The Western Cars Autumn League Finals

The Runners up

The long awaited climax to the splendid Western Cars Autumn League was finally staged on Monday 15th at Hollyhill Road. Owing to severe weather conditions the courts had been unplayable for two weeks and ironically wet weather was needed to allow the 3rd / 4th play-off and final to take place.

Play commenced shortly after seven o’clock with the top two Wednesday night teams battling it out for third and fourth places. Bernie Hall’s Versos were revved up and raring to go but it was Liz Murphy’s Rav 4’s which seemed to get best traction as they took an early lead of 26/22 at the break.

Trevor Verner is well known for his fast service and he was paired up with an equally good partner in sub Louise Mc Gann but they couldn’t outwit the canny Dominick D Burns and Heather Boles who was standing in for captain Bernie Hall. Hugh Maguire and Liz Murphy swung the balance back to the Rav 4’s on court two with a convincing win over Ann White and Wayne Crawford. Keeping it close on the corners were The Shark and Ruth Armstrong get the edge over Keith “Dixon” Miller and Enid Redmond and stretching the lead to 4 points. The match between newcomer Atif Manzoor & Fiona Mc Clintock and Alan Reynolds & Avril Kee finished all square leaving everything to play for in the second period.

Big Hugh and wee Trevor edged out DD Burns and young Crawford 7/5 setting the trend for the remainder of the match. Louise found her form in the women’s doubles to partner the Kilkenny lass to a resounding win over of Heather and the Doc. On Court Four Enid and Avril threw a spanner in the works with a splendid win over Ruth and Fiona but Manzoor and Sharkey shifted into top gear on court three to leave the Killynure Twosome scratching their heads.

And so it was Liz Murphy’s Rav 4’s which took 3rd place and the scene was set for the Corollas and Avensis to take centre stage. Some would have predicted this pairing from the outset but no one could have foreseen just how close this was going to be. Why it should be that the two strongest teams emerged from the Monday night line up is anyone’s guess and will have nothing to do with Arsenal, Liverpool, Man United and Chelsea featuring in the Champions League fixtures on Wednesdays!

The Winners No prizes for forecasting another representative from the Burns dynasty. In fact had he not suffered from a pain in his big toe, wee Donal and father Kevin were vying for top spot with their Avensis team-mates. But an able substitute was found in Reginald P Bruce to partner the Wise One and Leonie Madigan. What a match this proved to be. Griffen and Humphreys got off to a flying start with an 8/4 win over Elliott and Cornyn. On court two Lendrum and Mc Adam trounced Reg and Leonie by a similar margin. Conor B and a well tanned Sonja just edged out Kevin and Maxine 7/5 while Iain “watch the spin” Kennedy and Kathleen Murphy finished all square with Brian Donaldson and Ann-Louise Carney. A two game margin to the Corollas at the break.

The first match to finish in the second period resulted in a real upset. Sonja obviously still suffering from jet lag and reliable partner Kathleen Murphy were empathically beaten 3/9 by the in form Maxine and ringer Ann-Louise. A four point lead had opened up for Avensis. Mac Mahon and Kennedy were lucky to overcome Burns and Donaldson by 2 on Court three while Cornyn and Mc Adam had a terrific win over the fancied pairing of Squealer Humphreys and Madigan. And so there was nothing between the teams as all eyes turned to court 1.

Reg and John had opened up an early lead of 1 game with three played. Lendrum’s power play and the finesse of Elliott were just too much for their opponents however and they stepped it up in the final stages of the match to run out 7/5 winners givings the Corollas a 2 game victory overall.

All agreed that it had been a fitting finale to a great tournament. Jenny Cruikshank did a superb job with the catering afterwards and Club Chair, Conor Mac Mahon paid tribute to Western Cars for their continued support.

Western Cars Autumn Final League Results
Monday Played Points Wednesday Played Points
Corollas 9 502 Rav 4's 9 457
Avensis 9 485 Versos 9 439
Yaris 9 384 Amazons 9 422
Prius 9 357 Land Cruisers 9 410