Barry McCarthy Retains Titles

 Deirdre McSherry Top Lady

 A big entry, wonderful weather and some very enjoyable tennis were among the factors which contributed to a highly successful AIB  sponsored Annual Senior Open Tennis Tournament at Nenagh Lawn Tennis Club last week.   

AIB Nenagh were the main sponsors of the tournament and indeed had a participative role in that Nenagh manager Paul Anglim and Pat O’Meara also from AIB were both entrants.  Alas, Paul suffered an injury in his opening fixture and had to withdraw.  However, Pat O’Meara, also from AIB, and a recent convert to tennis, was very much to the fore and reached one of the mixed doubles finals with partner Maeve Maloney. 

At the Saturday night presentation, Nenagh LTC President Liam Dwan acknowledged the generous sponsorship of AIB Nenagh for this and previous open tournaments in recent years.  AIB has been a sponsor to Nenagh tennis tournaments for a number of years, originally through club championships and with the open week for the last number of years, and this association has coincided a rising graph in Nenagh’s status in the tennis firmament.

Senior Open Week is the most important week of the year tennis wise for the club and invariably it’s all hands to the pump to ensure the success of the event.   Willing helpers were certainly available last week and Nenagh LTC President Liam Dwan and Captain David Goulding were both appreciative of this at Saturday’s presentation ceremony, thanking all who assisted in the myriad of jobs which make up a successful tournament.

This year’s tournament marked a first in that it was conducted under Tennis Ireland’s computer programme tournament organising system which helps with the draws, scheduling, etc.  Also, a major  advantage of the system is that participants and those following the tournament can follow the progress of the various events on the club’s website. 

Brid Coffey was the key person in establishing the new programme.  She had been at work on the system since long before the tournament.  Her role in this and as one of the tournament directors was   complimented by the President and Captain respectively.

The President also expressed sincere appreciation and thanks to David Goulding for his sterling work as director, and Helena Darcy of the tournament committee.  The tournament comprised a remarkable 29 events.  David, Brid and Helena had almost 280 matches to get on court and this was achieved with careful scheduling and with the co-operation of the players.  In addition, the tournament started on the Friday of the opening weekend and Saturday and Sunday saw almost full programmes of matches completed.

Entrants were from wide circle of clubs including Birr Wilmer, Roscrea, Loughrea, Templemore, Killaloe-Ballina, Monaleen, Catholic Institute, Limerick Lawn, in addition to a welcome entrant from Mount Pleasant in Dublin.  Numbers were particularly in high grades 4, 5, 6 and 7.   Most events attracted attention and discussion all week on likely winners of not alone the event, but particular matches in the various events.   And indeed there were many fine matches and talking points. 

Dublin man Barry McCarthy, but now Ballina resident and fully qualified Tipperary man was again one of the stars of the show.  Stylish Barry collected another singles title at the expense of Frank O’Keeffe (and the doubles with Michael O’Meara) and his run of successes in Nenagh are reminiscent of the 1960’s and 1970’s when Catholic Institute’s Tony and Frank O’Shea were sharing titles.   Tullamore man Tadhg Lamb arrived during the latter part of this era and captured the title on a few occasions.  Prior to this of course, the late Bill Fitzgerald was a dominant force during the late 1940’s and 1950’s.

Frank O’Keeffe will be disappointed and the Navan based teacher will likely be putting ‘can do better’ on his personal tournament assessment report sheet.  And we can be assured that Frank will do better as he’s a very talented players and he did not do justice to himself on Saturday.  However, Frank will be first to acknowledge Barry’s fine skills and his worthiness as 2010 champion.

Deirdre McSherry will be marking ‘excellent’ on her report card as she won the key ladies singles title at the expense of Dublin entrant Sheila Doyle from Mount Pleasant Tennis club.

As usual, there were numerous fine performances and quite a large number of participants recorded dual successes.  Among these were Helena Darcy who won Gr 3 singles and doubles with sister Ann Marie.

Emma Mulqueen who was playing in her first open tournament also captured 2 titles as did Abigail Ryan, Whitby Moynan, Conor O’Meara, Mary Collins and Valerie Cotter

Donal Flannery also achieved dual success.  The Kildangan man certainly rubbished this writer’s expectations of likely early exits en route to successes in Gr 3 mixed (with Beatrice Morrissey – who else?) and in Gr 4 doubles (with James Kennedy), whilst displaying a series of astute shot selections equal to, if not better than, his ‘partner selecting’ abilities.  

