Blake’s of ‘the Hollow’ 125 Years Celebration Spring Tennis League
Monday Night
Monday nights opening match saw Ollie McShea’s Chardonnays stretch their lead over second placed the Perfect Pints. After the mixed doubles the Chardonnays led by the minimum as James Wilson and Sandra Parker continued their fine league start squeezing through 7-5 against Paul Lendrum and Leonie Madigan. Martin Hamblin and Vanessa McBrien also managed a 7-5 win over Reggie Ferguson and Lisa Greaves. However the Perfect Pints immediately hit back with JR Dundas and Josie Boyle clawing back a 4-2 deficit to tie 6-6 and when Seamus O’Connell and Jenny Cruikshank won the bottom match 7-5 there were only two games between the teams. In the 2nd half doubles the Chardonnays were determined to keep their unbeaten start to the spring league intact and things were looking good when James and Ollie, after leading 5-2 eventually won out 7-5. Vanessa and Jennifer had an epic battle with Lisa and Jenny with the spoils shared 6-6. However the performance of the night went to Sandra and Veronica Bogue whose 8-4 win over Josie Boyle (Sunday’s trip to Kerry took it’s toll in the end) and Leonie Madigan ensured a hard fought but worthy overall victory for the Chardonnays 51-45 who remain in the top spot.
The nights second match had the Serving Aces repeat their 52-44 victory from week 1 over the Pool Sharks with all the aces scoring strongly across the card. Top match of the night had Donal Burns and Louise McGann looking to avenge their week one 7-5 loss to Jimmy Renfrew and Sonja Hateboer and after trailing for the first part of the match Donal and Louise managed to come through for a crucial 7-5 win. This was then followed in by a 9-3 win for Aces Johnny Guette and Angela Randall and with Donal and Johnny bringing in 15 points each the game was up for the Sharks.
Wednesday Night
Having tied 48 games apiece in round one and with both teams going into round 4 of the Spring League unbeaten a close match was expected between Level 7 , captained by “M for Martin” Sharkey and Wednesday table toppers the Irish Coffees led by Iain Kennedy.. However right from the start there was only going to be one winner. Enid Redmond with Martin Dillon had an early 9-3 win for the Coffees and Enid with Joy Fletcher in the ladies doubles won 10-2 giving Enid a remarkable individual score of 19 points on the night. The other matches were evenly contested with three ending in 6-6 ties. Matthew Duffy continued his impressive form and recorded 15 points for Level 7. However the greater cunning of Seamus O Connell with his cheeky drop shots and the sublime touches by Bernie Hall meant the Coffees won 54 to 42 strengthening their grip at the top of the table.
Following last weeks fiasco the Snug Bugs finally found their form, crushing the Cocktail Knights 62-34 and in the process record their first win. The wide margin of victory was also enough to leap frog Level 7 into second place in the Wednesday league. Setting the Bugs on their way with a comfortable 10-2 victory were mixed pairing Helen Cooper and Daire Dillon who are proving to be a formidable partnership but the main plaudits this week go to Tony Ringland who landed an incredible 20 points on the night, first with captain Liz McGuinness in the mixed and later in the men’s with Jason Burns. On a flat night for Cocktails the only pick-me-up came from Kathleen Murphy and super sub Yvonne Masterson who volleyed everything in sight in winning a late consolation.
