Following her Ladies Open victory at the Golden Gloves in Belfast last weekend, Antrim’s Aisling Reilly has moved to the top of the Irish rankings for the first time.
Reilly defeated current world champion, Fiona Shannon, in emphatic style in the final of the St Paul’s hosted, Golden Gloves.
The 21-year-old simply brushed aside the challenge of the three-time world champion on a scoreline of 21-2, 21-5 and now moves 10 points clear at the top of the ladies seeding chart.
Kerry’s Maria Daly also overtakes Shannon and moves in second place, following her All-Ireland Senior Singles Championship victory over Reilly.
Shannon concedes her place at the top of the rankings and moves to third place, while Roscommon’s Marianna Rushe takes up fourth seed.
In the Men’s seedings, Cavan’s Paul Brady, continues to soar ahead on the table, with 31 points between him and second seed, Dublin’s Eoin Kennedy.
Brady is currently studying in London and did not compete in last weekend’s gloves, where Armagh’s Charly Shanks took honours over Westmeath’s Robbie McCarthy, in a tiebreaker final.
The Men’s Open Golden Gloves victory moves Shanks to third in the rankings, just a single point off Kennedy.
In a very competitive final, McCarthy took the first game 21-16, but Shanks stormed through the second, winning 21-7. In the decider, Shanks managed to push into a top gear and finished strongly to take an 11-4 win, and collect his first ever Golden Gloves title.
In reaching the final, McCarthy now moves into fourth place ahead of Mayo’s Dessie Keegan, while Cork’s Tony Healy drops out of the top eight for the first time in a long number of years.
Healy was sidelined for much of last season through injury, but competed in the Irish Nationals, and will be back in action in 2011.
