Senior Boys’ Badminton
Ballyclare High School’s senior boys’ team can look back at the 2005-06 season with much pride, having secured that their team will go down in history as the first school team to win senior school’s Ulster and Irish titles.
The team played a strong Coleraine Inst. in their first match and got beaten 5-1 in a match that was closer than the score suggested. An excellent 6-0 victory away to Royal and Prior, Raphoe was much deserved. After some persuasion, the services of A. Shannon (Irish U17 International) were guaranteed for the rest of the Division 1 League programme. This was a major boost to the team as they secured a 6-0 win over Friends’ School, Lisburn and Bangor Grammar. The crunch match was Sullivan Upper where P. Ross and J. Hanley turned out superb performances, at numbers 3 and 4 in the team, for Ballyclare to win 4-2 and meet Coleraine Inst. in the Ulster Schools’ senior final.
Ballyclare competed in the senior boys’ League Division 1final against Coleraine Inst. at the National Badminton Centre, Lisburn on Friday 3 rd March 2006. A previous League defeat during the season to their close rivals C.A.I. had created an added incentive for the Ballyclare boys to gain revenge. The senior boys’ Division 1 title had eluded Ballyclare HS, as they had previously lost three consecutive senior finals between 1999-2001. The first doubles match saw S. Dobbin and R. Campbell of C.A.I. take on A.Shannon and G.Gardiner in what proved to be a convincing win to get Ballyclare off the mark (15-9, 15-5). Victory also in the second doubles for P. Ross and M. Holmes against N. Wallace and C. Thomas (15-10, 15-4) left Ballyclare with a clear advantage moving into the singles on a 2-0 lead. Shannon won the first singles in style against Dobbin with a 15-6, 15-7 victory. Gardiner proved similarly clinical in his singles, beating Campbell 15-13 and 15-7. Coleraine’s N. Wallace suffered an injury mid-way through the first set of the third singles against P. Ross and was forced to retire from the match. With the standings at 5-0 in Ballyclare’s favour, the fourth singles proved only a consolation for Coleraine. In a three set thriller, C.A.I.’s C. Thomas defeated Ballyclare’s M. Holmes 15-5, 6-15, 17-14. With a 5-1 victory for Ballyclare, they would now move on towards the All Ireland Schools’ Championships on the 25 th March, after becoming Ulster Senior League Champions.
This season’s most successful school teams around the provinces gathered at the impressive Gormanstown College complex to compete in these prestigious All Ireland finals, and the Ballyclare team of Andrew Shannon, Grant Gardiner, Phillip Ross, Matthew Holmes (captain) and John Hanley emerged victorious after a competitive day’s play to claim the title of Irish Senior Boys’ Champions for the school for the first time.
In the first of three matches the Ballyclare boys faced last year’s winners, Wesley College, who boasted three international representatives in their highly rated team. Leading from the front, top-ranked Andrew Shannon gave his team the best possible start with a composed 15-3 win, only for the Leinster side to draw level after Grant Gardiner lost a hard-fought second singles.
In the third singles, Phillip Ross faced a daunting task against a more experienced opponent but rose to the occasion with a fine win, which crucially boosted the confidence and self-belief of the whole side, and set the tone for a successful competition. Matthew Holmes played a captain’s role to put Ballyclare into a thoroughly deserved 3-1 lead before the doubles, in which first Gardiner and Shannon, and then Ross and Holmes combined effectively to put the final gloss on an emphatic 5-1 win.
Ballyclare High |
5 |
1 |
WesleyCollege |
A Shannon |
15 |
3 |
D McMillan |
G Gardiner |
9 |
15 |
D Tutty |
P Ross |
15 |
13 |
S Taylor |
M Holmes |
15 |
6 |
S Yeo |
Shannon/Gardiner |
15 |
6 |
McMillan/Tutty |
Ross/Holmes |
15 |
11 |
Taylor/Yeo |
The boys approached the second match of the day in a relaxed and confident frame of mind, after having made such an assured start to the day’s competition. Shannon’s opponent in the first singles proved resilient but was unable to stop Ballyclare taking the lead. Gardiner bounced back from his opening defeat with a comfortable win and the subsequent success of both Ross and Holmes in their respective singles confirmed the overall result for the Ballyclare side. Shannon and Gardiner scored a narrow win in their doubles and it was left to Ross and Holmes to complete the clean sweep with a resounding 15-1 success.
