Johnny Hurley (Fitzpatrick's) retained his Munster Closed
title in style when coming back from 2 games to nil down against Sunday's Well's
Brian O'Connor. The Blarney man needed all his composure to stay in the
match in a close fought 3rd. game.
He managed to cling on in that crucial phase and went on to be a convincing
3-2 winner in the end.
It could easily have gone the other way, however, as Brian O'Connor played commanding
squash in the first half of the encounter. Moving very well and using length
to great effect the Waterford player - who plays his club squash for 'The Well'
seemed like a 3 to nil winner early on and it is unlikely that anyone would
have bet against Brian taking the title. However, some crucial misses in the
tight part of the match towards the end of the third allowed Johnny back in
the match and once he won the third game the pendulum swung in his favour.
Best of the Ladies was Munster Captain Niamh McMahon. The Dungarvan player
was a 3-0 winner over Limerick Lawn's Barbara Murray. Although a well-deserved
winner, Niamh would be the first to acknowledge that the margin did not reflect
the closeness of the match and the Limerick player played some great squash
in patches.
As last year, there was a junior player winner in the Men's 'B' section where 15 year old Brian Healy from Highfield did the business.
Overall there was some great squash over the week-end and the tournament - organised as usual by Michael Howard and his team at Gleneagle - was a great success. Munster Squash is indebted to Michael for his tremendous contribution to squash in Munster in his organising what to many is the Province's most enjoyable tournament.
Finishing positions were as follows:
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| Grade | Winner | Runner-Up |
| Men’s ‘A’ | Johnny Hurley (Fitzpatrick's) | Brian O'Connor (Sunday's Well) |
| Men’s ‘B’ | Brian Healy (Highfield) | Richard Fitzgerald (Orchard) |
| 'B' Plate | Anthony O'Connell (Fitzpatrick's) | James McSweeney (Fitzpatrick's) |
| Men’s ‘C’ | Jim O'Callaghan (Highfield) | Tim McCarthy (Highfield) |
| 'C' Plate | Simon Gallivan (Gleneagle) | Kieran Cogan (Fitzpatrick's) |
| Men's 'D' | Diarmuid Looney (Fitzpatrick's) | Patrick Howard (Gleneagle) |
| 'D' Plate | Liam Butler (Thurles) | Pat Keogh (Fitzpatrick's) |
| Ladies 'A' | Niamh McMahon (Dungarvan Crystal) | Barbara Murray (Limerick Lawn) |
| 'A' plate | Brona O'Neill (Gleneagle) | Ann O'Mahony (St. Finbarr's) |
| Ladies 'B' | Janice Duffy (St. Finbarrs') | Carol Edwards (St. Finbarrs') |
| 'B' Plate | Kathleen Moynihan | Aoife Walsh (Orchard) |
| Ladies 'C' | Noreen Buckley (Gleneagle) | Linda Clinch (Fitzpatrick's) |
| 'C' Plate | Siobhán McSweeney (Orchard) | Mary Corkery (Highfield) |
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| Grade | Winner | Runner-Up |
| Men’s ‘A’ | Johnny Hurley (Silversprings) | Anthony Lyons (Dunhill) |
| Men’s ‘B’ | Dermot MacNamara (Limerick Lawn) | Michael Conlon (Ennis) |
| Men’s ‘C’ | Mike Howard (Gleneagle) | Kevin Bradley (Highfield) |
| Men's 'D' | John Fleming (Minnies) | Tom Scanlon (The Orchard) |
| Ladies 'A' | Eleanor Lapthorn (Highfield) | Jackie Kearney (The Orchard) |
| Ladies 'B' | Noreen Buckley (Ennis) | Nicki Guiney (Highfield) |
| Ladies 'C' | Aoife Walsh (The Orchard) | Caroline Cullen (The Orchard) |