BADMINTON: Sam and Joshua Magee secure gold medals at 2016 Slovenia International

The Magee brothers from Raphoe in Co Donegal took the title by beating Mathias Bay-Smidt and Frederik Søgaard Mortensen of Denmark in a closely fought battle that lasted 54 minutes.

The Irish number one pairing eased through the opening game winning 21-9. In the second game the Danish came out strong and held the lead up until 20-19 when the Irish finally levelled the match at 20-20.

The Danes once more took the upper hand as they charged down the net, putting the Irish on the back foot.

With two mistakes by the Irish the Danes took the second game 22-20. This took the match into the deciding game.

This was much more evenly balanced with both pairs having periods of good play. It was Bay-Smidt and Mortensen, who took the advantage leading by one point at the mid game interval. After the break both pairs were scoring points evenly up to 17-17.

It was at this point of the match where Sam Magee stepped up to challenge as he dominated from the front court serving from 17 all the way to match point at 20-17. The Danes were not finished fighting as they clawed back one more point before the Irish eventually took the victory winning 21-18.

This was a great achievement for this pair winning their first International title together following on from their success at the European games.