DOLLY GAVIN MEMORIAL TEAM EVENT 2011
Report by Sean Gavin.
The second running of the Dolly Gavin Memorial team event was held in Galway last weekend with a fantastic turnout. Twelve teams from around the country battled it out for the Dolly Gavin Memorial cup.
There was a great mix of teams in action in two groups of six. The top two teams from each group progressed to the semi-finals.
After an exhausting round of group matches the semi-final places were decided, Anthony Redmond and John Murphy topped group A, setting up a semi-final against group B runners up and defending champions Kevin Mackey and Dave Pemberton.
Robbie Gavin and Anthony Redmond played some stunning rallies in their group match with Anto absorbing the trademark Gavin torpedoes and coming out on top. Terry Dolan rolled back the years taking a set off John Murphy.
The second semi-final saw Group B winners Tibor Pofok and Zatylny Darius square off against Group A runners up Robbie Gavin and Terry Dolan.
Tibor and Zatylny had topped the group having earlier seen off Sam Logue and Sarah Timlin and then Dave Pemberton and Kevin Mackey in the group decider.
In the first semi final Anthony Redmond and John Murphy were in top form with “Anto” chopping like a young Chen Xinhua and throwing in the odd backhand down the line that host Robbie Gavin would have been proud of. John Murphy was in his usual clinical form seeing off Kevin Mackey in a match which had plenty of TV worthy rallies with Kevin throwing in some devilishly disguised drop shots testing the speed and footwork of Murphy. Anto and John would eventually progress with the minimum of fuss, knocking out the defending champions.
The second semi final saw Tibor Pofok and Zatylny Darius see off local lads Robbie Gavin and Terry Dolan 3-0. They played superb table tennis all day with Tibor looking particularly sharp. Robbie and Zatylny had a closely fought match with Robbie losing out 3-2.
The final was well contested with John defeating Tibor 3-1 and Anthony defeating Zatylny 3-1. The eventual champions survived a bit of a scare by securing the doubles after losing the third set from 10-5 up. This proved to be a short lapse with John and Anto securing the match and becoming Dolly Gavin memorial cup champions for 2011.
There were notable performances from Sarah Timlin in her 3-2 loss to Kevin Mackey, from Galway based Florent Letendre in his 3-2 loss to Sam Logue and from Sam Logue who was in great form in the group stages before being eliminated and of course from Anthony Redmond and John Murphy who both remained unbeaten throughout the day. Dave Pemberton and Kevin Mackey put up a stern defence of their title by reaching the semi finals.
Big thanks to everyone who took part and supported the event. We look forward to seeing you all next year.
Photo: Zatylny Darius, Tibor Pofok, Catherine Gavin, Robert Gavin Senior, John Murphy and Anthony Redmond