Black Eagle Judo Club, Nenagh, took 13 of it’s development squad students to this long awaited tournament, the most prestigious and hotly contested competition on the Irish Judo calendar.
The squad brought home a very impressive 9 medals, including 2 All Ireland Gold Titles, 2 Silver medals and titles and 5 bronze medals and titles. It is the highest ranking competition of the year and over 400 of the best Irish Judo players from all corners of the country were in attendance.
The day started with the Minor category (u12) and indeed the clubs first 3 medals.
First up was Darragh Buckley from Kilruane who had a fantastic day winning a well deserved All Ireland Title and Gold Medal.
Next up we had bronze medal wins from Siofra Buckley and Adam Collison. Following Siofra’s 3rd place in this event, she was ranked N°1 in Ireland in her weight category for the year 2010 which results in an automatic place on the Irish National Squad, coached by Ireland’s double Olympian and Irish Judo Associations Technical Director, Mr Ciaran Ward.
Our other medal contenders in the minor categories were, Matthew O’Gorman , Steven O’Neil and Sam Kroupa , each of these players sailed through to the semi finals, beating well established and former champions, unfortunately they just fell short of the podium, and ended a respectable 4th in their categories.
The day followed with the cadets (u16) and another 4 medals were added to our tally : Silver Medal for Philip Kroupa and a Bronze Medal for Aoife Mulroy and Niamh Mulroy.
Our second All Ireland Gold Title was won by Angela O’Neil who was very impressive on the day.
Joey O’Neill had the tournament of his career beating last years winner in the preliminary round and reaching the semi finals were he sustained a toe injury and finished a fantastic 4th place.
Then our Juniors (u20) brought back 2 medals. A Silver medal for Michael Tanner and a Bronze Medal for Ciaran Mulroy.
Kilkenny Open Success
The club won an incredible 11 medals with just 9 players - 4 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze.
The medal winners were, Ciaran Mulroy Gold, Siofra Buckley Gold, Darragh Buckley Gold, Niamh Mulroy Gold & Silver, Aoife Mulroy Silver, Philip Kroupa Silver, Thomas Galvin Silver & Bronze, Michael Tanner Bronze and Sam Kroupa Bronze.
11 Students from our development squad competed in what was the first major national ranking event of the 2011 season. Medaist in this tournament accrue ranking point towards the national ranking system.
Our club recorded its best results to date taking an incedible 10 medals, 3 Gold and 7 Silver. The squad competing were,
Ciaran Mulroy - Gold, Michael Tanner - Silver, Philip Kroupa - Gold & Silver, Angela O'Neill - Gold & Silver, Niamh Mulroy - Silver, Joey O'Neill, Darragh Buckley, Aoife Mulroy - Silver, Siofra Buckley - Silver, Steven O'Neill, Adam Collison - Silver.
This was a very impressive result with all our medalist reaching the final in their perpective categories.
Galway Open Judo Championships 2011 26th March 3 Gold & 7 Silver Medal
Galway Interclub Competition 24.07.2011
5 Gold, 4 Silver and 4 Bronze.
Leinster Open October 2011
Our competition squad brought home 7 hard earned medals from this years extremely competitive Leinster Open Championships. 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze
The 14 strong squad travelled to Dublin over the two days and competed against Europe and Ireland's top judo competitors and came away with 3 Silver medals and 5 Bronze.
The medal winners are, Silver - Angela O'Neill, Patrick Collins and Thomas Galvin, Bronze - Ciaran Mulroy, Conor Hogan, Adam Collison, Siofra Buckley and Steven O'Neill.