Bronze for Irish at Europe Cup
Well done the Irish team who claimed an excellent third spot at the 2009 Europe Cup in Eindhoven, Holland at the weekend. Managed by Kilkenny's Tom Keogh- Mark Finneran, Thomas Concannon, Martin Heneghan from Mayo and Kilkenny's Paddy Meaney were all in excellent form at the weekend.
In the Boys Singles Mark Finneran lost to the eventual winner Oscar Lukasiak in the Semi-Final on stage on Saturday morning. Mark progressed with wins on Friday over opponents from Wales (3-0), Hungary (3-1), Sweden (3-2) and Russia (2-1). Mark's run was one of the best by an Irish player in the 20 year history of the event. Thomas Concannon was unlucky to be beaten 3-2 in legs by Swedish opponent Birk Kamp in the first round on Friday. Martin Heneghan was beaten 3-2 by Dutch opponent Gilbert Van Der Meyden in Round 2. Paddy Meaney also lost to the eventual winner Oscar Lukasiak in the QF.
In the Boys Pairs- after a 1st round win over an English pair Mark Finneran and Thomas Concannon exited after a last 16 loss to Finnish opponents on a 3-2 scoreline who were eventual runners up. Martin Heneghan and Paddy Meaney exited at the QF stage losing out to eventual winners Oscar Lukasiak and Edmund Torbjonsson from Sweden.
The good form showed by the Irish lads in the Singles and Pairs continued in the 4-a-side Boys Team event. A blistering team effort on Friday evening seen 9-2 wins over Finland and Scotland which were hard fought before they stuffed Turkey 9-0 to reach the QF. A 9-5 win in Friday nights QF against a fast emerging Czech Rep. side proved very tough. Saturday's stage semi final started well for the Irish taking a 3-1 lead. Sewden replied to take a 5-4 lead. Mark Finneran took the 10th game to level but Sewden took the next 3 needing only one more to prevail. Ireland did take one more leg- but Sweden done enough to win out 9-6. Sweden came runner up to The Netherlands.
Day 1 on Thursday last was a decent one for the Irish girls pair. Kilkenny's Jessie Keogh and Galway's Aoife Ryan were knocked out at the QF stage of the girls pairs on Thursday evening. However that result was not to be repeated on Friday as they both suffered early defeats in the girls singles bringing their involvement to an end.
Well done to all involved.
Complete results at www.ecydarts.eu