As the group stage of Winter League came to an exciting end on Sunday, there’s some great news for the Club!
We’re proud to celebrate a record number of teams progressing to the knockout stages.
- Our 5ths, captained by Sean Cronin will play Glasnevin at home on Sunday at 11am
- Our 6ths, captained by Dave Hanley will play Ashbourne away at 11am on Sunday
- Our 7ths, captained by John Emerson will play North Kildare away at 11am on Sunday
- Our 8ths, captained by Liam Hurley have a by into the quarter-final where they await to play the winner of Glenalnyn & TCD
Reaching the knockouts is a tremendous achievement and a testament to the dedication, teamwork, and spirit shown throughout the campaign. We wish all four teams the very best of luck in the weeks ahead — we’re all behind you!
While it wasn’t the outcome we had hoped for across the board, our 1sts, 2nds, and 4ths fought hard over the past six weeks and represented the club with great commitment but will all be dropping a division next year. Although relegation is never easy, we know these teams will regroup, rebuild, and come back stronger next season.
Well done to everyone who pulled on a Sandycove shirt this winter league — the club spirit is stronger than ever!
Sandycove 1 v Castleknock 2
The 1st team finished a very disappointing campaign away to Catleknock 2nds with another defeat that sealed our fate with relegation.
At 1st doubles club coach and “Mr undefeated” Edoardo partnered Dave to a commanding victory. Edoardo spent the 25 minutes on court hitting winner after winner while he multi-tasked telling Dave where to stand and what to do! Dave is currently recovering from PTSD and hopes to be fit for summer league. Score 6-1 6-1
At 2nd Doubles Cormac and Robbie played a very steady pair of seasoned league players. After a slow start they soon got into the rhythm of the match and fought their way back into the match with plenty of long points. After a long battle they lost a very tight 3rd set. Score 6-3 4-6 6-4
At 3rd doubles Jocelyn and Reon played an attacking brand of tennis and after losing the first set soon got into the match with some excellent tennis and winners! They were 5-3 up in the 2nd set and had plenty of chances to get into the deciding set but it wasn’t to be. Score 6-2 7-5
Sandycove 2 won 2-1 at home to De Vesci 1
We came into this match with only two points so there was a pre-match huddle to focus on the job at hand. At No 1 doubles Rob Neiland and Mark Fourie were fired up to play against Paul Curran, a familiar face and former member. But while Mark is a South African star unfortunately Paul’s partner is as well. We were undone by the consistency of his groundstrokes going down 2 & 2. Next off court was No 3 doubles where Caoimhin Cronin partnered super-sub Harry Wall and they had a good win 3 & 4. At No 2 Alex Wardlaw and Colin Grant also won 3 & 4. It was a bitter sweet win for the team as four points was not enough to stay in the class. A combination of injuries and bad weather meant that many of us had been unable to build competitive match sharpness coming into the campaign. But our level improved as the weeks progressed, a bit like the weather. In our post-match huddle we savoured Caoimhin’s superb home made lemon drizzle cake and the world became a better place with plenty of optimism as we look forward to Summer League!
Sandycove 3 v Greystones
The 3rds travelled to Greystones early on Sunday morning knowing that a 3-0 victory would see them through to the playoffs. Despite missing Sam, their explosive talisman, and injured Captain Stephen Tilson they were primed for the task at hand.
First in were Captain Tom and Steve at 2nd doubles. Unfortunately for the Greystones pair they weren’t astute enough to figure out that hitting the ball to Tom at the net was a terrible game plan. Tom & Steve were in imperious form despite the windy conditions and couldn’t put a foot wrong (or a volley long) for the entire match as they romped home 6-0 6-2
Next off were Alan Casey and Super Sub Philip Craig at 1st doubles. A formidable partnership themselves who know how to win well, unfortunately they were overcome by a very strong Greystones pairing who drafted in a super sub for the final encounter.
As Philip and Alan came off Paddy and Sandycove (M)VP Paul Fitzgerald were a set down. They were playing a very strong pair of big hitting youngsters who chased down every ball and won the 1st set 6-1! After Paddy and Paul secured the 2nd set tiebreak, the lads ventured down from the clubhouse to watch nervously from a safe distance. A nail-biting 3rd set ensued with a couple of breaks of serve. Paul Fitzgerald’s emphatic smash on match-point secured the point and victory for Sandycove on the day.
Unfortunately the results in other fixtures went against us on the day and we missed out on a playoff spot by the narrowest of margins. 11 points secured, the team is happy overall with what turned out to be a very enjoyable campaign.
Sandycove 4 V Clontarf
4th team finished their campaign away to Clontarf.
At 1st doubles Colin realised that flying home at 2.00 am on the morning of the match isn’t ideal preparation! Despite some huge serving from Shane we lost in straight sets.
At 2nd doubles Ian was cracking forehands at Alcaraz like pace and Frank was rolling back the years darting around the net with angled volleys. Despite putting up a good performance we lost in straights.
