Antrim's Aisling Reilly collected the first senior singles title of her career on Sunday 16th March in the Envirogreen Resource Irish Nationals. She defeated the current Women's World Champion, Fiona Shannon, 21-17, 21-12 to cause a massive upset in the Ladies Open final. This victory was special for many reasons. Top of the list is the fact Reilly is just 19 years of age. Shannon has been the queen of the Irish courts for the past decade and she had been undefeated on the senior stage since her first title win. Shannon is also Reilly's long-term playing partner and mentor. While her young clubmate rose through the underage ranks, Shannon was always by her side. Reilly recently received the Irish Examiner Junior Sportstar of the Year Award, and had a hugely successful year at Juvenile level. Now she can add the first senior title to her long list of achievements. Cork's Tony Healy cemented his place as the current Irish number one seed when he overcame Dublin's Eoin Kennedy to take his third consecutive Men's Open Irish Nationals title. Kennedy sustained an injury to his quad during a heated semi-final meeting with Antrim's Ricky McCann, but battled through the final and had chances to seal the opening game. Healy's finishing was the difference between the pair as the Rebel took the first game 21-17. Despite a courageous battle from the Dubliner, the Ballydesmond ace sealed a 21-10 victory in the second game to seal his third title in a row. Healy will now turn his attention to the Dalkia Senior Singles Championship, where he faces Westmeath young-gun Robbie McCarthy. Tweet

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