Cheung wins Leinster title in an all-Alpha final

Matthew got his challenge off to a sound start with a straight sets victory over Conor Murphy but Shane Flood was to take the Alpha youngster to a third set in the quarter-finals before coming through 21-8.

Vincent Pontanosa was Matthew’s opponent in the semi-final and the local player was always in control booking his place in the final 21-8 21-19.

Stuart McCollam, Cheung’s doubles partner was seeded to reach the semi-final but having got his challenge off with a 21-5 21-13 victory over Andrew Furey he knocked out Seamus Bradly in straight sets and booked his place in the final when he beat Christopher O’Donaghue 21-11 21-12 in the semi-final.

Both Alpha players know each other’s games very well and it was McCollam who came out on top in the opening set 21-11 but Cheung responded taking the second 21-8 and grew in confidence as the match progressed, taking the decider 21-11 in a final which took a little over 30 minutes.

McCollam and Cheung have shown their prowess throughout the season so far and started strongly against Ben Lawlor and Christopher O’Donoghue, securing a place in the semi 21-9 21-11 and brought Dylan Noble and Vincent Pontanosa’s bid to an abrupt end 21-13 21-13 in just short of half-an-hour.

However in the final David and Kevin Downey proved too strong for the Alpha pair who were nevertheless able to hold their heads up high having severely dented the confidence of the Downey pair in the 21-15 21-18 scoreline.

Jon McCreedy wins the Under 18 singles

Alpha’s Jon McCreedy continues to impress and was never in doubt of lifting the Under 18 boys singles title with a series of straight set victories over Royal Thomas, Calum Thomas and in the final the No2 seed Liam Pingree.

Chloe Woods and her sister Paige reached the final of the Plate competition.

Clarke runner-up in Leinster masters

Tony Clarke had to be content with the runner-up spot in the Mens Singles 65+ of the Leinster Masters, losing out to his doubles partner David Kenny and suffered the same result in the Mixed Doubles 65+ when, in partnership with Dympna Sheridan, they were runners-up to Tommy and Barbara McGrath.

Top u15s competing in major English event

This weekend sees an Ulster squad competing in Leigh with the Woods twins Rachael and Rebecca being joined by Beth Stephenson in the prestigious Under 15 Gold Circuit competition with some of the top players in the country competing.

Beth will be playing singles and partnering Katherine Jong and James Moreton-Smith in the mixed while Rebecca Woods is seeded No1 in the Girls Singles in the Gold competition where she is due to meet Bronya Pike in the final, a player who was runner-up in Hampshire Under 16s.

She will partner twin sister Rachael in the doubles and Kishan Hathi in the mixed, who is seeded No2 in the Boys Singles.

Rachael will be partnering Jai Chandrarana in the mixed.