THIS WEEKEND saw the 12th Carlow Junior Squash Open championships when the club hosted the event for some 75 players from many corners of Ireland along with a 17 strong team from Liverpool.

The standard was simply, awesome. Right though out the age groups players competed with tremendous skill, courage and incredible fitness levels.

Maybe if some of those in charge of selecting Carlow's Sports Stars paid a visit to the club they could have seen first hand just what skill and commitment is required for this dynamic sport.

A new category was added this year-an U23 event which brought back those who left the junior scene over the past few years and they really showed just what fine squash players they turned out to be.

Ciara Moloney once again came to the top defeating her arch rival Róisín Brennan 3/0 in the final. Elaine Ware moved up a couple of years to take part in this group and she almost had Róisín in the semifinals when it went to 5 games. Ware was lighting quick and hitting the ball with tremendous pace but Brennan showed her experience with deft drops on the back hand side to record the win. Elaine defeated Katelyn Doran 3/0 with ease for 3rd place.

Sam Olwill cited as being one of the most natural squash players ever to come out of Carlow ran out of steam when he lost to 3/0 to Mohammad Saqid in a top class final. Saqid holds his shots till the last minute so one never knows where they will go and Olwill was always under pressure as a result. Olwill turned and lobbed the Pakistani player and try as he might he could not hold him down. Saqids cross court drops were only millimetres above the tin, Olwill was reaching the shot but the spin on the ball was too much for Olwill to control.

The U19 title went the way of Seamus Harmon who played great squash this weekend and fully deserved his 3/0 win over Dubliner Adam Mc Creevey. Harmons last win here was 2007 when he won the U17 title. Liam Nolan produced his best squash for a number of years when he finished in 6th place here. Nolan gave 100% in every game and had a cracker of a game with Ben Doyle Liverpool for 5th/6th place. Eric Dalton came back to play this event and his layoff certainly did not stop him competing with some great performances.

Cathal Hennessy took the U17 title and younger brother Shaun the U15 title to complete a great weekend for the lads.

One of the two titles not to be won by Carlow players was the U13 title which went to Nikita Gilevskiy Dublin defeating Waterford player Conor Friend and Michael Daly along with Glen Dermody played great squash in this event.

Jack Doyle kept his focus to win U11 title in great style. He has a great range of squash shots and was a comfortable winner over Ryan Kelly Dublin. Joe Jennings 3rd and Brian Agar Cox 4th played very well in all their matches.

Another new event this year was the novice event entry was restricted to the very young squash players and this was watched with great interest by all he players and supporters.

Jake Somers was the winner of this round robin event and Kirsten See runner up with Francis Sinclair and Matthew Downey all contributing to a really exciting event.

Fiona Murphy and Fiona O'Keefe were finalists in the U17 girls final and victory went to Fiona Murphy in a great final. O'Keefe improves with every outing and she pushed the very experienced Murphy all the way.

Favourite, Rebecca Mc Dermott, did not disappoint when she took the U15 title defeating Noelle Murphy Ballyraggart. Niamh O'Keefe and Jemma See played out a really tough match for 3rd/4th with O'Keefe shading it.

Irish No 2 Casey Luther was a cut above the rest of her opponents when she took and indeed retained her U13 title with a 3/0 win over Sinead Walshe Pilltown.

Shiela O'Keefe in the quarterfinal almost pulled off a major win over Abigail Silk the Irish No 5 when she had a chance to level the match but a couple of shots into the tin turned the game back to the Galway girl.

Newcomer Clíodhna Ní Shéa showed her potential reaching the U11 final where she was stopped by Klara Mc Dermott in a great match. Klara even at 10 years of age is very experienced and she drew on all of this to win.

Next up for Carlow's squash players is the Leinster Championships which will be held in Dublin next weekend.