Floodlights Floodlit tennis in I

Floodlights
Floodlit tennis in Ireland only really started in the late 1970's. There was no need for lights as tennis was a Summer game played on natural lawn courts during the long evenings. But with the arrival of hardcourts and facility to play throughout the year, it was natural that floodlights would follow.

Nenagh installed the first lights on 2 courts (Courts 3 and 4 opposite the clubhouse) in 1990. During the 1990's, all courts would have floodlights installed.

Artificial Grass
Artificial Grass tennis courts arrived in Ireland during the late 1980's. The artifical grass surface is a synthetic carpet with sand brushed in between the carpet piles to keep them upright.

There are different artificial grass types, depending on which company you buy the court from. Artificial grass courts are laid down on existing good tarmacadam hardcourts.

In 1990, when Nenagh installed the first floodlights, the club was operating on 4 hardcourts, During the early 1990's, 2 further hardcourts were laid. Shortly afterwards, the club put down 4 omni-court surface artificial grass courts on top of 4 of the existing hardcourts. In the late 1990's, the remaining 2 hardcourts were replaced with 2 more floodlit omni courts.

Short Tennis Court
A short tennis court suitable for children was also built. This court is dedicated to the memory of Declan Purcell who died tragically in road accident aged 4 1/2.

Clubhouse
Today, visitors to Nenagh LTC will immediately notice the magnificent new clubhouse. This was opened in 1999. The clubhouse is built on the same part of the club grounds upon which the club's old and much loved clubhouse existed.

The old clubhouse, in some form or other probably went back to early days of the club. Over the years, it had been modernised, added to, improved and generally well maintained. It was also the venue for numerous happy nights …..and early mornings.

All the facilities, changing rooms, showers, toilets, bar, function room, etc were there. However, it was mainly a timber structure, and it's lifespan was limited.

That factor, among others, prompted the club committee in the late 1990's to examine the possibility to building a new clubhouse. The club was going very well and the committee decided to act when the 'iron was hot' as the saying goes.

So, the new clubhouse was built and officially opened in 1999.

Playing Tennis
Nenagh LTC has official Senior Open and Junior Tournaments in the Tennis Ireland calendar. These events regularly attract many outside players from clubs within a radius of 50 miles and are highly regarded.

The club competes in Munster Branch organised inter-club tennis. Up to the mid-1980's, success at Munster level eluded the club, although it has to be said that the club did not enter many teams in Munster competition due to various reasons.

No doubt, the fact that travel to Cork would have been likely requirement of competing was a significant factor. In addition, there was not then anything like the amount of inter-club competitions which are available today.

However, over the last 15 to 20 years, the club has made a significant impact in Munster and it has been very successful. The Guinness Plate won in the early 1980's represent's the club's first Munster success. Then in 1986, the club won Division III of the Munster Winter League.

However, it was not until 1990 that it managed to win a big Summer event, namely the ladies Michel (now Keane) Cup. The equivalent mens' Nationalist Cup event followed in 1991.

Since then, the club has regularly featured as winners or runners-up on Munster inter-club finals days.

Munster title wins since 1982 include:
            Grade 2 Ladies (Day Cup): Twice winners 1992, 1993.
            Grade 3 Ladies (Michel - now Keane Cup): 3 times Winners since 1990.
            Grade 3 Men (Nationalist Cup): 4 times Winners since 1991
            Grade 5 Summer Cups (Mixed Teams): Twice winners.
            Grade 6 Summer Cups: Won Ladies one year
            Winter League Titles: Won Div III (1986) and Div IV (1999)
            Veterans Inter-club: Win Div II in 2001 and 2002. (R-up in 2003)
            Grade 4 Guinness Plate - won 1982
            Maher Plate (U.12) won early 1990's.

The club also play in the Midland Tennis League during the Summer months. This league opens opportunities for the club to play clubs in Leinster and East Galway.

The Midland Tennis League has been running since 1986 and Nenagh has enjoyed considerable success in each of the 4 divisions of the league since its inception. Division I, II, III and IV titles have been won at various times.

Nenagh juniors have also done well in Munster circles, particularly in the schools tennis arena, in which Nenagh CMS and Nenagh CBS regularly feature in Munster schools finals and we are proud to say have won on many occasions.

Almost all the players on these schools teams would be members of Nenagh LTC. Likewise at Nenagh Gaelscoil which has also featured in Munster, winning the Girls Primary School title one year.

Munster and Irish Community Games titles have also been won by teams representing Nenagh parish, those players mostly being members of Nenagh LTC.

Significant Items for Nenagh LTC
Big occasions for the club over the years have included the staging of the senior interprovincial championships on the grass courts in 1975 and the staging of the junior interprovincial championships there in 1997, this time on grass again, but on artificial grass.

Gail Maloney (now O'Meara) and Karl Purcell played junior interprovincial tennis for Munster in the 1970's.

Gail has also been selected and played U.21 interprovincial, veteran interprovincial, and International veteran tennis.

Anne Fitzpatrick has been selected and played veteran tennis for Munster for the past 10 years. Anne was also selected and played international veteran tennis in 2002.

Margaret Quinn is also a veteran interprovincial player, being selected in 2002. She was also selected in 2003, but was unavailable.

The club has also had people involved administratively in the game at Munster and Irish level. In the last 30 years or so, Seamus Cleary RIP, Ailbe Purcell, Denis Hanly, Tim Conway and Michael Lovett have all contributed at this level. Seamus was President of Munster 1975 and Tim was President in 1997.