At 3rd doubles Daniel and John lost in 2 very tight sets, including a tiebreaker in the 2nd set playing very aggressive positive tennis and were very unlucky not to bring the match to a decider.
Despite a challenging campaign the team played some good front foot tennis throughout the campaign. Roll on the summer league!
Sandycove 5 v UCD
Sandycove 5 had their last group match last Sunday. It ended in an unfortunate 1-2 defeat to UCD 2s, who were very strong on the day. The two young guns in Reif and Conor lost the third doubles in two sets. The two Gills on second doubles went to a 3 setter, which ultimately went UCDs way – the lads were very disappointed with the result. Sean and Steve on first doubles managed to fight back after losing 6-7 in the first set and being 0-4 down in the second set to ultimately win 7-5, 6-4. The team moves onto the first knock out stage game this Sunday at home against Glasnevin
Sandycove 6 v Monkstown
As injured Captain I made the short trip to Monkstown for a winner takes all match watching proceedings with Paul Sinnott. Out of the blocks Paul Kilduff and Alex Sinnott after a tight first set where they were behind for most of it ,our guys edged it 7/5 and made light work to win 6/2 in the second. A really useful combo with Paul hitting his trusty elegant forehand and Alex showing his usual energy. Meanwhile at first doubles Des and Alan came across really useful Father/Son partnership and lost in 2 sets and would admit they weren’t hitting their usual standard. The previous evening I had bumped into Mark Gill and informed him that looking at the stats I felt it would come down to third doubles. He thanked me for this extra pressure!! The first set was cagey but our guys came through 6/3. Second set was incredibly tight and gathered an audience as the other pairings had finished. Match point for us went away at 6/5 in the second set so into the tiebreak. I can recall at least 3 more match points coming and going before Monkstown stole the tie break 14/12 to lots of hollering from their supporters. At this stage all supporters took the wise decision to let them at it and grab a brew so both pairings had no distractions. Needless to say with both Mark and Andrew hitting big serves and forehands they raced away to win 6/1 to go forward to the playoffs. Excellent effort to all concerned and especially Paul Kilduff who is now a signed up member of the team and shown all concerned what it means to be a proper league participant
Sandycove 7 v Trim
Needing all 3 points to be in the fight for a playoff spot Sandycove 7 had their full team out for the visit of Trim.
Dominic & Charlie made short work of their opponents winning 1&4, followed quickly by John & Derek winning 2&3. Dermot & Larry then felt the pressure but showed their class against some big hitting young lads and won in straight sets after a tight tiebreak. The suspense was felt by all as other results came through, but not to worry as having won 4 out of 5 matches the team sailed through on head to head. Never in doubt !!
Sandycove 8 v Dunboyne
The S’cove self styled Super 8’s were in action at home on Sunday against Dunboyne Tennis Club.
3 points was the target in order to secure advancing to the playoffs and to secure promotion and to not rely on other results to achieve that.
At 1 Conor Flanagan and Brian Mc Manus hit their strides early and with some big serves from Conor the lads won comfortably in 2 sets 6-1 , 6-2. Conor’s Mum asked if he could play a league game every Monday as apparently, he bounced out of bed on Sunday in anticipation of his match which according to Mum is not the case for School days!!
At 2 Joe (I need a lie down) Cuningham and Gary Byrne disposed of their opponents 6-0 and 6-1 and after the match Joe corrected this writer’s maths to say the combined team age was nearer to 130 years than previously reported. Joe added one more year to that as his birthday was the next day, Happy Birthday Evergreen Joe!
At three and back from a bout of flu’ Stephane De Bure and Chris O Grady met probably the strongest of the Dunboyne pairings but true to form the Sandycove duo brought home the third valuable point by winning 6-2 6-3.
With a weekend off due to a winning group bye , the lads will take on either Glenalbyn 3 or Trinity 3 at home in the Semis in 2 weeks time
Sandycove 9 v Rathgar
The Final week of Winter League saw the Class 9 team take on Rathgar, who were 2 points behind going into the match. First pairing of John Cronin and Fred O’Neill started well against a strong pairing and lost the first set 3-6. The lads rallied but after a very tight and physical game were unfortunate to lose the 2nd 5-7. Our 2nd pairing of Percival and McCann Sr. won their first set 6-3. However any thoughts that they would win the 2nd as easily were soon dispelled, as they were drawn into a tooth and nail match. Thankfully the lads persevered winning the set 7-6 with a tiebreak which went 12-10 in favour of Sandycove. The 3rd pairing of regular partners Dave O’Sullivan and Ken Flanagan put up a tough fight against strong opposition, narrowly losing the first set 6-4. Unfortunately despite games being very tight, Rathgar pulled away in the second set, winning outright. Another point gained by the team, and a huge congratulations to the lads, for taking part, as well as to Paul Holmes and Matt McCann for subbing in when called upon. A tough campaign but thoroughly enjoyable.