Sullivan Fencing: 2026 N Ireland Open

The Open is N Ireland’s premier and largest fencing competition of the year and was held last weekend the 24^th & 25^th of January in Thornhill College in Londonderry. Ten Sullivan fencers took part.

Women’s Foil

Four SU girls were competing: Amelia Penny, Cassidy Ogle, Lydia Hamilton and Grace Tsang. Amelia and Cassidy both fared well in the poule stage, but unfortunately ended up meeting each other in the quarter-finals, resulting in a narrow 15-13 win for Cassidy. Cassidy then progressed into the last 4 but lost her semi-final 13-15 to finish joint 3^rd (bronze medal), with Amelia finishing 6^th. For Grace and Lydia the NIO was their first ever senior (adult) competition, both testing the waters of senior competition while still competing as juniors. A tough event for both, though they both won fights in their poules and finished a respectable 9^th and 10^th.

Men’s Foil

Six SU boys had entered: Myles Wilkinson, Adam Sugar, Tom Woolsey-Jensen, Ethan Dilworth, Flynn Woolsey-Jensen and William Penny, with juniors Ethan, Flynn and William all experiencing their first senior competition. All 6 performed well in the poule stages, but only Myles made it out of the last 32 of the knock-out stage into the L16. Myles then defeated a higher seeded competitor to go into the L8, but went no further, finishing 8^th. This showed a significant improvement for Myles over the previous year’s finish.  Flynn finished 19^th while Ethan, Adam, William and Tom took places 21 to 24.

This was a tough senior competition, especially for the SU juniors, with all the best Irish fencers (North and South) in attendance along with some from abroad. Both competitions mentioned above were won by Italian fencers currently studying in Dublin universities. The next event for SUFC fencers will be for U12, U14 and U16 juniors at Round 5 of the NI Junior Foil Series on 1^st February in the Sullivan Sports Hall.  

David White

SUFC Coach

26 Jan 2026