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Irish Independent
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Wicklow senior football preview: An Tóchar can bridge 30-year gap to last title
The Wicklow People and The Bray People takes an in-depth look at all 12 teams hoping to lift the Miley Cup in 2025 After some uncertainty over the format that would be used, the football championships for 2025 are ready to go. Wicklow's extended Tailteann Cup run meant two groups of six teams have been swapped for three groups of four, reducing the number of group-stage rounds from five to three. Teams play each team in their group once, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals. The two best third-placed teams will also reach the quarter-finals.
Irish Independent
14-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Barretstown the benefactors as friends and family remember the late Ellen Kinch
She died in 2007 following a brave battle against cancer, but the community in Tinahely and its surrounds had long rallied behind her and her family by then. This helped her to get the very most from her 16 years, and 18 years on from her passing, her family still feels that support locally and from further afield. We see it every year at the Ellen Kinch Memorial competitions, which have become something of a festival of Ladies Football since their foundation in 2008. In the interim, the event has raised north of €40,000 for Barretstown, a cause that's close to the Kinch family's heart for good reason. 'When Ellen attended Crumlin Children's Hospital, they organised for us, as a family, to go up to Barretstown,' Ellen's sister, Jackie Kinch, a former Wicklow footballer, told The Wicklow People and The Bray People. 'We spent a weekend there, and it was one of the standout moments during her illness for us as a family; they were all very, very good to us above there, they gave us a nice memory to hold on to, and the care they gave her was second to none.' Jackie was speaking ahead of her family's cheque presentation to Barretstown, proceeds raised from yet another successful staging of this fantastic event. Those funds clocked in at approximately €5,000 on this occasion. But while the competitive side of things is very much secondary to what the tournaments raise for charity, there are titles up for grabs nonetheless. Host club Tinahely's second team lost out to An Tóchar in the B Division final in 2025, but Jackie and her team-mates couldn't be denied in a competitive A Final against Wexford side Baile Dubh. It wasn't Jackie's first time claiming the trophy bearing her sister's name, but the high of doing so has not diminished one bit. 'We had previously won it in the past, but we have won it the last couple of years, and we've been lucky to be able to retain the cup!' she said. 'But it's very important, and it's nice to be able to bring it back to the club, there is a sense of pride in it, and it's important to us as a family.' Jackie thanked everyone involved in making the day a success yet again, including volunteers, referees, and Tinahely for making their facilities available. There was, also, a world of gratitude for the 15 participant teams, which included four 'Mothers and Others' outfits. 'You could never thank people enough for the support they give us every year,' Jackie said. 'The same faces keep coming back, year in, year out, and it's great to have their support and their help.'
Irish Independent
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Arklow table tennis ace bridges 15-year gap to last title
And it's not any old title, either, but one that traces its history back to the 1940s. Fair to say Arklow-based table-tennis player Erwin de Zwarte can take a well-earned bow. de Zwarte was already a three-time champion in the Open Singles competition at the Bray and District Table Tennis Championships three times, so he is certainly a local legend of the sport, but with his last title claimed well back in 2010, the chances of winning for a fourth time may have looked remote to casual observers. But de Zwarte, who plays for Carrickmines-based Wayside Table Tennis Club, rolled back the years in the most comprehensive manner possible; not only did he win the Open Singles title, he bagged two more to go with it. 'I managed to reach the finals as well two years ago, but I lost 3-2,' he told The Wicklow People and The Bray People. 'Every now and then, however, you have one of those nights when everything comes together.' And what a night it was. Beating club colleague Seán Woods in a deciding set – a set he won 11-8 from 5-8 down – would have been reward enough. But on a night dominated by Wayside, he paired with Woods to take the Men's Doubles title. Furthermore, he combined with Arklow's Ilona Siuda – the only non-Wayside player involved on finals night – to claim the Mixed Doubles crown. Not bad for someone who started playing table tennis in his native Rotterdam almost 50 years ago.
Irish Independent
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Wicklow and Louth Leinster final postponed as ‘skorts' controversy goes on
Wicklow People Wicklow Camogie chairperson Ciaran Goff has confirmed to The Wicklow People and The Bray People that tomorrow's Leinster Junior Championship final between Wicklow and Louth has been postponed. Goff has said the decision was communicated to the Wicklow Camogie Association this afternoon. The game's deferral is connected to ongoing controversy which has seen camogie players protesting against having to wear skorts – or refusing outright to play if forced to wear skorts instead of shorts.
