Posts in category: TTI News

Mens 40’s 

In the quarters Pat McCloughan met Rita Kascardi and won in a close 5 set match. Rita in the earlier round had come through against Robbie Gavin. Phil Wallace beat Des Flanaghan in 5 sets. In the bottom half of the draw Mark McAlister came through a close 5 setter with Paul Gallagher and met Rory in the quarters. Rory on this occasion prevailed to book a place in the semi’s. Daryl had earlier won his qtr final match in 3 sets against William Walker to set up a repeat semi final match with Rory. Daryl again proved the stronger to progress to the final. In the top half of the draw Phil and Pat met in the semi’s. In the final Daryl beat fellow clubmate Phil in 4 sets. 

Mens 50’s 

It was good to see Willie Cherry back playing and in the top half of the draw Willie won in a close 5 sets against Paul Gallagher. Also in the same half of the draw Des Flanaghan was the victor over Sean McAnaney. Will and Des met in the semi’s and Willie was much the stronger to win in straight sets. In the bottom half of the draw Dave Gibbons beat Jeremy Lappin in 4 sets to set up a qtr final against Pat McCloughan. Pat proved much the stronger to win 3-0. Mark McAlister won in 4 sets against Chris Cowan to set up a repeat semi final against Pat. On this occasion Pat got his revenge with a 3-0 win. In the final Pat beat Willie in straight sets. 

Mens 60’s 

In the top half of the draw Dave Pender beat Terry Dolan in 4 sets in the quarters. Branco met Norman Nabney and Branco won the qtr final in a very close 5 setter . In the bottom half of the draw Willie Cherry had a very close win over Brian Finn. Phil Shaw had a straight sets victory in the qtr’s against Jeremy Lappin. In the semi final Willie and Philip had a classic with Philip winning deuce in the 5th set to progress to the final. In the top half of the draw Branco and your’s truly met in the semi final and Branco was a bit unlucky to lose in 5 sets. Philip proved too strong in the final to win in straight sets. 

Mens 70’s 

In the qtr final Norman Nabney won in 4 sets over Shay O’Reilly. Jim Storey beat former clubmate Liam Perris 3-0 in the qtr’s. In the semi final Brian Finn yet again met Norman Nabney but on this occasion Brian prevailed in 4 sets. In the bottom half of the draw Jim Storey won in a close 4 sets against Ken Peare in the semi final. Brian met Jim in the final but after 2 close sets Brian continued his winning sequence to win the 3rd in a much easier fashion. 

Ladies 

We had a welcome new addition in Rita Kacsardi to the competition. Rita on this occasion won all her matches although it took 4 sets to gain victory over Teresa. Ikuko had victories over Renata and Sharron. Paula and Sharron yet again had a close match with Sharron winning in 4 sets. Teresa also had a close 4 set victory against Paula. Renata is getting closer to wins and had a number of close matches. Teresa and Ikuko had a cracker of a 5 set match with Teresa winning in a close 5th set. Ann-Marie had some close matches especially with Teresa and Sharron with wins in the 5th and 4th set respectively. 

The overall result was as follows: 

1. Rita, 2) Ann-Marie 3) Sharron 4) Teresa 5) Paula 6) Ikuko 7) Renata 

After the 2-year delay caused by Covid, the Masters returned to Glenburn on 25 February 2022 for a long day’s play in 5 categories. Unusually the winners were almost all different from the previous event at Palmerston. 

The blue riband event is always the men’s 40s, and normal service was resumed with Daryl Strong, back after illness, strolling through. He dropped just 1 game, to the impressive Pat McCloughan in a hard-fought match. Daryl beat his Ormeau team-mate Phil Wallace at the group stage and again in the final, Phil having overcome the Leinster winner, the much-travelled Rory Scott, in the semi. 

It was good to see that Annemarie had recovered sufficiently from Covid to contest the Ladies round robin event. Ger Greene won out, securing a decisive win over Annemarie who finished second overall. Ikuko claimed third place. She won a marathon five setter with Paula, and just lost deuce in the fifth to Annemarie. Though disappointed with close results, Paula can be pleased with her performance. Sharon’s rehabilitation from a serious wrist injury continues, and progress is noticeable. 

Pat was a comfortable winner of the 50s, beating Mark McAlister in the final in straight sets. In the semis Pat had beaten Paul Gallagher (3-1) who had done well to put out Willie Cherry, while Mark had beaten Des Flanagan 3-0. 

The first event of the day was the 60s, which was a triumph for Glenburn’s own Willie Cherry, who was only extended in the quarter final by his team-mate Norman Nabney. 40 years of practising together made the match look like routines at times, but Willie won easily in the fifth 11-6. In the final he beat Keld Jaksland who was making a welcome return to tournament play. Keld had beaten Norman in the group and then Jeremy Lappin in the final. 

The last event to finish was the 70s, which saw another title head to Glenburn, when Norman beat Barry Dickson 11-9 in the fifth – it is well-known that Norman likes to get value for his entry fees and 5 sets is Norm’s norm (sorry)! He beat the Leinster winner Brian Finn  in the semi , while chaos reigned in the other half of the draw. Jim Storey surprisingly lost in 4 to Dave Jacobson, who then lost to Barry in 5. 

Thanks are due to the Glenburn club for running the event, and to their committee, particularly to Neil McGrath who was at the top table without a break all day, and to Herbie Ross who refereed the day’s play. 

Results are available here: https://tabletennisireland.ie/ivtts-glenburn-open-results-26th-february/