Last week saw the second round of matches played in the Erne Business Equipment Spring League at Enniskillen Tennis Club.
Monday Night
First on court were the Punchers and Markers with both teams looking for their opening win of the league. Things started evenly with the big serving Paul Lendrum and Jenny Humphries having to settle for a 6-6 draw against the never-say-die pairing of Daniel Redmond and Heather Guy. However next match up and the Markers got the breakthrough they were looking for as John Reihill and Michelle Kennedy secured a 9-3 win. After a 6-6 draw between Kevin Burns and Lisa Greaves against Conor McMahon and Angela Randall the Punchers were in danger of being counted out before the halfway stage. However an 8-4 victory for Andrew Sheridan and Catherine Sloan over Mark Cousins and Yvonne Masterson kept the Punchers within 2 at the halfway stage. Unfortunately a resolute performance from the 3rd and 4th seed Punchers to win both men’s and ladies doubles was not enough after top seeded men’s Markers Paul and John cleaned out Daniel Redmond and Kevin Corrigan 10-2 with John contributing a significant 19 games to the Markers 51-45 victory.
Second tie on Monday saw Moira’s Staplers up against Sonja’s Erasers in what turned out to be a roller coaster tie. The opening match saw the Eraser’s Sonja and Donal looking to overpower the experience of Dominick and Ita and while the Erasers created a lot of chances, Ita and Dominick, with their respective power and consistency, were always in control to win 9-3. This victory was immediately countered for the Staplers with Clive and Leonie proving too good on the night for James and Moira to win comfortably 11-1. Following a 6-6 draw in the level 3 match between the smooth and accurate Cyril and Bennie against the high energy Matt and Sandra the Staplers managed to grab a two game half time lead after Seamus O’Connell and Gwen Wilson combined superbly to overcome Iain Kennedy and Vivienne Kells. This lead was stretched to 4 games after the men’s level 1 match but the Erasers were able to rely on the talented pairing of Sonja and Leonie who overcame Ita and Moira 9-3 to see the lead change hands yet again. Another 6-6 tie for Cyril and Matt this time partnered by Seamus and Iain respectively left the Erasers ahead by two but the Staplers final ladies pairing of Bennie and Gwen hung on for a two game win over Sandra and Vivienne to tie the match up at the finish 48-48
Wednesday Night
The opening tie between the Binders and the Toners on Wednesday night had not only Spring League games at stake but also early season bragging rights in the Bogue household. This contest was nip and tuck all the way as seven of the eight ties finished 7-5. While Sean Bogue and Brenda Davis for the Binders did earlier defeat Martin Sharkey and Veronica Bogue 7-5 it was the Binders captained by Sean who ultimately lost out 51-45. Top scorers for the Toners were Johnny Guette and Jennifer Kelly, with both contributing 15 games each, thanks in large part to their crucial 8-4 victory over the Binders Brian Donaldson and Michelle Hanna.
Finally, the week’s tennis was rounded off with Bernie Cornyn’s Copiers tackling Helen Cooper’s Dispensers. The top seeded matches in the mixed doubles were close affairs with a 7-5 victory for Ken Newman and Enid Redmond the only difference after two matches. However the Dispensers were able to rely on their level 3 and 4 mixed teams to lead by 6 at the halfway stage, after both pairings of Martin Hamblin and Mary Griffin as well as Brendan Duffy and Roisin O’Connell recorded 8-4 victories. Hoping for an early comeback the Copiers were to be disappointed as Jimmy Renfrew and Hugh Maguire secured a dogged 8-4 win over Davy Thompson and Ken in a match featuring regular exchanges at the net involving all four players.. Hope was briefly restored as the ladies level 2 Copiers recorded an 8-4 win to bring the gap back to 6 but these hopes were quickly crushed as Martin and Brendan stormed home 9-3 in their final match against Roman and stand-in Neville, bringing their personal contributions up to 17 games apiece and the overall final score to 53-43 in favour of the Dispensers
Standings after week 2 with the top two to qualify from each group are:
Monday Nights: Erasers 107 games, Staplers 102, Markers 88, Punchers 87
Wednesday Night: Toners 101 games, Dispensers 101, Binders 93, Copiers 89
