Under the shadow of the Aviva Stadium, the aptly named Lansdowne Tennis Club played host to the under 16’s National Matchplays. The Tournament welcomed the most prestigious of young tennis talent from the four Provinces. There were nine Leinster, three Munster, three Ulster and one from Connaught, contesting the boys and girls matchplays. All sixteen having qualified from their region and then their province, now got to pit their wits and skills against the best of the best!
The matchplay format consists of playing lots of high quality matches, where every player will ultimately finish with a national ranking and for three players from Enniskillen Tennis club these matches awaited them as they arrived down to Dublin on the last Friday afternoon in March. Incredibly, half of the Ulster under 16 representation, was Enniskillen produced- a great tribute to the club coach, Matthew McGann.
Unfortunately, the weekend did not start well for the three hopefuls – Laura Griffin, Sarah Cousins and Jared Monaghan. In the first match, they all went down but not without a great fight and all impressing on the big stage against classy opponents. Sarah and Jared recovered with one hard-fought victory each, whilst Laura ‘s powerful baseline hitting could not dismantle her Leinster opponent.
An early start on Saturday morning saw wins for both Laura and Sarah as they dismissed the opposition with aplomb. Sarah showed great tenacity after losing the first set to comfortably come through in the end. Laura overpowered her opponent with some great winners through- out and won decisively in the end. Back in the Boys section, Jared went down to the No.3 seed, James Tarrant in a tough three-setter. Although he managed to take the first set, he fell short on accuracy in the next two but there were still plenty of positives to take from the match.
Laura Griffin’s fourth and final match against Munster’s, Kate Maguire was a tight contest throughout. Despite a racquet malfunction, Laura almost produced the goods but eventually posted a commendable 14th place finish in her first ever National Matchplays.
Because of Jared Monaghan’s loss in the third match, he played two matches to try to gain a 9th placed seeding. Munster opposition proved little resistance in the first, leading to an all-ulster 9th-10th play-off match against Chris Cree. An epic rally in the third set decided the match with Jared coming out on top and finishing in a very credible 9th position.
However, Sarah Cousins stole the show out of the Ulster contingent as she played two matches to achieve 5th position. She won the first encounter against strong Leinster opposition after dominating baseline rallies and showing good touches around the net. Her final match saw her oppose another Leinster player. Rachel Collins’ height advantage meant little as Sarah once again produced winner after winner whilst moving Collins left and right, to post an outstanding 5th place in Ireland and a four match winning streak.
Overall , it was a rewarding experience for all three in Dublin, with all performing commendably at the highest level.
