Blake’s of ‘the Hollow’ 125 Years Celebration Spring Tennis League
Monday Night
It has taken until the final week of this years Spring League for Matt Dillon’s Pool Sharks to finally register their first victory with a 50-46 win over Paul Lendrum’s Perfect Pints who were also chasing the win as they attempted to secure the first seeded place in next Mondays semis final. The previous meeting of these sides ended in a 58-38 rout for the Pints making it all the sweeter for the Sharks as they basked in their long awaited triumph. The Sharks started brilliantly with a superb 9-3 win for top seeds Jimmy Renfrew and Sonja Hateboer over regular Pint winners Paul Lendrum and Leonie Madigan and with the Pool Sharks holding out 7-5 in two of the remaining three mixed they were in control 28-20. However the Pints didn’t give up and a well fought 8-4 win for Pints Reggie Ferguson and Seamus O’Connell had the Sharks on edge. However this week was different as Sonja and Linda Corrigan closed out their doubles match 7-5 against Leonie and Josie Boyle to bring the Sharks home by 4 games.
Having seen the group leaders score only 46 games in the first match of the night the Chardonnays knew that a win by any margin against Moira McAdams Serving Aces would secure top spot in the group and more importantly top seeding for the semis. Watching nervously from the tramlines Chardonnays hamstrung Captain Ollie McShea knew there was no room for slip ups but he could relax early, with James Wilson and Sandra Parker rediscovering their early league form to storm through 9-3 in the top seeded match to give the Chardonnays a cushion of 6 games which they were able to maintain for the whole match. Despite some spirited tennis from the Aces, in particular a stylish 8-4 win for Moira and Louise McGann in the ladies, the Chardonnays were never in any danger and a powerful 9-3 win for Vanessa McBrien and Jennifer Kelly in the final match of the night gave the Chardonnays a 52-44 victory and that much sought after top seeding for the semi finals.
Wednesday Night
The opening match on Wednesday night featured Iain Kennedy’s table topping Irish Coffees against Liz McGuinness’s Snug Bugs. The Coffees only needed to avoid a disaster to qualify for the semi final which was never a likely outcome and once Hugh Maguire and Bernie Hall smoothly eased through 8-4 in the opening mixed the Coffees were in control. Further 9-3 wins in both ladies doubles and in the final mixed doubles secured an impressive 56- 40 win and gave due warning to the Perfect Pints on what they can expect in next Mondays semi final. While the Bugs were out gunned on the night they did have some notable success with Scott Gilbide and Daire Dillon combining superbly to win 10-2 in the men’s doubles and Daire also picking up a second win on the night in his mixed doubles match with Helen Cooper.
The second match on Wednesday evening was between Level 7 and Cocktail Knights and with the benefit of knowing the score in the first match Level 7 only needed 30 points to progress to the semi final. All the matches were extremely tight with the Knights eventually winning 49-47 to leap frog the Snug Bugs into third place in the final league table. On the night the Cocktail Knights only won two matches but these were by large scores and they had to thank the in form Brian Donaldson, the inexhaustible Brenda Davies and super sub Anne Smyth who each recorded 14 points each. For Level 7 Vivienne Kells continued her impressive form recording 14 points for her team who now go on to play the Chardonnays in Mondays second semi final. With the semis bringing Monday v Wednesday rivalry into play it will be interesting to see if the fancied Monday night teams can justify their favourites tag and progress through to Wednesday Nights final at 7:30pm on the 28th March.
Final Group Standings with the top two to qualify from each night are:
Monday Nights: Chardonnays 456 games, Perfect Pints 452, Serving Aces 423, Pool Sharks 397
Wednesday Night: Irish Coffees 468 games, Level7 447, Cocktail Knights 409, Snug Bugs 404