Other dual finalists with a win and a runner-up included Inez Heenan, Janette Austin, Joe Murphy, Claire Dillon and Loreto Moloney.  

We referred above to the good weather, but we did suffer a very heavy downpour for 15 mins on Sunday week last, which forced most participants off court for its duration.  We say most as Mary Spillane/Inez Heenan and Killaloe-Ballina ladies Maeve Williamson and Patsy King defied the weather and stayed on court while others were doing Usain Bolt impersonations in the direction of the clubhouse.  Very dedicated and focused ladies indeed! 

Most matches in a tournament finish in an hour to 2 hours.  Sometimes you get a long match, but the demise of the handicap events seems to have curtailed long matches.  However, nobody told David Ryan and Alan Williamson who played a match of 3 hours 20 mins duration. 

Of perhaps more remarkable comment was the result of the first set, decided on a tie-breaker, the tie-breaker going to 21/19.   This writer is so exhausted writing about it that he can’t recall who actually won the tie-break, but David did eventually win the match and in fact the event, with (needless to say) a long final against Tim O’Brien. 

Open week is also meant to be an enjoyable social occasion and this was certainly so all week.   The ‘pig on spit’ of the Friday night was very successful and Saturday presentation function equally so.

 

Finals Results:

Notes: 1.   Nenagh players unless stated

            2.  Players belonging to  2 clubs  generally allocated  to original club  

 

Winner(s)                                          Runner(s)-up

Mens Singles

Gr 1/2             Barry McCarthy (Killaloe-Ballina)                 Frank O’Keeffe

Gr 3                 Philip O’Gorman                                             Michael Galvin (Cath Inst)

Gr 4                 David Ryan                                                     Tim O’Brien

Gr 5                 Seamus Power (Killaloe-Ballina)                    Ger Clifford

Gr 6                 James Morris (Victoria, Aust)                         David Kyne (Puckane)

Gr 7                 Gareth Austin                                                 Alan McGahy (Puckane)

 

Ladies Singles

Gr 1/2              Deirdre McSherry                                           Sheila Doyle (Mount Pleasant)

Gr 3                 Helena Darcy                                                  Samantha Horan (Puckane)

Gr 4                 Linda Quinn (Cath Inst)                                 Loreto Moloney

Gr 5                 Karen O’Neill (Cath Inst)                               Claire Dillon

Gr 6                 Mary Collins                                                   Inez Heenan

Gr 7                 Emma Mulqueen (Puckane)                            Janette Austin

 

Mens Doubles

Gr 1/2              Barry McCarthy/Ml O’Meara (K-Ballina)

Gr 3                 Chris Collins/J P Savy (Birr Wilmer)              Kieran McSherry/Philip O’Gorman

Gr 4                 Donal Flannery/James Kennedy (Puckane)    Pat Grace/Alan Williamson (K-Ballina)

Gr 5                 Liam Dwan/Conor O’Meara                           Niall Healy/Tadhg O’Flynn

Gr 6                 Robert Armitage/Whitby Moynan                  Joe Murphy/Andrew Slattery

Gr 7                 Stefan Jones/John Kenny                                Noel Conroy/John Sheehy

 

Ladies Doubles

Gr 3                 Ann-Marie & Helena Darcy                            Mellissa Kenny/Beatrice Morrissey (Puckane)

Gr 4                 Valerie Cotter (Puckane)/Margaret Harty       Liadhan Hassett/Lelia McKeogh

Gr 5                 Jennifer McKenna/Lorraine Ryan                   Claire Dillon/Loreto Moloney

Gr 6                 Mary Collins/Abigail Ryan                             Inez Heenan/Mary Spillane

Gr 7                 Elaine Hackett/Anne Moloney                       Christine Austin/Janette Austin

 

Mixed Doubles

Gr 1/2              Kieran Galvin/Gail O’Meara                           David Hackett/Deirdre McSherrry

Gr 3                 Donal Flannery/Beatrice Morrissey                David Hackett/Ann-Marie Darcy

Gr 4                 Tim O’Brien/Valerie Cotter                            James Kennedy/Catherine Gibson

Gr 5                 Conor O’Meara/Liadhan Hassett                    Ger McKenna/Margaret Harty

Gr 6                 Whitby Moynan/Abigail Ryan                        Joe & Marie Murphy

Gr 7                 Alan McGahy/Emma Mulqueen                     Pat O’Meara/Maeve Maloney