Nenagh Lawn Tennis Club

 

    Club Championships 2009

Ballyhaden Enterprises Tennis  

 

The Ballyhaden Enterprises (Proprietors: Joe and Marie Murphy) Nenagh LTC Senior Club Championships concluded in wonderful fashion on Saturday night 19^th September with all the finals, along with BBQ and karaoke entertainment.

 

Finals night, as always offered numerous entertaining matches, many of which illustrated the rising standard of tennis in the club at all levels.   There were many outstanding matches during the week and equally so on Finals Night.

 

 

Frank O’Keeffe Singles Champion

Frank O’Keeffe was in top form in winning the ‘A’ singles title.  Frank has had a great 2009 season in open tournaments and on the inter-club scene, being a key member of Nenagh’s recent Munster Intermediate Cup win. 

 

Frank’s singles opponent in Saturday’s final, Philip O’Gorman, has had an equally great season, and of course was a key member of Nenagh’s Carlsberg Cup success, and no doubt that, as we are usually reminded at the end of James Bond movies, ‘he will be back’, and will be adding his name to that cup in the short term.

 

Tim O’Brien was another man in top form.  Tim, another Nenagh inter club winner, being a member of the winning Mens Nationalist Cup team, won the ‘B’ singles and doubles (with Pat Cleary).   

 

Helana Darcy also collected 2 titles, the ladies ‘A’ doubles with Deirdre McSherry, and the ever popular H’Cap Mixed with Pat Shanahan. 

 

Catherine Gibson featured 2 finals, winning the ladies ‘B’ doubles with Samantha Horan, and being runner-up with Liam O’Kelly in the ‘B’ mixed. 

 

Spare a thought for Margaret O’Meara, the only player in the tournament to reach 3 finals, a wonderful achievement indeed, but she had to be content with runner up spot in each.   We just know that like Philip O’Gorman, ‘she will be back’.  

 

Former Players Returning

The past year or two has seen a number of former junior players of some years back make a welcome return to the game.  Among the most recent of these are Damien Egan and Eoin Quirke and the lads announced their return with a win in the ‘C’ Doubles against 2 other guys also recently returned to the game, Niall Healy and Tadhg O’Flynn.

 

 

BBQ Again A Major Highlight

Like all Nenagh tournaments, the social scene, particularly at the end of the week, was a major highlight.  Once again, the BBQ with food provided by the members was superb.  Liam Dwan was again in chef mode, supervised by Eileen Molloy.  Or was it the other way around?  It was great anyway.

 

Many thanks to Brendan Mullins and John Lynch from the Birr Wilmer Club who were over on Friday night with a complimentary disco.  And John Kenneally was there on Saturday with Karaoke.

 

Also on Saturday, we had a video montage of photos, compiled by Pat Hough, of that great day in Limerick Lawn when the Nenagh and Puckane clubs featured in 7 Munster Inter Club  finals.   Great viewing.

 

 

Presentation Plaudits And Home Runs

Tommy Riggs Miller, President of the club, presided at the presentation.  Tommy  welcomed Joe and Marie Murphy of Ballyhaden Enterprises, sponsors of the tournament. Tommy and Tournament Referee  David Goulding expressed their appreciation and thanks on behalf of all members to Joe and Marie for their generous support of the tournament.

 

Joe Murphy said he was very pleased to be associated with the event, and he complimented all associated with the tournament and Nenagh LTC in general for making the club such an enjoyable place.

 

Tommy Riggs Miller paid particular praise to David Goulding, Tournament Director, who did a great job all week in a key role. 

 

He also thanked everyone for the food, again a wonderful spread, enjoyed by all.

 

Frank O’Keeffe, speaking on behalf of the players, thanked all associated with the tournament, and among other things complimented Liam O’Kelly and Conor O’Meara for their (not quite sure whether he said heroic or athletic) efforts to get to the ball, which he described as comparable to a baseball player’s desperate attempts to reach base ahead of the arriving ball. 

 

No ‘home runs’ as such, but either way, the lads invariably succeeded in reaching that ball, even if it meant ending up on the ground. 

 

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