Congratulations and best of luck to Sandycove Men’s Easter Cup team who play Deerpark in the semi-final tomorrow at 11am at home.

The squad led seamlessly and professionally by Paul Sinnott (a big thank you Paul) secured a semi-final spot following an exceptionally tight group where after the 6 group matches there were 3 teams in the group all on 13 points. So after some consideration the organisers advised that all sets won needed to be totted up and if it was still level, then the total number of games won would decide the winner and runner up of the group…..drum roll….

Newtown Park won 27 sets and 197 games, Shankill won 28 sets and 211 games and Sandycove had won 28 sets and 219 games so were declared the winners of the group with Shankill runners up.

The squad comprises of Paul Sinnott (captain), Ken Flanagan, Conor O’Neill, John Cronin, Tony Collison, Peter McCann, John Finnegan, Fred O’Neill, Barry Totterdell, Brian McManus and Jack O Keefe.

If the guys are successful tomorrow the final will be held in Blackrock LTC at 7.30 pm on Friday 8th April and the play-offs for 3rd and 4th place will also be held in Blackrock the same night at 7pm.

Below is a summary of the match reports which gives you a real sense of the journey and drama that Paul and his team have been on over the last 2 months. Very well done lads!

Easter Cup Match Reports

Match 1 – Home to Blackrock
We got off to a great start to the campaign with a 3-0 win. John Martin & Barry Totterdell won 7-6, 7-5. John Finnegan and myself won 6-4, 6-4 and Peter McCann and Fred O Neill won 7-6, 6-2. Big thanks to our 4 subs on the day Barry, Fred and the “2 John’s” who all came up trumps!

Match 2 – Home to Newtown Mount Kennedy
We won 2-1. After a slow start, John Cronin and Paul Sinnott won 6-7, 6-3, 6-1. Peter McCann and Tony Collison won comfortably 6-0, 6-0 whilst Conor O’Neill and Ken Flanagan won the first 7-6 and were down 3-5 in the second but had to concede due to a personal commitment.

Match 3 – Away to Shankill
This was an important one to win as Shankill had already played and won 3 matches and were 1 point ahead of us going into the match. We had a last minute call up for subs because of Covid and John Holmes answered the call. Unfortunately, John and Paul Sinnott went down 6-1, 6-4 however, Peter McCann and Ken Flanagan after also having a slow start won in 3 sets 6-7, 6-0, 6-3. That brought it down to the wire for Tony Collison and John Cronin who came through a very close 3 setter but eventually prevailed with had a great 7-5, 6-7, 7-5 win.

Match 4 – Away to Bray
Peter McCann and Ken Flanagan got the team off to a great start with a fairly straightforward 6-3, 6-4 victory. Unfortunately, Paul Sinnott and John Finnegan couldn’t quite get there and stumbled 3-6, 5-7. This left it all down to Tony Collison and John Cronin who overcame a 2-6 first set deficit to get it across the line 6-3, 6-3.

Match 5 – Home to Newtown Park
This was an important one because we were level with Newtown Park on points going into the match. Unfortunately, we were blighted with Covid, injuries and lack of availability. Effectively there was only one member of the original starting 6 available on the day – Ken Flanagan who led the team on the day. Pat Leamy, Jack O Keefe and Brian McManus kindly stepped in to lend a hand whilst John Finnegan and Fred O’Neill subbed for the others. Unfortunately, Jack and John F. after a good start went down 6-1, 1-6, 4-6 whilst Brian and Pat also went down 0-6, 2-6. Ken and Fred however pulled off a great 6-3, 6-3 victory to give the team a very valuable point.

Match 6 – Away to Monkstown
So, it all came down to this one – we were 1 point behind Newtown Park going into the final match and level with Shankill so we really needed all three points to have a shot at making the semi-finals. Ken Flanagan unfortunately, was unable to play on the day because of a sprained ankle picked up securing that valuable point for us in last week’s match. However, Pat Leamy stepped in again, the gods were with us, the sun was shining and we managed to secure all 3 points. Conor O’Neill and John Cronin won 7-5, 6-0, Tony Collison and Pat Leamy won 6-3, 6-1 and Paul Sinnott and Peter McCann finished it off with a 6-4, 6-4 victory to make it a clean sweep.

All the best tomorrow.

Paul and Greg