Woods twins get Ireland call-up

It seems the only people who can beat the Woods twins are each other!

Rebecca Woods and twin sister Rachael are both in the squad after easing to the Irish Under 15 National Doubles title.

There was a victory each for the duo in the two other finals as Rachael beat her twin in the singles while Rebecca got her revenge, with the help of Kyle Magee, in the mixed doubles.After suffering a month out with injury at the end of last year, Rachael’s road back to full fitness was longer than she had hoped for.

And while she was at less than 100%, Rebecca had taken full advantage with a series of titles. But Rachael made sure she was firmly back on form with her hard-fought singles victory.

Rebecca saw off Leonie Ward, Pamela Pontanosa and the talented Niamh Gannon on her way to the singles decider while Rachel made light work of Kerry Fallon, Megan Ferguson and Orla Flynn.

In the final Rachael took the opening set 21-14 but had to work very hard in the second to keep her sister at bay but did enough to snatch the set 21-18 and seal the National title.

With their major challengers for the doubles title Clodagh Dunne and Alpha’s Beth Stephenson not in the draw and competing rather in the Senior competition, Rachael and Rebecca Woods were seeded top and they were able to ease their way through to the final with victories over Anna Comer and Sophia Noble and Kerry Fallon and Orla Flynn.

Meanwhile, Banbridge District pair Alex Chan-Taylor and Megan Ferguson had an excellent victory over Caoimhe McKeown and Julia O’Reilly 21-14 22-20 but faced the experienced Amy and Niamh Gannon in the next round and can be justifiably pleased with their performance despite going down 21-16 21-14.

The Gannon duo, however, were no match for the Woods sisters, who romped home 21-14 21-10.

With boys singles and doubles champion Kyle Magee renewing his mixed doubles partnership with Rebecca, the top seeds progressed through into the final without a great deal of concern. They beat Jack Armstrong and Kim Feehily and David Downey and Leonie Ward with ease before seeing off Mark Kinnerk and Niamh Gannon in the semi-final.

The seeded Sean Patrick Laureta and Rachael Woods were to have their work cut out to overcome Jack Nolan and Anna Comer of Alpha 21-18 21-19 to reach the decider.

In the end, though, they were no match for Kyle and Rebecca, who won 21-12 21-8.

Now the two sisters can concentrate on keeping up their winning form with the Quadrangular Series to look forward to in Scotland from 29 April to 1st May.