Double success for Niall in the Irish 4 Nations Championships

Niall McVeigh (right) with William Martin and runner-up Bobby Laing.

Niall’s preparations for the 4 Nations in Lisburn were as meticulous as ever and he won two of his three matches in Group A round robin series dropping only eleven points, with his young colleague on the Irish squad, Andrew Moorcroft faring much better but the outcome still saw a victory for the world champion 21-8 21-7.

In the semi-final another old adversary Luke Irvine faced McVeigh but was unable to reach the degree of consistency required to push his doubles partner closer, losing 21-5 21-7 and Luke’s aim was really in getting through to the semi-final, knocking out his Irish teammate Emma Farnham 21-9 21-6 and caused Scotland’s Bobby Laing more than a few headaches in a 21-13 21-7 loss.

In the final of the Short Stature 6 class it was McVeigh who was able to step up his game even when Scottish international Laing came close to going one set up but McVeigh countered and eased through in straight sets 21-18 21-8.

He then teamed up with his old doubles partner Luke Irvine to lift the doubles title, beating Bobby Laing and Andrew Moorcroft 21-14 21-18 but failed to successfully negotiate the Standing Combined Doubles group, losing narrowly to Owen Casey and Sean O’Sullivan 21-17 21-11 and Colin Leslie and David Purdie 22-20 21-16.

Andrew Moorcroft’s performance in reaching the semi-final of the singles is certainly worthy of note, as was his SS6 doubles, reaching the final with Bobby Laing, while the Portadown youngster also teamed up with Emma Farnham to win the Dwarf SS6 Mixed Doubles, beating Bobby Laing and Deirdre Nagle 23-21 21-12.

In the Dwarf SS6 class Emma Farnham won the singles title beating Deidre Nagle 21-5 21-3.

In the Standing Combined Doubles Stephen Halpin and Niall Jarvie were narrowly beaten by Owen Casey and Sean O’Sullivan while in the SL3 Combined Singles Jarvie came close to upsetting Colin Leslie, only going down 22-20 in the second set.

In the Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Chris Stewart and Laura-Lee Jenkins beat Michael Smith and Fiona Christie in the final 21-16 21-13 while in the singles Chris Stewart recorded a 21-8 21-8 victory over Laura-Lee and Laura-Lee then had a 21-15 24-22 victory over her colleague Michael Smith.