Francos Autumn Tennis League
Moving into week 6 of 10 of the Francos Autumn tennis league a place in Decembers semis was a realistic prospect for 6 of the 8 teams competing but there was no room for slip ups for the Milanos on Monday night and in particular the Chilli Monks on Wednesday night.
Monday Night
The weeks tennis opened with a first v second on Monday night as Donal Burns Margerhitas looked to build on their slender one game lead over Alex Knowles Bolzanos at the head of the group. As expected both teams were very evenly matched with the Margerhitas squeezing out a 25-23 two game lead at the halfway stage. However the second half doubles were a completely contrasting affair with Team Burns on the up up up throughout as they swept aside a disappointing Bolzanos challenge to win the overall match 58-38. All eight Margerhitas contributed to the win but it was the 9-3 win for captain Donal Burns and Ollie McShea over the strong pairing of Clive Funston and JR Dundas followed immediately by a superb 10-2 win for Liz Murphy and Josie Boyle over Bolzanos Sandra Parker and Linda Corrigan that drew the eye.
The earlier heavy defeat for the Bolzanos gave the Milanos, playing in Monday night’s second match, added hope of ousting the Bolzanos from second in the group and there were to be no slip ups as they worked their way to a 55-41 win over the Ferraras and more importantly to a two game advantage in the race for the second semi spot from this group. Top scorer for the Milanos was Mark Cousins with two 8-4 wins firstly with team captain Catherine Sloan in the mixed and then an unprecedented win with the in-form Matt Dillon in the mens doubles. The only real bright spot for the Ferraras was when Geraldine Millar and Paul Lendrum came back from love 40 down in the last game of their mixed doubles against Dominick Burns and Dympna Slowey to tie this match at 6-6 but unfortunately it was not a portent of things to come in the rest of the match.
Wednesday Night
With the unbeaten Mad Fish looking untouchable at the head of the Wednesday group tonight’s opening match was important for second placed Billi Billis to score as many points as possible in the race for the semis against the struggling Early Birds Playing in heavy rain throughout the night the Birds found some early form but despite drawing two of the opening four mixed matches they struggled to contain the strength in depth of the Billi Billis and found themselves eight games down at the halfway stage after Johnny Guette and Vivienne Kells stormed through to a 9-3 win in the bottom match on court four. While the Early Birds outscored the Billi Billis in the two top doubles matches with an impressive 8-4 win for Hugh Maguire and Sean Bogue and a second draw for Bernie Cornyn playing this time with Maxine Leary in the ladies it was another 9-3 win in the bottom mens match for top scorer on the night Johnny Guette and Billi Billis stylish captain Niall McGandy which sealed a comfortable 54-42 win for the Billi Billis.
The Wednesday group leaders Mad Fish went into Wednesday’s second match in confident form have beaten the Chilli Monks in their previous meeting. However tonight’s game proved to be a very tight affair with one match settling the overall result. Of the eight games played six resulted in a seven to five score line. The exceptions were Nick Meeke and Yvonne Masterson for the Monks who kept up their unbeaten record with an eight to four victory. Yvonne carried this into the mixed recording another excellent victory with her partner Enid Redmond. The only other none seven five result was the game involving Marius Blake and Martina Boyd for the Mad Fish who had a great win ten to two. This result was the match that swung the game in favour of the Fishes giving them an overall 52-44 . Head Monk Martin Sharkey will not however be too disappointed as the narrowness of the defeat keeps his Monks in touch just with the Billi Billis in the battle for the second semi final spot.
Francos League Standings after six weeks with the top two to qualify from each group are:
Monday Nights: Margerhitas 315 games, Bolzanos 256, Milanos 241, Ferrraras 206
Wednesday Night: Mad Fish 335 games, Billi Billis 302, Chilli Monks 276, Early Birds 239
