Munster O35s & 040s – Ennis 2015

The Ennis CBS Squash Club again hosted the Munster Masters Open for 035’s and O40’s players over the weekend 9/10th January last, drawing the cream of Ireland’s top competitors to the New Road Ennis venue.

In the O35’s, Neal Pollack took on Kevin Moore in the semi-final. Pollack opened strongly and was good value for a 2-1 lead before Moore redoubled his efforts to level matters. He then finished very strongly in the fifth game to see off Pollack and take his place in the final where he faced Dubliner Ronan Peyton who had a 3-0 win over Gerald McGoldrick.

On Saturday afternoon, Moore and Peyton took to the court for what proved to be an engrossing final. With both players giving a masterclass in volley-kills, the first two games were neck and neck with first Moore and then Peyton winning 12-10, with two points being needed for victory. With Peyton having recovered two ‘game points’ in that second game, he was in buoyant mood in the third and won it 11-2. Moore refused to give in and roared back into contention with a tremendous 11-7 score to bring it to a deciding fifth game. Tremendous drop-shot ‘duels’ at the front were a feature as Peyton lead 7-3 before Moore brought it right back to 7-8 down. In the end, Peyton had just enough to claim the title 11-8 and 3-1 in games which improved on his runners-up spot in the 2014 Open.

In the O40’s: The other semi-final saw local favourite Clive Morgan meet Cork’s John Hurley. Morgan had had an encouraging 3-0 win over Aidan Coppinger to reach this stage and made a determined start against Hurley. A high-quality first game saw the lead swap regularly before Hurley took it 11-9. He swiftly made it 2-0 with some consistent play before Morgan responded in the third to take a 7-4 lead before play tightened to a 9-9 score. Hurley hung on to complete the win 3-0 with Morgan somewhat unlucky not to extend the match further. In the 3rd Place match, Morgan had a great 3-2 win over Philip Coleman to keep the CBS flag flying for the sizeable local crowd. The final match saw defending champion, David Ayerst, from Belfast take on John Hurley. The first game was extremely competitive with the initiative switching between the two before Hurley took it 12-10 with some great variety. Ayerst’s consistent shot-making was the key factor in an 11-6 win in the second game. With Hurley tiring, Ayerst powered on to win 11-5 and 11-4 to make it back-to-back Munster Masters Opens in Ennis. Once again, the Ennis CBS Club enjoyed a fabulous weekend of high-grade squash.

Report was originally published on enniscbs.com