Great achievement by local racquetball team at tournament
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IT Tralee played host to the second annual colleges' racquetball competition last Wednesday.
The two day event saw five colleges and 48 contestants compete for silverware. University College Cork, Cork Institute of Technology, Waterford Institute of Technology and Blanchardstown Institute of Technology were all represented on the courts.
The competition saw may great battles and tiebreakers were often required to separate the tighter games.
IT Tralee entered a strong team of eight and came away with two silvers, a gold and runners-up in the overall team event.
In the C division the final was an all-Tralee affair between Gavin O'Reilly and Stephen Guilfoyle, a match that has yet to be played as both players were unavailable for the final due to other commitments. That final will be played in the coming week – best of luck to both players.
In the B division the semi-final was contested between Tralee players Ailbhe Gill and Conor Keane – they had to be separated by a tiebreaker in which Conor was victorious.
The final was a tight affair again needing a tiebreaker to decide the result between Conor and CIT's MJ O'Sullivan. Conor narrowly missed out on gold by just two points.
The division A winner was Blanchardstown's Ruairi O'Rourke who narrowly beat CIT's Johnny O'Keaney in the tiebreaker. Spectators were treated to an exhibition of racquetball in this final as both players are very well experienced and have represented Ireland on an international stage.
In the team event UCC were in third place, ITT came second and for the second year in a row CIT were first. This was a great achievement for Tralee as it is a new club and had a small team in comparison with CIT's team of 13.
Overall the event was a huge success and ITT would like to thank all those who made contributed to its success. A special thanks to Johnny O'Keaney from CIT who took charge of the event and organised the draws and games.
Also to the team captains who got the teams together in preparation for the event – Ailbhe Gill ITT, Eithne Skehan UCC, Johnny O'Keaney CIT, Ruairi O'Rourke BIT and James Bolger WIT.
A special thanks also to Tralee Sports Complex where all the games were played and The Slieve Mish pub who supplied food on the night of the event. The Tralee team consisted of Louise O'Shea, Liam Kirwan, Stephen Doherty, Daragh O'Brein, Conor Keane, Gavin O'Reilly, Stepehen Guilfoyle and Ailbhe Gill.
