The Rostrevor Singles Tournament
Running clockwise: Before and after their matches Briege Crawford and June McEvoy with Club Chariman, Chris Gibbons; Chris and Arghal McMahon; Giby Vetiankel and Tim Smith
For the first time in its history Rostrevor Tennis Club hosted an Open Men and Women singles tournament. This ran from Friday 27th August to finals day on Sunday the 5th September. The tournament attracted almost forty competitors and involved over forty matches over the week. For that week glorious weather was met with some glorious tennis. Club Chairman, Chris Gibbons, commented that among the onerous demands of his Chairmanship this week involved having to leave his children’s homework and bedtime duties and instead go and watch some fabulous tennis!
The quality was high from the first round to the last. The Ladies top seed, June McEvoy was tested in the first round against Creina Fegan but eventually made the final and overcame her opponent, Briege Crawford. The Ladies Plate saw Creina Fegan triumph over Sinead O’Reilly and a closely fought three set match saw Arghal McMahon claim victory over Chris Gibbons in the Men’s Plate. The tournament attracted some of the top competitors from Dundalk and there were many matches, not just among the top seeds, that stand out for quality: unseeded Ryan O’Hare dispatched one of the top seeds in Marty Keenan and we had our own ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ when Dundalk’s best took on number one seed, Tim Smith with Tim’s pace and shot selection eventually undoing Dundalk’s Stanley Wilson and securing him a place in the final against Giby Vetiankel, seeded two. What was so impressive was to see the sharpness and strengths of so many good players neutralised when they came up against the quality of our top seeds, and as well as Tim and Giby this included Dundalk’s Stanley Wilson and Warrenpoint’s Patrick Clements.
Tim and Giby had to work hard to make it to the final and had to consistently keep the standard unrelentingly high to beat the competition. A tough match eventually saw Tim Smith triumphant but both players offered a master class in tennis to their opponents throughout the tournament and to their audiences.
The quality was high from the first round to the last. The Ladies top seed, June McEvoy was tested in the first round against Creina Fegan but eventually made the final and overcame her opponent, Briege Crawford. The Ladies Plate saw Creina Fegan triumph over Sinead O’Reilly and a closely fought three set match saw Arghal McMahon claim victory over Chris Gibbons in the Men’s Plate. The tournament attracted some of the top competitors from Dundalk and there were many matches, not just among the top seeds, that stand out for quality: unseeded Ryan O’Hare dispatched one of the top seeds in Marty Keenan and we had our own ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ when Dundalk’s best took on number one seed, Tim Smith with Tim’s pace and shot selection eventually undoing Dundalk’s Stanley Wilson and securing him a place in the final against Giby Vetiankel, seeded two. What was so impressive was to see the sharpness and strengths of so many good players neutralised when they came up against the quality of our top seeds, and as well as Tim and Giby this included Dundalk’s Stanley Wilson and Warrenpoint’s Patrick Clements.
Tim and Giby had to work hard to make it to the final and had to consistently keep the standard unrelentingly high to beat the competition. A tough match eventually saw Tim Smith triumphant but both players offered a master class in tennis to their opponents throughout the tournament and to their audiences.