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It was round 5 of 9 at Enniskillen Tennis Club this week as the Erne Business Equipment Spring League reached the halfway stage.
The opening tie threw up a first v second clash, with both the current pool leaders the Erasers and their second placed rivals the Staplers looking to maintain their unbeaten records. Following a draw in the previous clash of these sides it was no surprise that many of the matches were tight battles with 4 of the 8 matches finishing 6-6 apiece. However given that the Erasers were missing two of their star performers, in Clive and Leonie, it fell to the Staplers captain Moira McAdam with her mixed partner James Wilson to try and take advantage which they duly did scoring a decisive 9-3 win over the Erasers subs. The Erasers were now 10 games adrift at the halfway stage and having failed to regain any lost ground in the top seed ladies or men's doubles their hopes were finally and ruthlessly wiped out with a resounding 11-1 victory for the seasoned campaigners Cyril Boyd and Seamus O'Connell in their men's doubles. This not only left the Staplers comfortable 58-38 victors but it knocked the Erasers of the top of the Monday pool for the first time this season.
The second tie of the night threw up a much closer affair as the Markers and the Punchers battled to stay in touch with the group leaders. With the top seeded matches all going the way of the Markers on adjusted 7-5 score lines the Markers had a great chance to put the Punchers on the canvas but following a convincing 8-4 victory for Andrew Sheridan and Catherine Sloan in the mixed and an even more impressive 9-3 win for Lisa Greaves and Catherine Sloan in the ladies doubles it was all down to the 3/4 seeded men's doubles to decide the tie. With the Punchers Kevin Burns and Andrew Sheridan taking on Conor McMahon and Mark Cousins for the Markers it was a tight match throughout. However when it came down to the key point it was the Punchers pairing who played the more accurate tennis, enabling them to sneak through 7-5 and secure a 49-47 victory for the Punchers, their first of this years Spring league.
First up on Wednesday night was group leaders the Dispensers against bottom placed Copiers. While things started well for the Copiers with a win and a draw in the opening two matches the Dispensers pairing of Martin Hamblin and Mary Griffin then made the decisive breakthrough of the match winning their mixed doubles match 10-2 and leaving the Dispensers 6 games ahead at the halfway point. A spirited 7-5 win for Copiers captain Davy Thompson and Ken Newman in the opening men's doubles briefly restored hope but with a clear cut 8-4 victory for Helen Cooper and Ruth Armstrong in the ladies doubles followed by a 9-3 victory for Martin Hamblin and Brendan Duffy in the men's, the match finished in a straight forward 56-40 win for the Dispensers.
The final tie of the week between the Binders and the Toners also provided the closest tie of the week with Sean Bogue's Binders, overcoming a 22-26 deficit at the halfway mark, to tie the contest at the finish. With every player in the match contributing at least one drawn match and with no individual match decided by more than the 7-5 margin it was perhaps fitting that the spoils were shared 48 games apiece. The result also means that the gap between the Binders and the Toners, in their fight for the second group qualifying place, remains at a mere two games with only four rounds to go.
Standings after week five of nine with the top two to qualify from each group are:
Monday Nights: Staplers 258 games, Erasers 247 , Markers 230, Punchers 225
Wednesday Night: Dispensers 257 games, Binders 241, Toners 239, Copiers 223