Still blazing a trail on the local badminton courts

Date Published: {J}

IT is hard to put into context the impact David and Emer Lalor have had on the sport of badminton in Galway over the past 30 or so years. Throughout the late ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s, both dominated the singles, doubles, and mixed categories within the county and provincial game, so much so that Emer, for a time, competed in the men’s competition.

Indeed, in early March, 49-year-old Emer rolled back the years when, having come out of “semi-retirement”, she claimed the Division 1 county senior ladies’ singles title, beating fellow Galway Lawn Tennis Club comrade Helen Sheehan in the decider. It was quite a comeback for Emer, who never realistically expected to lift the county senior singles title again after such a long time. What do they say though about class being permanent?

While Emer had played squash up to the late 2000s, unfortunately, 30 years of toil on the racquet courts eventually had begun to manifest in injury after injury in recent times. “Then I hurt my knee skiing two years ago and that kept me out for another while,” continues the mother of three.

“It has only been in the last few months that it has all come back together again for me. I started pilates and it was the pilates that brought me back to life from all those injuries. Now, I am going to stick at this as long as I can. I have had a little bit of success again this year. I won the county singles, and I hadn’t won that in a long time.”

That said, Emer (nee Dempsey) is no stranger to success, having really sprung to prominence in 1979 when completing a championship treble in the County Galway championships – winning the ladies’ singles, ladies’ doubles, and mixed doubles.

She also starred on the Galway team which won the Division 3 National Inter-County Championship, defeating Kerry in the final. Other badminton successes recorded by Emer that year included the Co Sligo ladies’ open singles championship and the Connacht close singles championship, all of which earned her a County Galway Sports Star Award in ’79.

Interestingly, her husband David – who also dominated the sport to the same extent for over two decades, winning countless number of county and provincial titles – secured the same award for badminton in 1982, before Emer reclaimed the Sports Star Award in 1987, having, once again, secured the treble at both county and Connacht championships.

To some degree, the ‘87 award also marked a comeback of sorts as the previous year Emer had taken a year out of the sport when pregnant with her eldest daughter, Karen. By this time, she was at the height of her powers, having dominated the sport between ’79 and ’85.

“I suppose, from ’79 to ’90, I was unbeaten in singles, although I did not play in ’86,” continues the GLTC and former Columban Badminton Club star. “In fact, I have not been beaten in singles in Connacht ever. In the ’90s, I kind of semi-retired, and I only really came back to the sport in the last few years.”

Indeed, by the late ’90s, participation levels had drastically decreased. It was a far cry from a decade previous when, during the height of the sport, over a thousand competitors would take part in the Galway championships, which boasted massive sponsorship deals from the likes of 7Up, Bank of Ireland, SuperValu and Eircell. Such was the sport’s popularity and prestige.

“Everybody played back then,” says Emer. “There was over a thousand people playing over six Divisions and it would go on for weeks. I don’t think it will ever come back to that. I think we were lucky to play in a time when it was good and it was competitive.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.