Ballyclare High |
6 |
0 |
TerenureCollege |
A Shannon |
15 |
10 |
M Donnelly |
G Gardiner |
15 |
3 |
R McDonnagh |
P Ross |
15 |
4 |
J Oliver |
M Holmes |
15 |
8 |
R Coleman |
Shannon/Gardiner |
15 |
13 |
Donnelly/Coleman |
Ross/Holmes |
15 |
1 |
McDonnagh/Oliver |
For the third game of the day John Hanley replaced Matthew Holmes, who had been unbeaten in his four games. Feeling unwell throughout the day, this was an excellent effort from the team captain. Yet again, Shannon proved too strong for his opponent as he provided the perfect start and Gardiner and Ross again chipped in with strong performances in the singles. Having not been involved in the first two matches, John Hanley took a little time to settle as he lost the fourth singles but he recovered well to record a good win alongside Ross in the second doubles. With Shannon and Gardiner having already added another resounding win, Ballyclare cruised to a comfortable 5-1 success.
Ballyclare High |
5 |
1 |
High School, Clonmel |
A Shannon |
15 |
6 |
L McNamara |
G Gardiner |
15 |
3 |
C Walsh |
P Ross |
15 |
13 |
P Burke |
J Hanley |
3 |
15 |
P Heverin |
Shannon/Gardiner |
15 |
6 |
McNamara/Walsh |
Ross/Hanley |
15 |
11 |
Burke/Heverin |
As they have progressed through the junior school, the boys have benefited from the guidance of coach Mr Thompson and also previously of Mr McKinney. The team has worked hard throughout this season, defeating C.A.I. to win the Ulster Schools’ Championship and then defeating an Ulster Schools’ select team in a very beneficial preparation match before the Irish finals. The first Irish senior boys’ badminton title in the history of the school is a deserved reward for the efforts of all involved.
Junior Boys’ Badminton
U16 Ulster Schools Division 1
The junior boys’ badminton team played against Coleraine Inst., Wallace High School, Royal and Prior, Raphoe and Friends’ School, Lisburn. This was a very difficult League and we knew it would be hard to get many good results. At the start of our League campaign we played well against Coleraine to win 6-0. Our second match was not so good and we were beaten 6-0 by a strong Wallace in Lisburn. We later suffered two away defeats, 6-0 by Royal and Prior and 5-1 against Friends’. In the latter match, we witnessed a superb win from Ally McCormack. Knowing we weren’t going to win the League, we focused our attention on the U16 Ulster Cup. We were drawn to play Bangor Grammar in the quarter finals at home, but unfortunately were beaten 6-0 by the better team on the day, although many of the matches were close.
Team: Shay McCann, Ryan Tweed, Chris Jamison and Alistair McCormack.
Minor Boys’ Badminton
It was a difficult year for the minor boys and they only won a few of their matches. This season’s results in the Division 1 Ulster League were a loss to Friends’ 0-6 and Bangor 0-6 but a draw with Wallace High School (7-6 win on sets) and a win over R.B.A.I. 5-1. However, in the Cup, R.B.A.I. reversed this score to defeat us 5-1. The boys will have to show continued commitment next year to again compete for a place on the team.
Team: Kyle Crawford (Capt), Regan McCann, Johnny McCrea and Simon Beattie.
In the NEBSSA Badminton Championships, held at Ballymoney Leisure Centre in February, both the Year 11 and Year 9 teams had success in winning their competitions.
The Year 11 team was Ryan Tweed (Capt), Chris Jamesion, Alastair McCormick and Chris Lennon and the Year 9 team was Simon Beattie (Capt), Johnny McCrea, J. Buckley, G. Higginson
SMT