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Senior Irish
Open Championships
This is the first
time this (or any) fencing competition was held at the
Roadstone Sports and Social Club, and perhaps the new
location was the reason for the rather disappointing
entry. However those who did enter found a very
comfortable venue, with lots of space and, most
important, hot food available!
North-South
Match
The North-South
match was hosted in the Avoniel Leisure Centre in Belfast
this year. Things didn't go quite as smoothly as they
should have, according to an on the spot report:
The North-South match
turned out to be something of a fiasco - except for the
South of Ireland men's sabre team, who fenced very well
and was only beaten by 3 points (45-42 to Northern
Ireland). The other teams did their best, but were
severely hampered by the fact that due to travelling
problems, some of the foilists and epeeists did not make
it until the match was half-way through, leaving their
respective teams with a huge disadvantage. Special thanks
to Aoife Lennon, Yvonne Murphy and John Ryan who
travelled to Belfast just for this match, and then had to
drive home again that night.
Northern
Ireland Open:
Our correspondent goes on to tell us:
But that was only the beginning of a long weekend. On
Saturday, ladies fenced foil and men fenced epee. In
spite of very bad organisation, which kept us in the
sport hall from 9.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m., we all fenced
honourably. Starved and exhausted, we came back to the
hotel to have a quick shower before going out for dinner
and a few drinks in the company of Queen's students. The
Sunday - with 6(!) different competitions, was even more
busy and only completed successfully thanks to a small
improvement in the organisation. In the morning we saw
ladies' epee and mens' foil, followed in the early
afternoon by mens' sabre, where Christian Forster and
Paul Bouchier-Hayes came 2nd and 3rd respectively. We all
especially enjoyed the semi-final where they were fencing
each other. This week-end was closed by the victory of
Conor Nagle (who also came 5th in the men's foil on the
previous day) in the under 17 mens' foil, but
unfortunately, most of us didn't get to watch because we
had to leave in time to get the train back to Dublin.
Muriel Pasquier
East of Ireland
Open:
UCD hosted the East of Ireland on 24th and 25th January.
No report available
Prof. Duffy
Team Epee:
As ever, this important event proved to be well-run and
fun to enter. The men's final was played out between
Havistock and DUFC, with Havistock eventually claiming
the trophy. Due to the occupation of the victors, the
verdict in the Pavilion Bar (much later) was : "They
fought the law and the law won!". After the usual
formalities, the majority of the company ended up in
Leeson Street where many of Sunday's competitors were
seen to put in a hard night's training (mainly footwork -
honestly!).
On Sunday we were treated to the sight
of a completely Irish field, consisting of six ladies
teams, some with reserves, i.e. approximately twenty
female competitors. Where, oh where are these people at
the individual competitions? Us regulars are getting
lonely!!!
DIT Novice Foil:
DIT look set to challenge UCC's position as the quality
hosts for novice foilists - here is a report from DIT's
commander-in-chief, Des Gilhooley:
The DIT Novice Foil competition had not
been held since 1993. Originally it was a team
competition and the last winners were DUFC. All that
remained of the original trophies was the Ladies Shield.
The morning of the 14th February was the culmination of
approximately four months of frenzied planning (most of
it in Flannery's - Ed.).
The competitors started arriving around
10.00 and pretty soon they were all checked in. After
setting up the pools for seeding, we moved very rapidly
through the opening round. Because we had been informed
that morning by the Head Porter that unless he was able
to find staff to come in, the centre would have to close
at 1.00, we decided to have only one round of pools
before proceeding to the DE rounds. The competition ran
very smoothly and we were glad that people actually liked
it! Schull has long been established as THE novice
competition and we thing that now we have managed to give
them something to worry about!
Following the DE rounds the numbers
were whittled down to the eight men and eight women that
would contest the last places. Up to this point, the
bouts had been held on scaled down pistes to allow more
matches in a shorter time. From the quarter finals on,
the bouts were on full-sized pistes. Shortly after 3.00 p.m.
it was all over - the last point had been scored. Of the
two finals, the men's was the most tightly contested,
with never more than a point between the finalists,
Tilman Schaefer of DUFC and Adrian Schofield of Oisín.
The final of the DIT competition could be an indicator of
things to come at Schull in 1998 as we are informed that
both finalists still qualify for this event!
Your IFN reporter was very impressed by
this competition and also by the way that senior fencers
from other college clubs mucked in with presiding duties.
A great idea to have this competition towards the end of
the season, it gives the fencers a chance to measure
their progress since November. Well done everybody.
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Results
Senior
Irish Open Championship 1997
Men's Foil
1. P. Dight Elite
2. P. McCaffrey Salle Boston
3= P. Lee Elite/C. Desalles Paris Escrime
Ladies' Foil
1. A-L Mion Elite
2. M. O'Reilly Ballinteer
3= A. Lennon UCD/D. Wynne Salle Duffy
Men's Epee
1. P. Dight Elite
2. D. Quinn SAMA Madrid
3= B. Broom St. Gratien /R. Owens Pheonix
Ladies' Epee
1.G. McGrattan UCD
2. A-L Mion Elite
3= M. Pasquier DUFC/D. Wynne Salle Duffy
Sabre
1. C. Desalles Paris Escrime
2. P. Bouchier-Hayes DUFC
3= C. Forster DUFC/M. Pibarot Paris
North-South
Match 1998
Northern Ireland
Northern
Ireland Open 1998
Men's Foil
1. J. Davis Inst Old Boys
2. A. Eames Leicester
3= G. Forster Wok /P. Forrester Sussex House
Ladies' Foil
1. P. Stonehouse Priory
2. M. Pasquier DUFC
3= M. O'Reilly Ballinteer/C Reid VCB
Men's Epee
1. S. Munn London Thames
2. D. Eames Leicester
3= P Devenney Gros/R Date QUB
Ladies' Epee
1. M. Pasquier DUFC
2. B Hannon Edinburgh
3=F. Haldane QUB
C Reid VCB
Sabre U17 Men's Foil
1. R. Cohen ???
2. C. Forster DUFC
3= P. Bouchier-Hayes DUFC /D. Martin Belfast YMCA
U17 Men's Foil
1.C. Nagle, Salle Duffy
2. Not available
3= Not available
East
of Ireland Open 1998
Men's Foil '
1. J. Davis (Inst Old Boys)
2. A. Eames (Leicester)
3= G. Forster Wok /P. Forrester Sussex House
Ladies' Foil
1. xxxxx
2.xxxxx
3=xxxxx/xxxxx
Men's Epee
1. xxxx
2. xxxer
3= xxx/xxx
Ladies' Epee
1. A-L Mion Elite
2. M. Pasquier DUFC
3= D. Donegan Oisín/Sabre
1. xxxxxx 3=xxx(DUFC)/ D. Martin, (Belfast YMCA)
Professor
Duffy Team Epee 1998
Men: Havistock
Women: UCD
DIT
Novice Foil
1998
Men
1. T. Schaefer (DUFC), 2. A. Schofield (Oisín), 3.=
L. O'Hagan (Phoenix),/M. Mauritz (UCC)
Women
1. J. Delavoux, (DUFC), 2. L. Donnelly (???), 3= B.
Spillane, (DIT)/C. Bailey (??)
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