Robbie Gavin, Terry Dolan (Winners), Francis Gavin nephew of Dolly Gavin presenting the cup, Kariem Sabir and Dariusz Zatylny (Runners Up)
Dolly Gavin Memorial Cup Results – Gavin and Dolan victorious.
The Dolly Gavin Memorial Cup Table Tennis Team event took place on Saturday 27th April in Galway. With a number of late withdrawals Galway duo Robbie Gavin & Terry Dolan emerged as second favorites to win the event behind former finalist Dariusz Zatylny and his new partner Kariem Sabir.
The event was played in a Round Robin format with each team playing six matches. After a long session of matches Zatylny / Sabir and Gavin / Dolan had won all of their matches ensuring that the last match of the session would be the final between the top two seeds. Marek Grala and Ireneusz Trubilowicz took third overall with Sabina and Brian Devereux in fourth.
The final began with Robbie Gavin taking on Dariusz Zatylny. Zatylny has had a great season to date and had recorded a couple of recent wins over Gavin, but Gavin seemingly determined to get his hands on the trophy, produced some of his best table tennis of the season to get his team off to a flyer. After winning a gruelling 16-14 first set where he threw everything at the Zatylny defence, Robbie stepped it up and won the second 11-3, another close 13-11 set saw Robbie record a 3-0 victory and turn the match in favour of the Galway duo.
Next up was Terry Dolan against his Connacht team mate and sparring partner Kariem Sabir. After plenty of long rallies featuring the trademark blocking of Dolan, he raced into a 2-0 lead with Sabir hitting back to make it 2-1. Dolan was not to be denied eventually securing the match 11-5 to put his team 2-0 in front.
The third and what proved to be decisive match saw Robbie Gavin take on Kariem Sabir. It was a very tense match with defeat not an option for Sabir and Gavin knowing a win would secure the cup. They shared the first two sets, with Gavin winning the third 11-8. Gavin surrendered a big lead in the fourth set and with the winning post in sight, the nerves were showing. A couple of bombs from Gavin eventually pulled him over the winning line 13-11 to move his team into an unassailable 3-0 lead to secure the cup for the first time. Terry Dolan later secured a 3-1 win over Zatylny.
Thanks to all who supported the event and we look forward to hosting it again next season.