Tenniskillen.com

2012 BLAKES OF THE HOLLOW WEST OF ULSTER TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP

All scores and results are available on the Tournament page

All roads led to Enniskillen last week as 135 players from 13 different clubs battled it out to add their names to the West of Ulster Championship Trophies. Thankfully the forecast wind and rain never materialised as the Championship enjoyed near perfect tennis conditions all week. Indeed finals day on Sunday saw warm sunny weather bring out a large crowd to cheer on the players.

The prestigious men’s A Championship provided some top quality competitive tennis with Enniskillen’s Club coach Matthew McGann hitting his best form on Saturday to beat top seeded David Ward in a tight semi final. The second semi-final saw Gareth McGreevy, now coaching at Portadown, come back after losing the first set to Butt Halls Francis Venzon to clinch his place in the Sunday’s final. The final proved to be a tense battle with Gareth eventually securing the first set in a tie break. Matthew was not able to regain his scintillating semis form as Gareth completed the win 7-6, 6-4 to lift the trophy for the first time. Special mention goes to the Bannigan brothers, from the Butt Hall club in Ballybofey, who put on a superb display of tennis in the B men’s final. With both players hitting form at the same time the enthusiastic crowd were treated to an enthralling and brilliantly entertaining duel with family bragging rights eventually going to older brother Shaun.

With the entry numbers continuing to grow and the standard rising every year, local players had to settle for 3 trophies this year and 6 runners up out of the 15 main competitions held. Most prominent for the Enniskillen Club was Vanessa McBrien who won the C Ladies singles, the C Ladies Doubles with Lisa Greaves and narrowly missed the treble losing in the final of the C Mixed with partner Martin Hamlin to the strong partnership of number 2 seeds Gillian Porter and Mitchell Patterson of Butt Hall Club. Other top performers for the town club were B Mixed winners Clive Funston and Leonie Madigan who retained their title beating fellow skinners Innes Redmond and Sonja Hateboer.

Presenting the trophies to the winners was new tournament sponsor Blake’s of the Hollow, represented by manager Mark Edwards, who was delighted to see such a large turnout from the province and somewhat surprised that so many of the faces were so familiar from work the previous night. Rounding off the tournament, club chairman Maxine Leary thanked all the clubs for their continued support and wished Blake’s of the Hollow continued success in this their 125 years celebration year. Commenting that having served the public of Fermanagh so successfully for the last 125 years it is not surprising that Blakes of the Hollow’s first sponsorship in serving of the tennis variety had proved to be such a resounding success. She also wished local favourite Helen Cooper, a speedy recovery from her broken ankle suffered in the heat of battle on Saturday. Meanwhile the players’ attention will now be turning to the upcoming Fermanagh Senior Open to be held in Irvinestown and due to start on 30th June.

Winners from the local Enniskillen club were B Mixed Double’s - Clive Funston/Leonie Madigan; C Ladies Singles – Vanessa McBrien; C Ladies Double’s Lisa Greaves/Vanessa McBrien

Other Winners were A Men's Singles – Gareth McGreevy; A Ladies Singles - Keri Russell; A Men's Doubles -John Maguire/Francis Venzon; A Ladies Doubles - Kerri & Alexis Russell; A Mixed – David Ward/Alexis Russell; B Ladies Singles – Francis Taggart; B Ladies Doubles - Rachel Logan/Linda Stewart; B Men’s Singles - Shaun Bannigan; B Men’s Doubles – Sean Quinn/Robert Thompson; C Men’s Singles – Rafal Ordon; C Men’s Doubles – Alby Gray/Paul Cassidy; C Mixed – Gillian Porter/Mitchell Patterson

Consolation Winners : A Events Connor Donaldson, Matthew McGann/Sonja Hateboer; B Events Cathal Sheridan, Bernie Kells, Arnold & Noel Jackson, Linda Corrigan/Enid Redmond, Donal Burns/Francis Taggart; C Events Marc McGuckian, Lisa Greaves, Matt Dillon/James Morrison, Tanya Cathcart/Sandra McElroy, Lisa Greaves/Clive Bruce.