Sullivan Fencing: Round 4 of the 2025/2026 N Ireland Junior Foil Series

Round 4 of the 2025/26 NI Junior Foil Series took place last Sunday 11^th January in Shankill Leisure Centre in Belfast. Twenty two Sullivan fencers took part, 7 of whom were year 8 beginners in their first ever fencing competition. A total of 8 podium finishes were won across U12, U14 and U16 age groups with 2 gold medals, 3 silver and 3 bronze.

U12s

Sullivan girls Ella Murphy and Lydia Snoddy dominated in the U12F, finishing 1^st and 2^nd, thus setting up a close race between the two of them for the U12F championship with 2 rounds to go and Lydia leading 74 points to Ella’s 72. Year 8 beginners Vanessa Chiu and Kate Stewart finished 6^th and 7^th, each having achieved one poule stage win. In the U12M all the SU entrants were beginners: Sam Ellames, Isaac Foord, Teddy Tremlett and Jamie McClure. Sam had an amazing start to his 1^st competition with 3 wins in his poule and finishing 5^th, while Isaac, Teddy and Jamie were 7^th, 8^th and 9^th.

U14s

William Penny and Flynn Wolsey-Jensen both made the semi-finals in the U14M, though both lost there to Dublin based rivals. William then won the fence-off with Flynn for 3^rd to win bronze. William’s 3^rd place was enough to take him to the top of the U14M points table. Shion Suto-Murphy and Mark Ross made the quarter-finals, but went no further and finished 5^th and 6^th. Ronan O’Hagan was 9^th and year 8 beginner Rory Wilson 10^th (Rory in the U14s, not the U12s due to his birthday being in 2013 and not 2014 as with the other year 8s). Grace Tsang and Olivia Morse were again unchallenged in the U14F, taking gold and silver.

U16s

The post R3 U16M championship points leader Sam Snoddy was absent from R4 due to his recent appendectomy (get well soon Sam), leaving it up to Adam Sugar, Ethan Dilworth and Patrick John to keep the SU U16M flag flying. All 3 performed well, but ended up in 4^th, 5^th and 6^th respectively. In the U16F Erin Keough took 2^nd place while Amy Walker and Lydia Hamilton tied for 3^rd. This put Erin and Lydia equal on 81 points and joint 1^st in the U16F championship with 2 rounds to go.

This was great set of results for SUFC and a very strong turnout, well done all 22 fencers. Thanks to Amelia, Cassidy and Tom W-J for refereeing and to Eric for coming along to support SUFC despite the broken collar bone! Round 5 of the NIJFS will be on Sunday 1^st February in the Sullivan Upper Sports Hall.

David White

SUFC Coach

13^th Jan 2026