Round one of the Junior Round Robin sponsored by John Quinn & Co (solicitors) has just been completed at Enniskillen Tennis Club. This annual competition provides much needed singles match-play practice for our junior players in advance of the major open competitions of the summer. Thirty three juniors are taking part this year with seven sections comprising of four players and one section of five players. After round one the leader of the group scoring most games moves up a section and the person with the lowest score in each section moves down. At the end of three rounds, scores for each competitor are totalled and prizes are awarded to the boy and girl with the highest total.
Heading up the top group are Headon Hughes Jordan and Jared Monaghan with two wins apiece. On this occasion Jared reversed recent form with Headon taking the match 9-5, Headon having beaten Jared twice previously in the Junior Closed Tournament in 2011. In the second group, Sarah Cousins and Ronan McKeever had a ding-dong battle right to the wire, with both players scoring two wins, their only loss being by the minimum margin 9-8. Ronan narrowly edged out Sarah in their match to win the group, but Sean Dillon coming right back to his best outgunned Ronan 9-8 in another very tight contest.
Group three saw Daire Dillon score maximum points with narrow wins over Laura Griffin and David Casey. A 9-6 win by Conor McShea over Laura gave Conor a deserved victory to prove yet again he is a tough competitor who revels in a good scrap, and long base line rallies were a feature of this match.
Group four saw Ruairi McConville obtain the maximum points with wins over Dylan Funston, Sean Martin and Eimear Smyth. Eimear herself put up two excellent performanaces in this section and is definitely a player for the notebook.
Fergal Quinn remained unbeaten in Group five and his tightest match was against Oliver Guette which he took 9-6. Luke Dillon enjoyed three wins from three in group six, with his closest match against Aran Dillon. Group seven saw Amy Griffin emerge as a leading contender scoring a maximum 30 points.
Group eight was the only group with five competitors and Aoife Mullan just came through with good performances against Sean O’Hare Smith, Caoimhne McCaffrey and Sarah Russell. But it was Tara McConville who caught the eye in this group with three excellent wins and it is surely a matter of time before Tara herself is elevated to a higher section.
Round two matches must be completed by Sunday 8th April and juniors are strongly advised not to leave playing their remaining matches to the last minute. The ‘summer’ weather is unlikely to last too much longer, so make hay while the sun shines.
