Ballyclare High enjoyed a successful day at the Irish Schools’ badminton finals in Gormanstown College, winning the Senior Boys Division One title, and finishing runners up in the Senior Boys Division Two event.

The Division One side completed the treble of Ulster Schools’ League and Cup and Irish Schools’ League with two comparatively comfortable wins over teams representing Leinster and Munster.

Team captain Andrew Shannon led the way with two assured singles wins, while his younger brother Simon gave further indication of his potential by eclipsing both of his opponents in the second singles. The strength in depth of the Ballyclare side again served them well as Philip Ross and Lyle McFarland continued the clean sweep of singles wins.

Doubles wins from both Ballyclare partnerships simply served to confirm their dominance of this competition landing the Irish senior title for the second time in the last three years. All four players deserve credit for their performance in this competition and for their commitment to school badminton in recent years. The generally high standard of play produced by Ballyclare teams is also emphasised by the fact that this was Andrew Shannon’s fifth appearance in the Irish Schools’ finals during his seven years in school.

If the Division One team’s Ulster and Irish success had been hoped for, perhaps expected, the achievements of the Division Two team have been more of a revelation this season. They approached the Irish finals in confident mood after their Ulster Schools’ success and again played well to record convincing wins over their Munster and Connacht counterparts.

The deciding match proved to be a step too far as they were matched against the Leinster representatives Terenure College, who fielded a very strong team at this level. All the Ballyclare players competed keenly, but they could not quite match their opponents on the day.

Nevertheless they also deserve credit for reaching this stage. Team captain Kyle Crawford has led the team well and has been well supported by John Hanley, Ryan tweed, Alistair McCormick and Chris Jamison. The full squad was used during the finals and all five players hugely enjoyed the experience and the challenge of this level of competition.

The completion of this year’s Irish finals marks the end of another competitive season’s play. Winning another Irish title indicates a high standard of play and a high level of commitment from players and coaches alike. Equally encouraging is the depth of talent which has allowed the school to field two competitive teams in senior competitions. The achievements of this year’s teams will hopefully inspire other teams to similar success in the future.