After completing three weeks of the Francos Autumn Tennis League at Enniskillen favourites to contest next Decembers finals are beginning to emerge.
Monday Night
With Mondays top two teams, the Margerhitas and Bolzanos, having to share the spoils 48 games apiece, as the continuous heavy rain forced play to be abandoned, this opened up a chance for the trailing Milanos and Ferraras to try and record their first wins and regain some vital lost ground in the battle for qualification.
Matters started best for the Milanos as their top pairings Jerome Nicolle and Dympna Slowey at number 1 and Daire Dillon and Lisa Greaves at number two both notched up crucial 7-5 victories to help the Milanos open up a four game lead at the halfway stage. However, with Kevin Burns making some progress in his ongoing experiment with the drop shot concept, an impressive 8-4 win for Kevin and his partner James Morrison in their mens doubles match did give the Ferraras some hope albeit short lived as the in-form pairing of Jerome and Daire secured an impressive 11-1 victory in the top mens doubles closing out a comfortable 54-42 victory for Milanos and getting them to within 6 games of a qualification spot.
Wednesday Night
Thankfully the storms of Monday night had now passed and going into tonight’s matches Roisin O’Connell’s Mad Fish led Niall McGandy’s Billi Billis by 8 games at the top of the Wednesday Group. First up were the Mad fish against Martin Sharkey’s Chilli Monks The initial mixed doubles produced close tennis with some exceptional serving by Finn Corrigan backed up the accurate finishing of Andrea Crawford helping the Mad Fish to a 7-5 winning start. However with the help of an important 8-4 win in the bottom mixed match by Monks Nick Meeke and Yvonne Masterson matters were all square going into the doubles. Matches remained close and none more so that an exciting 6-6 tie between Mad Fish Andrea and sub Maxine Leary against Monks Leonie Madigan and Brenda Davis with many long rallies often finishing with all players at the net exchanging volleys. Despite a strong overall performance the Chilli Monks were to lose out as Finn Corrigan and Brendan Duffy proved too strong on the night for Martin Sharkey and Sean Dillon winning 9-3 and rounding off a somewhat flattering 53-43 win for the Mad Fish.
The final league tennis of the week had the Early Birds looking to catch any worm but instead flying head first into a vintage Billi Billi performance ending up heavy 61-35 losers on the night. The Birds middle order held their own through-out with Sean Bogue and Maxine Leary securing the Birds only win and Bernie Cornyn and Maxine coming from 3 down to hold Josie Gillen and Moira McAdam to a 6-6 tie. But it was in the top and bottom matches that the Billi Billis dominated with Davy Thompson and Nick Hambly playing flawless tennis to win 10-2 in the top match and Ruth Elliot and Vivienne Kells matching that score in the final match. This resounding victory was enough to bring the Billis level at the top of the group and perfectly sets up next weeks clash with the Mad Fish.
Francos League Standings after three weeks with the top two to qualify from each group are:
Monday Nights: Bolzanos 157 games, Margerhitas 151, Milanos 145, Ferrraras 123
Wednesday Night: Mad Fish 162 games, Billi Billis 162, Chilli Monks 136, Early Birds 116
