Munster Winter League 2014 Finals Last Sunday April 13th saw no fewer than 5 Limerick Lawn teams compete in the Munster Winter league finals. It is 16 years since such a feat was last achieved and back in 1996 it was 5 teams from Limerick Lawn. The beautiful facilities of Sundayswell Boating and Tennis club hosted the finals and the Cultural and sporting Capital city of Ireland played a huge role in making these finals one never to forget. The five Captains, Deirdre Collins Grade 1, Neil Mc Donald Grade 3 Men’s, Nicky Halas Grade 5, Deirdre Clarke Grade 6 Mixed and Martin Ryan Grade 6 Men’s had put huge sacrifices in making sure that their teams were ready for 6 grueling hours of rip roaring tennis. A panel of 25 players were sporting their classy new LLTC fleece jackets and the super colour dominated Sundayswell picturesque tennis club and sun drenched courts. The huge Limerick support ascended and it was great to see the vice President Eugene Pratt, Hon. Sec. Maryrose Pratt, the senior committee Tony ODonaghue, Eileen Howlett, Brendan Bradshaw and Louise Flood and coaches CJ Kelly, James Crowe and Jack Quilligan present and vocal at every opportunity. Proceedings started at 9.30am with the Grade 5 mixed team doing battle with Crosshaven Tennis Club. In the ladies and men’s doubles nerves were a plenty and were to be expected. The ever reliable Mary Dillon steadied the Ladies team and she along with Nicky Halas secured a 3 set victory to go one up. The men’s team of Ian Donnellan and the Spanish Matador Carlos Correal, making his last appearance in LLTC colours as he is moving to Dublin, shortly made it 2-0 with a straight sets victory. They continued to dominate both mixed doubles and LLTC had secured their 1st Munster final win of the day. The Grade 6 mixed were very unlucky to loose both men’s and Ladies doubles and would face the same result in the mixed, but rest assured Deirdre Clarke, Eva Clarke, Robert Bialozyt and Eoin O’Neill are determined to be back next year so determined are this great bunch of players. In the Grade 1, James Crowe won the first set against a Harvard bound Kevin Gardiner but unfortunately was defeated in 3 sets. The every reliable Aoife ONeill won her singles easy to make it 1-1. The mixed doubles was a fantastic game but CJ Kelly and Marie-Louise O’Callaghan were very unlucky to loose out. After losing the Men doubles, we were beaten 3-1. The Grade 3 and Grade 6 men’s were next to do battle and what a spectacle of champagne tennis we were all treated to. The spectators were now in full voice and the likes of Mary Carroll, Carolyn OCallaghan, Sheila Clancy, Breifine Considine, Sile Casserely, Emma Jeffers, Marie OCallaghan, Siobhan MacDonald, Grade 6 super sub John Hogan, ,Ash ,Emer our manager and some from our sister club applauded and encouraged all 4 matches. The Grade 6 men waltzed to victory and I have no doubt that Sean og, John Ryan, Ian Sheehy and Martin Ryan will be in the winners enclosure come the South of Ireland 2014. The grade 3 men’s while going down 3-1 left us all in no doubt that this great panel of players played well above themselves and wore the LLTC badge with pride. To James Richter, Kenny Smith, Declan Harkin and Dave OMalley we thank you and all mentioned above for making the finals day so so memorable and to all sixty players and supporters thank you for keeping the great traditions and history that is Limerick Lawn Tennis Club. On this memorable day, lets not forget all the other teams from LLTC in Grade 2 mixed, Grade 3 mixed, Grade 4 mixed and the Grade 6 ladies, who didnt reach the finals, but did us all proud with their own winter league journeys in this very competitive and demanding event, which started last October. Lets celebrate this extraordinary achievement at LLTC next Thursday at 9.30pm, where there is a reception to celebrate all 50 plus players and coaches who helped our nine teams through the Winter League. The spirit of LLTC was stirred by our five teams strong determination to reach the finals and we left Cork with two Munster Champion Cups. A fantastic day for LLTC.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 10:00:52 +0000