STIGA Masters Leinster Open, 2013.
An absorbing day’s action was provided at Lucan by the 42 competitors in the STIGA Masters Leinster Open on Saturday, 19 October. Dave Pemberton was the outstanding performer on the day, winning the Over 40s and finishing runner-up in the 50s. Central to his progress was winning a hard fought third set 18-16 against Pat McCloughan, having been 2-7 down at one point in this semi-final match. This seemed to inspire his victory over Tibor Pofók in the final on a scoreline of 9,-6,10.-6,8. However, his exertions seemed to catch up on him in the 50s final. Although suffering from a cold, Csaba Szollosi triumphed 15-13 in the fifth set in a fascinating duel between wily defence and spin attack. Csaba was 1-2 down in sets, and he trailed Dave at 8-10 down in that final set! Dave went on to win a close fought fifth set victory in the Doubles final with team mate Kevin Mackey.
The final of the 60s event saw maestro Tommy Caffrey play a flawless fifth set to beat Norman Nabney 11-1 therein. Mind you, Norman had been down 0-2 in sets earlier!! Ted Mahaffy defeated Jim Sheehan in the final of the 70s. Tom Burke made a welcome return to action, and Michael Keogh won the Consolation event.
In close encounters of the Ladies kind, Gillian Richardson emerged victorious over Susan Keating in the crunch match, -10,13,-9,11,5!! All of the other sets in this Round Robin were lost by the narrowest 2 point margin, bar one. This competitive edged augurs well for coming tournaments.
Tibor Pofók won the Restricted 40s, while Dave Gibbons won the Consolation event, beating John Conway in that final. Philip Shaw registered a good win over Terry Dolan in the 50s, while it was really nice to welcome Norman Lovie back to active service.
Thanks to Denis Kelly, Jack O’Meara, Bryan Morrison, Greg Keogh, Sharon Brien and Dave Gibbons for all of their efforts in helping the event to run smoothly. Sponsorship from STIGA is always greatly appreciated. Finally, we extend our best wishes to Ros Carpenter and Willie Cherry at this time.
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