Website of the Enniskillen Lawn Tennis Club
Last Wednesday night(15th December) saw the Toffees crowned Enniskillen Tennis Autumn League Champions after a thrilling match against the Sparklers ended in the tightest possible 49-47 victory to the Toffees. With both teams having beaten group winners in their semis, team captains Paul Lendrum for the Toffees and Brenda Davis for the Sparklers had their eyes firmly set on the coveted winner's trophy. However there were to be no easy pickings throughout the match as all bar one of the eight matches ended in a tie or minimum two game 7-5 victory.
Leading off the mixed doubles matches were the category one pairings of Paul Lendrum and late stand in Jenny Humphries for the Toffees and Matthew McGann and Heather Boles for the Sparklers. These pairings set the standard for the remainder of the evening sharing a tense but ferociously fought match, 6 games apiece. This looked like a great start for the Toffees given that they have been able to rely on their strong scoring category 3 and 4 pairings throughout the tournament and things got even better when category 2 pairing Donal Burns and sub Leonie Madigan were able to hold out 7-5 against Brenda Davis and Sergiy Gluskchenko. The Toffees were now in control and as their third pairing of James Wilson and Mary Griffin secured the biggest win of the night 8-4 against Martin Hamblin and sub Bennie Sheridan the Sparklers were beginning to struggle. However a fine 7-5 victory for the Sparklers Brian Donaldson and Lisa Greaves over Toffees Matt Dillon and Vivienne Kells pulled the Toffees back to a more manageable 26-22 lead at the half way stage.
Needing desperately to carry this late momentum into the remaining four men's and ladies doubles matches the Sparklers top pairing of Matthew and Sergiy got off to the worst possible start falling 5-3 behind in their match against Paul and Donal. However they didn't panic and with some brave tennis and a couple of close shaves managed somehow to turn the match around 7-5. This now left the Sparklers trailing the Toffees by only two games with three matches still out on court.
With Sparklers pairing Bennie and Lisa then securing another thrilling 7-5 victory over Toffees Mary and Vivienne the tie was now all square. The Toffees narrow lead was however quickly restored with their two subs Jenny and Leonie combining to take their match 7-5 against Heather and Brenda. This now left the entire outcome of the league resting on the final match between James Wilson and Matt Dillon for the Toffees and Martin Hamblin and Brian Donaldson, with the Sparklers needing a 7-5 victory to tie up the match. However despite some never say die base line recoveries the Sparklers pairing fell just short with the last match finishing 6 apiece giving the tightest of overall victories 49-47 to the Toffees. It was fitting that the victory was ultimately secured by the Toffees category 3 and 4 pairings with winning Captain Paul Lendrum marking these four players out for their important contributions in a number of typically close Toffee victories throughout the league campaign.
Having lost only one game in the whole league it was a well deserved and well earned triumph for the Toffees and given the number of close matches they have been involved in, also reflected the determination of the whole team to succeed throughout the league programme.
The previous Monday had thankfully seen all courts back in play after the recent snow enabling the two previously delayed semi finals to be completed. With pool runners up the Toffees and Sparklers up against the two fancied pool winners the Firecrackers and the Pumpkins we were served up a night of surprises. First up the Sparklers managed a superb 50-46 victory over a full strength Pumpkins side with all Sparklers players contributing victories but with Martin Hamblin in particular contributing a telling 15 games from his two matches. The second semi was equally hard fought with the category 3 and 4 matches giving the Toffees the edge in a 51-45 victory over the Pumpkins.