Men’s Summer League – Week 2 Report

Week 2 saw Sandycove win 3 of our 6 matches. A big thank you to those who subbed in and up over the weekend – Will Fitzgerald, Paul Fitzgerald, Mark Fourie, Philip Craig, Andrew Browne, Conor O’Reilly, Caoimhin Cronin, Simon Lloyd, Dermot Bennett, David O’Sulllivan and a summer league debut for Paddy Buckley.

Our 2nd team are playing Claremont Railway Union 2 in Class 3 at home at 7.30pm this evening. If this match is anything like their match in Week 1 it will be a very close and quality match. The bar will be open from 7.30pm and you are very welcome to come down and support the guys either this evening or tomorrow where our 3rd and 4th teams will be playing at home.

1st team vs. Malahide 2 (Home), Class 2, 2-3 loss
At 1st singles, Max Vidal put up a valiant effort on the Jimmy Casey court against Malahide stalwart Stephen Taylor, losing out 6/2, 6/4.
On Court 2 an epic battle was emerging between Louis Hemeryck and Gary Kilduff. Louis was playing unbelievable tennis, with next to no unforced errors in the second set, as he levelled the tie at one set all. Hampered by cramp in the third, Louis fell just short losing 6/4 in the final set.
On Court 3, Rob Neiland was unlucky to be beaten by his younger opponent, succumbing to a 7/5,6/2 loss.
There was some success for Sandycove in the doubles as both pairs remain undefeated with Dave Cooney and Cormac Jennings brushing off a 3/6 first set loss on Court 4, to take the following two sets 6/3, 6/3.
Down on Court 5, Robbie Kernan and Ivan Brady had a comfortable win against their opponents, taking the tie 6/1, 6/3.
Next up is Brookfield away on Friday 19th.

2nd team vs. Wicklow Town 2 (Away), Class 3, 5-0 win
Sandycove 2nd team had 4 subs in for the day but this did not hold them back. All 5 matches were completed in 2 sets going in Sandycove’s favour.
Paul Curran had a convincing 6/4, 6/0 win at 1st singles, Jocelyn O’Callaghan dropped just one game at 2nd singles and to round it off sub Will Fitzgerald went one better winning 6/0, 6/0 leaving a combined singles score of 36-5! Well done lads.
The doubles matches were certainly much tighter where at 1st doubles Mark Fourie and Philip Craig subbing up from the 3rd team won 6/4, 7/5 and at 2nd doubles sub Paul Fitzgerald and Steve Gill won comfortably enough 6/3, 6/1.

3rd team vs. Castleknock 6, (Away); Class 4, 5-0 win
Castleknock chose to play indoors on a beautiful summers day which led some to suggest there was an element of gamesmanship – but if there was that only spurred on the Sandycove lads!

Luke Bennet was in a hurry and was off the court in 40 mins winning with an impressive 6-0, 6-1 scoreline. Next was Alex Wardlaw who found his rhythm this week with a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 victory. Conor O’Reilly and the younger of the Browne contingent were next off with a 2 set victory followed soon after by Kilduff and the more senior of the Browne family who had a tighter affair but ultimately took the 3rd set 6-3. That left O’Byrne who was early in the 2nd set after losing the first 6-4… the lad’s hopes of getting home early soon evaporated. After reversing the score in the 2nd set the 3rd progressed towards the inevitable tie break. At this point Keith took the initiative and won the tie-break 7-3 after a titanic battle lasting 2 1/2 hours – and secured the 5-0 victory for his team.

4th team vs. Newtown Park 2 (Away), Class 5, 3-2 loss
The 4s were away to Newtown Park on Friday night. At 3rd singles, sub Caoimhin Cronin didn’t hang around with a double bagel win and got an early point on the board. In Stephen Tilson’s absence Andrew Browne moved up to number 1 singles, beaten 6-3, 6-2 in a tight affair while at number 2, Alan Casey also lost in a close match 6-4, 6-3.
At no.1 doubles father and son combination Jim and Oisin O’Hanlon were comfortable, taking the first set 6-2. The second set was closer and went with serve until 4-4 when the lads broke and Oisin served out the match to win it 6-4.
So for the 2nd week in a row it was 2-2 and left to Frank McCooey & Colin Wardlaw to try salvage a win. In a very tight three-set thriller they were again into a tiebreak but couldn’t repeat last week’s heroics, pipped by a strong pairing 6-4, 0-6, 7-6.

5th team vs. Greystones 4, Class 5, 3-2 win
Paddy Dempsey opened his Summer League campaign with a robust 6/3, 6/2 victory and is subbing in on the 3rds this weekend so will be interesting to see how he gets on. Tom O’Higgins followed up his victory in week 1 with a compelling 6/4, 6/1 win at 2nd singles.
Dave Hanley and Sam Hughes at 1st doubles had a tough three setter where they lost the first 6/2, levelled the match with a 6/3 win in the second but unfortunately came up short in the third losing 6/3. Conor O’Neill and sub for the day Dermott Bennett lost in two at second doubles.
It was up to Simon Lloyd, subbing in for the day, to complete the trio of singles wins, winning 7/5, 6/4, to seal the overall match with 3-2 win for Sandycove. Next up Monkstown 4 away.

6th team vs. Glenageary 8 (Home), Class 7, 4-1 loss
Week 2 saw us the 6th team take on local rivals Glenageary at home. Unfortunately, it was a tough day at the office all round. Shane O Gorman and new sub Paddy Buckley had a very close match against their opponents with lots of good rallies. However, the score did not reflect the closeness of the games and the lads eventually went down 6-4, 6-2. On Court 4, Pat Leamy and our other new sub David O Sullivan found it equally tough going against a competent Glenageary pairing who ran out 7-5, 6-2 winners in the end. Paul Sinnott had better luck on Court 5 and managed a 6-2, 6-3 win at 3rd Singles. On Court 2, Andrew Sherry at 2nd singles couldn’t get his usual rhythm going and lost out 6-1, 6-3. Court 1 saw the match of the day with young Andrew Percival losing the first set 6-4 only to coming storming back to take a very good second set 7-6 on the tie break. His experienced Glenageary opponent however showed coolness under pressure (and the watching gallery) to secure the tie with a 6-1 final set. So 4-1 win to Glenageary. Next week we take on Celbridge away so we will be hoping to bounce back then!

Well done and good luck to all teams playing tonight and tomorrow.

Come on Leinster!

Greg and the Men’s Senior Committee