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Without a victory all season the Conkers, at last, had a change of luck managing to squeeze through 49-47 against fellow strugglers the Wizards. While both teams are well off the semi finals places this was nonetheless a keenly fought battle with tough contests across the whole card. After four matches in the tie finished 6-6 it was a crucial 8-4 victory for Marshall Coalter and Veronica Bogue over Martin Sharkey and Bennie Sheridan that gave the Conkers a narrow two game lead after the mixed doubles. With the pressure mounting on the Conkers to avoid the wooden spoon their play understandably tightened up and after two tense 6-6 battles at the top of the card it was down to the level 3 and 4 pairings to try and clinch victory. However the Wizards pairing of Bennie Sheridan and stand in Angela Randall hadn't read the script and stormed through 8-4 in their ladies doubles to put the Wizards ahead by 2 with only one match left on court. All Conkers hopes now rested with team captain Kieran Hannan and sub Martin Hamblin up against the more experienced Gareth Armstrong and John Quinn but in a nerveless display of powerful serving and accurate volleys it was the Conkers pairing who came through 8-4 to gratefully snatch that elusive victory, 49-47.
Second tie of the night had the Pumpkins looking to consolidate their position at the top of the group against third placed Bonfires. Opening the tie were level one mixed doubles pairings Danny Redmond and Louise McGann for the Bonfires against the in form Jenny Humphries, again playing with stand-in Dominic Burns, for the Pumpkins. Jenny and Dominic did not however have things all their own way this week and in the end were grateful to share the spoils 6-6. Next match up was a gruelling battle between Clive Funston and Josie Boyle for the Pumpkins and John Reihill and Leonie Madigan for the Bonfires. In a very even match there were no soft points on offer and only after playing some of their best tennis as a pairing were Clive and Leonie able to take the match 7-5. The Pumpkins lead was then immediately increased by a further two games after Conor McMahon and Anne Smyth got the better of Kevin Burns and Sandra Parker 7-5 leaving the Pumpkins leading by 4 games at the halfway mark. With the opening men's level one doubles match between Dominic and Clive for the Pumpkins and Danny and John for the Bonfires turning into another mammoth battle, the tight 6-6 draw was probably enough for the Pumpkins and when Jenny and Josie again secured a minimum 7-5 victory over the Bonfires top ladies Louise and Leonie the Bonfires hopes were dwindling. However the Pumpkins hadn't bargained for the return of the Bonfire's Seamus O'Connell from his warm weather training camp to link up with trusted partner Kevin Burns and after an impressive 8-4 victory over Conor and Roman the Pumpkins lead was down to just two games with only one ladies doubles remaining. This left the ball firmly in the court of Pumpkins pairing Anne Smyth and Vanessa McBrien and after a typical display of stylish cross court forehands they secured a much deserved 9-3 victory and ultimately a 52-44 win for the Pumpkins. While a losing 44 games was enough to put the Bonfires into second place in the group they have only one match remaining and will need to see an unlikely Toffees collapse over their last two games if they are to steal the second semi-final spot in this group.
Following the previous meeting of the Firecrackers and Rockets which was abandoned at the halfway stage due to torrential rain the two teams met again on Wednesday night in the second last game of the pool stages.. With a semi final place probably out of reach for the Rockets they were still hoping to take the scalp of pool leaders Firecrackers and made the perfect start as Steven Miller and Josie Boyle beat top crackers John Griffin and Bernie Cornyn 8-4. Unfortunately this was to be the only highlight for the Rockets as the Firecrackers recovered to win the tie in comfortable style 56-40. Impressive for the Crackers were Hugh Maguire contributing 16 games including a thrilling 7-5 win with John Griffin over Steven and Cyril Boyd in the top men's doubles and also Mary Davidson winning both her matches 9-3, firstly with sub Seamus O'Connell in the mixed and finally rounding off the team victory with captain Maxine Leary.
With the Conkers finally getting off the mark on Monday night, this left the Bangers as the only team in the competition yet to record a win. Standing in their way were the Sparklers who needed a win tonight to ensure they joined the Firecrackers in the semis. In a very competitive opening encounter Bangers pair Davy Thompson and Bernie Hall asked a lot of questions of Matthew McGann and Heather Boles before going down 8-4. This match set the tone as the remaining three mixed doubles matches all finished in tight 7-5 wins, all in favour of the Sparklers. A particularly outstanding effort came from Bangers Frank Britton and Ruth Elliot who fought tooth and nail but lost out 7-5 to Brian Donaldson and Lisa Greaves, having lost to the same pairing 10-2 in their previous meeting. The Sparklers were now ahead by nine and all hopes of a Bangers comeback in the men's and ladies doubles were quickly dashed when Brian and Martin Hamblin swept to a 9-3 win over the tireless Keith Miller and Frank.. With two of the remaining three matches again finishing in close fought 7-5 wins in favour of the Sparklers there was at least one brief moment of glory for the Bangers when Bernie Hall and Ruth Armstrong at last managed to avoid a clean sweep of all eight matches with a well deserved win over Heather Boles and Heather Guy in the top ladies match.
Standings after week 8 with the top two to qualify from each group are:
Monday Nights: Pumpkins 381 games, Bonfires 343, (both 7 matches played) Toffees 317, Conkers 252 and Wizards 243 (6 matches played)
Wednesday Night: Firecrackers 438 games, Sparklers 415, Rockets 361, Bangers 322 (All 8 matches played)