Search Results for 'Ian McLoughlin'

Six students and lecturers from NUI Galway have been awarded Fulbright Scholarships to continue their work in the United Staters.

Moycullen can look forward to a weekend off from Superleague action to lick their wounds before travelling to UCD to face Marian on November 3.

The weekend ahead sees Mayo handballers in action in no fewer than nine provincial deciders. Gearoid Hughes takes on Roscommon’s Brendan McDonagh in the junior B singles decider this Friday evening at Williamstown at 7pm while Ian McLoughlin will be bidding for under 21 glory in the second match at Williamstown. Martin Vahey is in action at the same venue on Saturday at 5pm as he takes on Roscommon’s Aengus Cunningham in the masters A final and that card also features Joe Dowling against Anthony O’Donnell and John Coyne against Shane Noonan. David Corrigan takes on Galway’s Martin Seoige in the junior C decider at Liascul on Sunday at 3pm.

The main business of the weekend was the Irish Junior 40x20 Nationals held at Cavan and Monaghan venues. Lorraine Havern of Down beat second seed Shauna Hilley from Wicklow in impressive fashion in a surprisingly one-sided final. Both Stephen Cooney and Ian McLoughlin were contenders in the top boys’ event the 19 and under singles. McLoughlin was an early casualty as he was well beaten by Patrick Funchion from Kilkenny, however Cooney, the number two seed, had a great tournament. He accounted for Cian Connolly of Roscommon, 216, 21-9 in his opening match and then he beat all-Ireland minor singles finalist, Padraig O’Carroll of Limerick 21-13, 21-13 to reach the decider against the number one seed, Caolan Daly of Tyrone.

Pauline Gallagher and Dessie Keegan were among the eight strong Irish men’s and ladies’ teams who competed in the one-wall Federations Cup in Imperia, Italy, last weekend. The Irish women lost in qualifying to Holland and Puerto Rico but qualified for the consolation ELA club. The Irish team saw off the challenge of the Basque Country and France to take the title in style. The team also included Roscommon’s Marianna Rushe, Kerry’s Ashley Prendiville, and Down’s Lorraine Havern. Dessie Keegan helped team mates Charly Shanks (Armagh), James Doyle (Antrim), and Robbie McCarthy (Westmeath) to a fifth place finish in the men’s team event following qualifying wins over France and Mexico. However the Irish lost their quarter-final to Puerto Rico. Twenty teams in all competed in the annual one-wall team tournament.

Mayo's Ollie Cassidy and Paul Flynn lost out on a place in the all-Ireland intermediate doubles semi-final on Sunday last as they went down in two games to Kilkenny duo Timmy and David Clifford. The Swinford/Ballaghaderreen duo got off to a bad start in the opening game and lost is 21 aces to 10. It was a different story in the second as the Mayo duo really got stuck in and, playing some great handball coupled with top class serving, they led 16 aces to 8 at one stage. However try as they might they simply could not finish off this game and despite serving out game ball at 20 aces to 19 they lost the second by a single ace 21-20 and with it their hopes of a tilt at the title in three weeks’ time. However much credit must go to Cassidy who put the heartbreak of his father’s death just nine days ago behind him, to turn in a fine performance on the day.

Mayo duo Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann made a somewhat disappointing exit from the All-Ireland senior doubles championship as they lost out to Wexford duo Barry Goff and Colin Keeling in three games at Thurles on Saturday evening. There were hopes that the pair would at least threaten for a place in the last four of the doubles championship, and they started with great intent. This was rewarded with a fine 21 aces to 13 win in the opener that set them up nicely for victory. However matters took a turn for the worse after that initial good showing and Keegan, who had been unwell during the week, was unable to maintain the intensity of the first game and the duo paid the price, losing this second game heavily, 21 aces to 5.

Handball

A total of 10 athletes and four coaches and volunteers from Athlone Special Olympics Club will be part of the Connaught squad at the Special Olympics Ireland Games taking place at the University of Limerick (UL) this week from June 9-13.

Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann’s hopes of back to back all-Ireland senior 40x20 doubles titles came unstuck in the feature event at a packed St Coman’s on Saturday evening last as the duo were comprehensively defeated by the superior Cavan pairing of Paul Brady and Michael Finnegan.