A huge congratulations to our men’s 1st and 5th teams who have both qualified for the Summer League play-offs. Both teams won all 5 of their group matches to top their groups giving them vital home advantage in the play-offs. And a very hard luck to our 6th team who won 4 of their 5 group matches but were pipped for the play-offs by a single point.

1sts – Won 4-1 at home to Donnybrook 2nds in Class 2 (Total 18 points)

This was another great win for the team in a match that was a bit tighter than the overall score suggests. Rob Neiland had another fine win by 6-4 7-6 and as the team is now through to the play-offs he will shortly be seen jumping into the forty foot to celebrate as promised. Rory Curtis cruised through at No 2 singles and has yet to drop a set. Richie Morris had a sweet reversal of a double tie-break defeat in a previous match to have a great win with Steve Gill at No 1 doubles. Oisin O’Hanlon and Reon Ferreira had an excellent straight sets win at No 2 doubles.

2nds – Lost 4-1 away to Celbridge 1sts in Class 2 (Total 5 points)

On a wet Friday evening Luke Hanley subbed in for the glamour trip to Celbridge only to find his opponent never showed up. The walkover was the only point achieved by the team. At No 1 doubles we had matchpoint at 5-4 in the second set but lost the set in a tiebreak and then served for the match at 5-3 in the third set but managed to lose that in a tie-break as well. It just wasn’t meant to be and that kind of summed up the whole campaign for the 2nds!

3rds – Lost 4-1 at home to Elm Park 2nds in Class 3 (Total 7 points)

Paul and Will Fitzgerald got another very good win at No.1 doubles to move the team to what we thought was a safe total of 7 points. However the rules over the number of teams that are promoted and relegated appear to have changed and the team may now be playing in Class 4 next year. Talk about moving the goalposts.

4ths – Won 3-2 away to Dunboyne 1sts in Class 4 (Total 6 points)

Well done to the team on achieving their first win of a hard fought campaign. Sean Cronin had a great win at No. 1 singles. Fred O’Neill and Ken Regan subbed at No 2 and No 3 singles with Ken coming very close to a class 4 singles victory going down 7-5 in the third set in a brilliant effort. Conor O’Reilly and Jim O’Hanlon had a comfortable win at No 1 doubles as did Paul Kilduff and Peter McCartney at No 2 doubles.

5ths – Won 3-2 at home to Blackrock 3rds in Class 5 (Total 16 points)

Another fantastic effort by the team and in particular by the 3 subs who stepped in and won all of their matches. Shane Gill and Dave Hanley won well at No 1 doubles while Tim McNichols and John F Burke did likewise at No 2 doubles. That left Alan Warren on court playing No 3 singles with the match tied at 2-2 after we had lost the top 2 singles. At this stage the team had qualified for the playoffs but this game was needed to secure home advantage and Alan duly did the business 7-6 7-5. The 5th team could swap places with our 4ths in Class 4 if they win their play-off match.

6ths – Lost 4-1 away to Wicklow 3rds in Class 6 (Total 15 points)

Aaron Hickey subbed in for his first league game in years and had a great win by 6-4 in the third set at No 1 singles. Pat Leamy and Wes Hudson were edged out at No 2 and No 3 singles with the first set of both matches going to tie-breaks but unfortunately not our way. At No 1 doubles there was the worst possible luck when Paul Sinnott had to retire with a calf muscle injury in a game they fancied winning. The team unfortunately finished one point short of the playoffs after winning 4 of their 5 matches but had a great campaign.

On Wednesday at 7.30 our 5ths are at home to Elm Park 3rds in a key playoff match. The winner of this fixture will be promoted to Class 4. On Saturday at 2pm our 1st team are at home to Naas 2nds in a Class 2 quarter-final. It would be great to see as many people down as possible supporting the teams.

Many thanks to everyone for all their best efforts in the group matches, including all our subs, supporters, team captains and everyone else who contributed.

Colin