Ireland’s Women’s team have won their first Small Countries Association Medal, after a thrilling win over Northern Ireland.
Mark Delahunty’s team came back twice in the match to take the tournament’s penultimate game to a deciding set, where a Sophie Quinlivan-Nolan ace sealed victory (23-25/25-18/23-25/ 25-23/15-12). Ireland’s third place was a result on a comfortable defeat to hosts San Marino (25-16/25-13/25-13), and a close-fought defeat with eventual winners Scotland – in fact Ireland were the only team to take a set off the Tartan Army (25-9/21-25/25-23/25-17).
Net Force Cork star Sylwia Gomes was named as the tournament’s best Middle.
The Senior Men’s team were also in SCA action, over in Liechtenstein. Their campaign ended with four defeats to the hosts (25-20/25-18/25-23), Scotland (27-25/25-19/25-22), champions San Marino (25-13/25-9/25-17) and neighbours Northern Ireland (25-23/25-21/23-25/25-16). Whilst the team finished bottom of the table, there are lots of positives to take from a much more competitive showing versus last time out.
