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Having last week closed the gap on the Chardonnays to only two games, this week was the Perfect Pints chance to avenge their only two defeats in this years league which both came at the hands of the previously dominant Chardonnays. Never one to pass up an opportunity Perfect Pint Paul Lendrum played the captains part in getting his charges up and running, winning his opening mixed doubles 10-2 in quick fashion with partner Leonie Madigan. The Pints surge continued with only the impressive Vanessa McBrien and experienced sub Neville Crawford holding back the flow of Pints with a valuable 9-3 win in the mixed. However when big serving Captain Lendrum and the smooth JR Dundas opened the doubles with another dominant 9-3 win the Pints were 16 games up and cruising. It was only at this stage that the Chardonnays sparked into life managing to win the remaining three doubles matches and limit the damage to a 50-46 win for the Perfect Pints. This moves the Pints ahead in the pool by two games with only two weeks now remaining.
The earlier game on Monday night had the Pool Sharks in search of their first win and for once they started well, winning three of the opening four mixed doubles, including a battling 8-4 win for James Morrison and Catherine Sloan, to lead 27 games to 10 at the halfway stage. However they couldn’t keep the pressure on and despite a second 8-4 win on the night for top Pool Shark Catherine Sloan the Serving Aces were able to recover the match with 3 doubles victories. Top Ace was Captain Moira McAdam, dealing her team a winning hand with a 16 game haul on the night helping the Aces squeeze through 49-47.
Wednesday night also saw a clash of the top two and as on Monday it was the group leaders who came out second best. With Level 7 captain Martin Sharkey and partner Andrea Crawford opening with a confidence boosting 10-2 win in the mixed, the Irish Coffees looked to be in trouble but when the Coffees captain Iain Kennedy, again with partner Joy Fletcher clinically patrolling the net, closed out the mixed with a commanding 10-2 win the sides were all square at 24 games apiece. The doubles matches were all much closer affairs and it was down to Niall McGandy and Allen Reynolds, who had both suffered defeat in the mixed, to clinch the crucial games for Level 7 winning 8-4 in the men’s against Iain Kennedy and Martin Dillon. While the 50-46 win for Level 7 was the taste of defeat for the Irish Coffees the narrow margin of victory was not enough for Level 7 to knock over the Irish Coffees who still lead the group by 10 games.
The match between Liz McGuinness’s Snug Bugs, third in the group and Sheila Colville’s fourth placed Cocktail Knights had the Snug Bugs seeking a repeat of their 28 game winning margin from the previous meeting of these two teams and to put themselves into the mix for the semi-finals. However the Bugs challenge was quickly stamped out as the Cocktail Knights swept all in front of them. The only Bugs to survive the battle were Tony Ringland and Jason Burns who won out 10-2 but even this only helped keep the score down as the Knights won 6 out of 8 matches to march home with a comfortable 54-42 victory. The Knights were well served by their top ranks as John Griffin, Josie Gillen, Nicholas Hambly and Brenda Davis all secured 16 games each for the Cocktail Knights but having taken too many weeks to find their form this win is not likely to be enough to bring the Knights into contention for the semis.
Standings after week seven of nine with the top two to qualify from each night are:
Monday Nights: Perfect Pints 353 games, Chardonnays 351 , Serving Aces 336, Pool Sharks 304
Wednesday Night: Irish Coffees 355 games, Level7 345, Snug Bugs 323, Cocktail Knights 321