Maynooth University Badminton Club collected this year’s Student Sport Ireland Badminton League title after some stellar performances saw them crowned winners in Baldoyle Badminton Centre recently.
7 teams made the trip to north Dublin for league finals day and the action got underway with three exciting quarter finals. Last year’s winners Trinity College Dublin got up and running with a 4-1 victory over University College Dublin in the first last eight contest of the morning. University of Limerick were the next team to make it through to the last four with a comfortable 4-0 win over Royal College of Surgeons. The last quarter final was a real humdinger as Maynooth University and Dublin City University pushed each other from start to finish, before Maynooth University secured a 3-2 victory.
Trinity College Dublin met TU Dublin Tallaght campus in the first semi-final and put in a 4-1 win to secure their berth in the final, while University of Limerick and Maynooth University would once again be a fantastic contest which saw Maynooth once again bring home the result with success in the Mixed Doubles.
The final got underway with the men’s singles as Louie Lyons played for Trinity College and Dharan Rajulapati served up for Maynooth University. Lyons took the opening set 22-20, but Dharan pulled out every sort of shot to secure victory 2-1 with 21-16, 21-16 wins in the second and third set. Trinity College was back level in the contest quickly however as Eva Bogoslovskaya took the women’s singles match 21-18, 21-16 against Kerry Fallon.
It was onto the doubles then, and it saw Trinity College move in front for the first time in the match as Erwin Guan and Louie Lyons secured a comfortable 21-5, 21-8 win over Joe Monahan and David Harney. With their backs to the wall now Maynooth University knew that success in the women’s doubles was a must to keep their title chances alive. Holly Malone, Katie Dunne (Maynooth) and Eva Bogoslovskaya, Saumya Kothiyal (Trinity) served up a memorable contest with Maynooth making sure the match went to the fifth match with a 21-16, 17-21, 21-12 win.
It was all or nothing for both sides now as Erwin Quan and Saumya Kothiyal took the opening set in the final match 21-13 for Trinity College Dublin. However, Maynooth University who came into the competition after finishing 7th last year, would secure the winners gold medals as Dharan Rajulapati and Kerry Fallon finished a 38-minute contest with 21-14, 21-15 wins in the remaining two sets.