) v Chloe Philphott @ 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
Click Here for Men’s 4-Wall Doubles Open Draw
Click Here for Ladies’s 4-Wall Doubles Open Draw