Magnificent seven for sizzling Leinster sides

Lindie Naughton

Leinster schools dominated the All-Ireland Schools Squash Finals at Sutton Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin, winning seven of the eight titles on offer.

In all, teams of boys and girls from 18 schools were competing in ages groups in four age groups -- U13, 15, 17 and 19.

Match of the day proved to be the U15 match between Stephanie Ryan from Santa Sabina Dominican College and Casey Luther of Gaelcholáiste Cheatherlach. Ryan, the current Irish No2 in this age group, will compete for Ireland at the Five Nations in Cardiff, Wales and the European Championships in Espoo, Finland later this season.

Luther is ranked just one place behind her and the closely fought match went to five games, with Ryan winning 13/11 in the fifth game for a 3-2 victory.

Also in action for Santa Sabina were Aoife Turley and Catherine Dillon and they duly won the U15 team title.

Santa Sabina also made the U17 final, but lost out to a strong team from Coláiste Iognáid, Galway, while Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach won the U19 title. Their team of Elaine Nic an Mhaoir, Niamh Ní Chaoimh and Fiona Ní Mhurchú proved too strong for Rainey Endowed from Magherafelt.

St Fintan's High School continued their domination of youth squash when they won four of the five boys' titles. In both the U15 and U17 age-groups, they beat teams from Ulster. Included in the U15 team was Oisín Dunne, while playing for the U17 squad was Cillian Dunne, both of them Irish junior international players.

Completing the Leinster clean sweep of the boys' title was Belvedere College, with a team including Dan L'Estrange, Ben Logan and Oisin Logan. They beat Campbell College. The Belfast school made three of the four finals.

New schools are always welcome to join the league, which has been going strong for the past 40 years and includes a number of divisions suitable for all standards and ages. For information on Leinster leagues contact Dermot Dineen on 086 1722138.

RESULTS

Girls -- W13 -- Winners: Burrow NS (Leinster) Katherine Bolger, Christine O'Dea, Georgia McGonigle. W15 -- Winner: Santa Sabina (Leinster) - Stephanie Ryan, Aoife Turley, Catherine Dillon (Leinster). W17 -- Winners: Col Iognaid (Connacht) - Fiona Power, Abilgail Silke, Evie Hayes. W19 -- Winners: Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach (Leinster), Elaine Nic an Mhaoir, Niamh Ní Chaoimh, Fiona Ní Mhurchú.

Boys -- M13: Winners - St Fintan's NS(Leinster), Luke Logan, Frank O'Dea, Kevin O'Connor. M15 -- Winners: St Fintan's HS (Leinster), Oisin Dunne, Stephen Murphy, Callum Cawley (Leinster). M17 -- Winners: St Fintan's HS (Leinster), Cillian Dunne, Kevin McQuaid, Gavin Connell (Leinster). M19 -- Winners: Belvedere College (Leinster), Dan L'Estrange, Ben Logan, Oisin Logan (Leinster).