Lambert brings off a superb hat-trick
Wednesday March 17 2010
PAUL LAMBERT celebrated a fantastic hat-trick of wins over the past week, picking up two Leinster medals in the Junior 'B' grade and also partnering Gavin Buggy to win a quarterfinal spot in the All-Ireland Senior doubles.
On Sunday in O'Loughlins, the Wexford duo got their Senior doubles campaign back on track after their Leinster final defeat and collected the win in the qualifiers when they were too strong for Colm Jordan and Shane Hedigan.
However, they were made to work very hard before guaranteeing success. The Rebel county men took the opening set 21-11, but after that the Model county duo dominated to win through 21-14, 21-11.
On Monday night, Paul Lambert began his fantastic week by taking the honours in the Junior 'B' singles when he won an all-Wexford final, beating Darren O'Toole from Coolgreany. In the opening set, Lambert was the top player, taking it 21-9, but O'Toole found new life in the second set and won 21-12 to set up a big finish. Lambert had the shots and had the handball for the third and took the title on a 2110 scoreline.
Next up for Lambert was his Junior 'B' doubles final where he was partnered by Peter Hughes from Ballyhogue. The Wexford duo were in awesome form and never looked in trouble against Meath duo Peter Flanagan and Eugene O'Reilly, winning in Ballymore Eustace 21-11, 21-13. They will take some stopping in the All-Ireland race.
Fintan Doyle and Declan Hart were the next doubles pairing from Wexford to collect Leinster honours as they beat Liam Law and Seán Walsh from Kilkenny 12-21, 21-2, 21-14. With this being their second title in three years at this grade, they will hope to follow the example of Donal Doyle and Frank Maddock who won last year's All-Ireland crown.
Jim Bergin and Ger McWilliams put together another fine performance to pick up Wexford's fourth Leinster title of the week. The St. Martin's/Horeswood combination joined forces well in the Diamond Masters 'B' doubles in beating Seán Devlin and Joe Heslin from Louth 11-21, 21-15, 21-10, and will now also look forward to the All-Ireland semi-finals over the coming two weeks.
The Golden Masters 'A' doubles didn't bring a good result for the Model county as Benny Doyle and Tony Breen went down in the final last week. Up against the strong Kilkenny pairing of Johnny Brennan and Joe Hennessy, the Model county men lost out on a 21-14, 21-10 scoreline.
The Diamond Masters 'A' doubles final also saw Wexford lose out as Ned and Martin Buggy were beaten by another Kilkenny pairing, Seamus Reade and Paddy Reilly, on a 2119, 21-10 scoreline.
