Beth makes no mistake as top seed in Girls Doubles

Beth Stephenson was the solitary winner from Alpha at the Leinster Under 15 Yonex Open.
Beth Stephenson on her way to winning the Girls doubles title in Leinster at the weekend.Beth Stephenson on her way to winning the Girls doubles title in Leinster at the weekend.
Beth Stephenson on her way to winning the Girls doubles title in Leinster at the weekend.

She helped Clodagh Dunne to yet another hat-trick of titles leaving rival Rachael Woods as runners-up in both the Girls Singles and Girls Doubles (with her twin Rebecca).

The competition had all started so well for the Alpha contingent with the Under 11 successes and they must have been buoyed up with three players through to the semi-finals of the Girls Singles.

This time it was Stephenson, who was drawn to play the top seeded Dunne in the semi-final and an upset looked on the cards as Beth had took a one set advantage 22-20.

The Wallace pupil was always in the second set and was very disappointed to let the second slip away from her 22-20.

The decider was equally fraught with a great deal of tension. It was only in the later stages that the top seed was actually able to put some space between herself and the Alpha youngster and secure her place in the final against Rachael Woods. Woods had herself come through a 34 minute encounter against her twin sister Rebecca 21-18 21-13.

Clodagh and Rachael have recently been involved in some very close contests and will be in the Irish team which sets off for the Barcelona Open next month.

Obviously having emerged from that three-setter against Beth, this only served to stir Clodagh into a more consistent game and she ran out the victor 21-13 21-15.

Similarly, in the Girls Doubles, Clodagh and Beth were in an uncompromising mood while the Alpha pair of Rachael and Rebecca Woods found it difficult to get into the final. They could not show the consistency which had taken them to a straight sets victory over Banbridge and District duo Alex Chan-Taylor and Megan Ferguson and on this occasion they had to content themselves with being runners-up on this contest.

The final of the Mixed Doubles saw number two seeds Beth Stephenson and Adam McAllister having to overcome Ben O’Shea and Rebecca Woods in the quarter-final 21-16 23-21. They booked their place in the final against top seeds Kyle Magee and Clodagh Dunne with a 19-21 21-13 22-20 win over the seeded Des Duggan and Niamh Gannon.

However, the final was somewhat one-sided, the top seeds winning 21-10 21-16.

In the Boys Doubles, Adam McAllister and Alpha’s Matthew Prentice failed to reach the final, beaten in three close sets by the unseeded Des Duggan and Ben O’Shea. Even they couldn’t prevent Mark Kinnerk and Kyle Magee lifting the title.