Kieran Galvin was the outstanding player at the Bank of Ireland/Bank of Ireland Life sponsored Nenagh Senior Open Tennis Championships at Nenagh LTC last week.
Kieran, always a quality player, showed his class when becoming the new Mens A Singles Champion. He also won the Mens A Doubles title with an in form Ger Lovett. Kieran succeeds Limerick man Andrew Jones as holder of both titles. Jones went out at semi-final stage of the singles to John Heffernan (Tipperary Co).
Andrew was in the doubles final with talented young player Diarmuid McGann against Kieran and Ger Lovett. This was the final which effectively lit up the finals evening for those in attendance. The tournament referee had to intervene in an extremely tight first set and remained courtside throughout the match which, although tense, was played at a very high standard.
Kieran and Ger eventually won the first set 7/6 and they won the second set relatively easily on a 6/0 scoreline to clinch the match. Ger Lovett, also a fine player, has rarely played better.
Andrew, winner of the 3 titles last season, and a regular winner in all 'A' events in recent years, did however retain the Mixed A title along with Fiona McGann. Deirdre Hogan was a runner-up here with Darragh Devanney.
Melissa Kenny was another player very much to the forefront, winning the B Mixed with Aiden Delaney, and Handicap Mixed I event with James Kennedy.
Quite a number of players featured in 2 finals and came away with one win and one runner-up. Claire Nee (Birr) won the Ladies B Singles, and was runner-up in the B doubles.
Nenagh's James White joined Bill Lonergan to clinch the Mens B Doubles, but was runner-up to Eljay Webster from Tipperary in the B Singles Final. We are not sure if Bill was wearing his Killaloe-Ballina or Nenagh hat in these championships.
Ailish Myles (Templemore) won the Ladies D Doubles with her sister Marie Delaney, and was runner-up in the Singles to Wendy Ryan (Kilkenny).
Barry Kelly (Limerick Lawn) won the Mens C Doubles with Robert Tierney, and was runner-up to Ger Collopy (Limerick Lawn) in the C Singles.
Meanwhile, it was hard luck for Tournament Director Anne O'Meara who featured in 2 finals, the Ladies 'C' Doubles (with Bernie Meagher) and Handicap Mixed II (with Kevin Heffernan), but had to be content with the runner-up position in both finals, to Mary Spillane/Mary Minogue and John/Mary Fitzpatrick respectively.
Anne's husband John experienced a similar fate in the 'B' Mixed Final (with Dolores Quirke) against Melissa Kenny/Aiden Delaney, and in the Handicap Mixed I Final (with Mary O'Meara) against James Kennedy and Melissa Kenny.
It was another very good open week for the Nenagh club. Entries were actually up on last year when we thought we had a very good entry. Players came from clubs in Limerick, Tipperary Town, Killaloe-Ballina, Kilkenny, Birr, Roscrea, in addition to those from Puckane and Nenagh.
Of the 15 events played, final wins went to Nenagh (6 plus one shared with Killaloe-Ballina), Limerick Lawn (3), Templemore (2), Birr (1), Kilkenny (1) and Canon Hayes Tipperary (1).
The opening weekend of the tournament was disrupted somewhat because of the Tipperary/Limerick hurling match and a lot of people being unavailable for that weekend. That put huge pressure on Tournament Directors Anne O'Meara and Sean Geaney to complete the heavy programme on time, but they did a wonderful job and were well on top of the situation by Finals' Day.
Eamon Kelly and Joe Kelly of Bank of Ireland Life who sponsored the event with Bank of Ireland, Mitchel Street, Nenagh, both attended the finals and Eamon made the presentation to all finalists on the night. Both men were actually players in the tournament, being semi-finalists in one of the mens doubles events.
Nenagh LTC President Tim Conway, presided at the presentation. He thanked Bank of Ireland and Bank of Ireland Life for their sponsorship of the tournament.
Tim also thanked everyone who made it the success it was, including Arrabawn Co-op for its sponsorship of the strawberries and cream on Finals' Day, Eamon Spillane and Sean Reidy (among others) for the excellent Bar-B-Que on Friday night.
Full Results
Bank Of Ireland/Bank of Ireland Life North Tipperary Senior Tennis Championships
Mens Singles: A: K Galvin (Nenagh) bt J Heffernan (Tipp Co) 6/2, 6/4
B: L J Webster (Canon Hayes) bt J White (Nenagh) 6/3, 6/3
C: G Collopy (Limerick LTC) bt B Kelly (Limerick LTC) 6/3, 6/4
Ladies Singles: B: C Nee (Birr) bt M Parkes ( Limerick LTC)
C: W Ryan (Kilkenny) bt A Myles (Templemore) 6/4, 7/5
Mens Doubles: A: K Galvin/G Lovett (Nenagh) bt A Jones/D McGann (Lim LTC) 7/6, 6/0
B: B Lonergan /J White (Nenagh) bt T Madigan/T Brennan (Kilkenny) 7/5, 6/2
C: B Kelly/R Tierney (both Lim LTC) bt D Goulding/W Percy ( Nenagh) 6/3, 2/6, 6/2
Ladies Doubles: B: J Lehart/S Hanly (both Nenagh) W/O A Longridge/C Nee (both Birr) SCR
C: M Minogue/M Spillane ( Nenagh) bt A O'Meara/B Meagher ( Nenagh) 1/6, 6/3, 6/3
D: A Myles/M Delaney (Templemore) bt C Kennedy/L McKeogh Nenagh) 6/1, 5/7, 6/2
Mixed Doubles: A: Jones/F McGann (Lim LTC) bt D Devanney/D Hogan (Cath Inst) 6/3, 7/6
B: A Delaney/M Kenny (Nenagh) bt J O'Meara/D Quirke (Nenagh) 6/2, 6/4
Handicap Mixed: I: J Kennedy/M Kenny (Nenagh) bt M O'Meara/J O'Meara (Nenagh)
II: J Fitzpatrick/M Fitzpatrick (Templemore) bt K Heffernan/A O'Meara (Nenagh) 6/1, 6/4
Details/fixtures for Divisions II, III, IV and V will be available by the time this is published. Play will start in Divisions II, III, IV and V next week.
Nenagh Junior Open Week will run from Sunday 18th July to Friday 23rd July, and it will be sponsored by A Sportman's Dream, Nenagh. The usual events again will be available, ranging from U.10 to U.18. Full details are now on the notice board.
The U.10 events will be held on the opening Sunday 18th July, with the finals taking place on Finals Day Friday 23rd July. Mary Ryan (067-33217) is taking entries.
The Hon Secretary has been asked by the committee to send out reminders re unpaid Membership Subscriptions. If you have omitted to pay, please do so as soon as possible.
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