David delivers top displays against Irish badminton’s very best
David Walsh was in flying form at the Irish Senior National Badminton Championships in Dublin.
Bonniconlon’s David Walsh and Adam McAllister from Ballaghaderreen were both in action at the Victor Irish Senior National Badminton Championships which took place at the National Indoor Arena on the Sports Ireland Campus on the weekend before last.
Competition took place in three disciplines, singles, level doubles and mixed doubles. David Walsh, who plays out of the Ballina Badminton Club, competed in all three disciplines. In the singles, David was a three-quarter seed and on the Saturday won through to Sunday’s semi-final by winning two matches. In the semi-final however, David came up against Jonathan Dolan of Sligo and although playing well, he lost out in two sets, 21-17, 21-8.
In the mixed doubles, David played with Kate Frost from Dublin. David and Kate do not usually play together in tournaments so this partnership wasn’t seeded, however, everybody knew this was a strong combination and David and Kate won their way through to Sunday’s semi-final, winning two matches on the Saturday. In Sunday’s semi-final, Kate and David met the defending champions – and number one seeded partnership – Moya Ryan and Joshua Magee. Moya and Joshua play together on the international badminton circuit and train together in the National High Performance Centre. The semi-final was a classic match of mixed doubles badminton, lasting over an hour. Moya and Joshua won the first set 21-18, Kate and David won the second set 21-19 and Moya and Joshua won the third set 21-18. Kate and David, although disappointed, can be very proud of their performance and how close they came to causing an upset.
In the men’s doubles event, David played with Ballaghadeeren native Adam McAllister. David and Adam are one of the strongest men’s doubles partnerships in Ireland and have won senior tournaments before. On the Saturday, they won two matches, including against the number two seeds in the quarter-finals. In Sunday’s semi-final they met the partnership of Vincent Pontanosa and Mathew Cheung from Dublin. David and Adam won through to the final in three sets, 21-8, 16-21, 21-14. This left David and Adam up against the number one seeds Paul Reynolds and Joshua Magee who play together internationally and train together at Badminton’s Ireland’s National High Performance Centre. The final was a good match with the Mayo pairing putting their professional opponents under pressure at times, however, Paul and Joshua retained their title in two sets, 21-16, 21-18, and David and Adam had to be content with the silver medal.
This was a very good tournament for David, competing in three disciplines and making the semi-final in all three was an achievement. Winning the silver medal in the men’s doubles and competing in one of the matches of the tournament in the mixed semi-final and coming close to beating a professional partnership were all notable successes.
