Table Tennis Update

Table tennis

Blackrock Junior A and Blackrock Senior A have sealed the Leinster League Junior/Senior double for the 8th year in a row, while the Willow Minor A League win means Blackrock complete the Leinster League treble for only the 6th time ever.

Blackrock Senior A, captained by Joey Nelson (6th Year), has, for the 9th year in a row, taken the Kemp Shield for the Leinster Senior Division 1 title, as they finished out their League campaign with a perfect record, winning all their matches 6-0. The Kemp Shield was first won by Blackrock in 1953, the first of 8 consecutive titles to 1960; Blackrock again won the title in 1968, before a 42 year gap to 2010, the start of the current nine in a row streak.

In Leinster Junior Division 1, Blackrock, captained by Conor Hughes (4th Year) has taken the NC Mahony Cup for Junior League Champions for the 8th year in a row. The 1950s were also good times for the Blackrock Junior team, as they won 7 titles in 8 years 1951-1958, before also suffering a lengthy dry spell, this time 50 years, before again winning the title in 2008, and taking the title 10 times in 11 years since then. Blackrock 2A, captained by Sean Patterson (2nd Year) did enough in their final league match against Junior A to squeeze into the silver medal position.

Willow Park A

Willow Park A, captained by Maitiu Heckmann (1st Year), has sealed the Minor Division 1 title, and retained the Sean Egan Cup, taking the Leinster Minor Division 1 crown for Willow for the 2nd year running, and for Blackrock for both the 6th time in 8 years, and also only the 6th time ever; Minor A, captained by Adam Tunney (2nd Year) settling for the silver medal for the second year in a row.

Our Junior 2B squad, looking good for Leinster Junior Division 3, seeking a ninth title in 13 years, while Willow D1 and Willow D2 are still in the hunt in their divisions, but are dependent on results elsewhere.

Senior A, Junior B, Minor A and Willow A are all through to the Leinster Cup Semi Finals on May 3rd, with Junior A & Junior 2A at Quarter Final stage. The A teams are in line for their own respective Leinster League/Cup double titles, while their League victories qualify for All Ireland Finals Day on April 26th.

I thank our head coach Richard Butler and his team for their superb work with our squads.