Connacht Open Vets Table Tennis 26th March 2022 

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