Dublin City University were crowned Student Sport Ireland / Badminton Ireland Mixed Team League champions on Wednesday February 22nd in Baldoyle Badminton Centre as they saw off Trinity College Dublin in a high-quality final.
The top eight badminton teams from across the colleges and universities of Ireland descended on Baldoyle Badminton Centre for this year’s knock out phase of the competition with four quarter finals starting at 10.15am.
With eight courts in use for the quarter final stages there was a host of fantastic games across the venue. Two of the pre-competition favourites clashed in the last eight as TU Dublin Tallaght and last years winners Trinity College Dublin played on courts 1&2 where Trinity College emerged 3-2 winners. Eventual winner DCU advanced to the last four with a 5-0 win over TUS Midlands, UCC were too strong for Royal College of Surgeons, winning 5-0 also, while courts 7&8 hosted another ding dong battle as South East Technological University Carlow defeated ATU Donegal 3-2.
The four winners in the quarter-finals advanced to the semi-finals with a 5th-8th playoff for the losers in the last eight. Trinity College Dublin and SETU Carlow served up a thrilling semi-final with the mixed doubles game deciding the match as Alex O’Connor and Molly Mong-Minh won the decisive game for Trinity College Dublin 21-10,21-13 over JJ McNicholas and Lea-Elisa George. In the second semi-final Dublin City University put on a dominate display to see off University College Cork 5-0. In the 5th to 8tth play offs TU Dublin Tallaght saw off ATU Donegal 4-1 and Royal College of Surgeons were 5-0 winners over TUS Midlands.
In the 7th – 8th final ATU Donegal were 3-2 winners over TUS Midlands, 5th place went to TU Dublin Tallaght as they saw off RCSI 3-0, University College Cork took 3rd place with a 4-1 win over SETU Carlow and then all focus went to the final between DCU and Trinity College.
The opening game of the final in the men’s singles saw Luther Lyons from Trinity College Dublin defeat Scott Guildea 21-12, 22-20 to give Trinity a great start. DCU restored parity immediately in the Ladies Singles as Kim Feehily got the better of Natalie Chang 21-13, 21-9. DCU took the lead in the match as Scott Guildea and Vincent Pontanosa were 21-15, 21-17 winners against Erwin Guan and Luther Lyons. Yen Tong Yip and Julia O’Reilly secured the title for Dublin City University as they were victorious in the Ladies doubles 21-12, 21-13 against Molly Hong-Minh and Natalie Yan.