Dear Members,
Welcome to the May edition of ‘The Tennis Captains Newsletter’! I hope you are all playing lots of tennis in this beautiful weather. Here is a quick summary of events over the past month and some upcoming events you might like to be aware of. Please contact me if you have any questions or want to know more about any of these events. Club events are also published on our website and on Facebook and Instagram.
Quote of the month. “Experience is a great advantage. The problem is that when you get the experience, you’re too damned old to do anything about it!” Jimmy Connors.
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Friday Night Social Tennis
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Munster Tour 1000 Senior Open
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Internal Winter League Finals
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Winter League Phase 2
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Ladder Cup Finals
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Spring League
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Cork Choral Festival – Choirs on Court
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International Honors
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Junior Tennis Report
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End of season Ladies Lunch
1. Friday Night Social Tennis
Social tennis is ongoing most Fridays…weather permitting. Unfortunately a few weeks have been impacted by the rain but we will soldier on! Last Friday was a beautiful evening and there were 16 club members enjoying the tennis and the weather! Do consider coming in and encouraging your friends also, for a lovely social evening where you might meet some members you haven’t seen in a while or haven’t met before. All grades are welcome to attend, €5 for tennis and pizza. This is the sign up link
Alternatively, you can sign up using the link on the club website or you can use the QR code on the Social Tennis poster on the main notice board in the clubhouse. There is a tennis committee member on site every Friday to run the evening.
The next dates are;
May 9th
May 16th NOT ON because of the Open but come in and support.
May 23rd NOT ON because of the Open but come in and support.
May 30th
June 6th
June 13th
June 20th
June 27th
2. Sunday’s Well – Munster Tour 1000 Senior Open
The biggest event of the year our annual Munster Senior Open starts next Tuesday the 13th and will run until Saturday, May 24th.
Huge thank you to our sponsors O’Connors Pharmacies for their continued support.
Thank you to our Tournament Director Bernie Kenny and our Referee Ger Flynn for all the work they have put in over the last number of weeks and will continue to do so until Finals Day. Thank you also to the huge number of volunteers who will help run this event over nearly two weeks.
Our Open is one of the biggest tournaments in Ireland and we are very proud of this fact. As in previous years it was full within minutes of opening! If you didn’t get in, apologies but do come down to support, meet friends and see some great tennis over the twelve days. It promises to be a super event! Brook Catering will be in the club for the duration of the Open serving delicious food.
Cocktail Nights will happen on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th, Jackie is planning a delicious selection of mocktails and cocktails. Our annual Open BBQ will take place on semi-finals night Friday, May 22nd.
The very best of luck to all of our members playing.
3. Internal Winter League
The Internal Winter League finished on Saturday the 12th April after 7 weeks of great tennis. Some weeks the weather could have been better but overall we were lucky enough with the weather this year! The event was won by Team Mardyke, captained by Karen Keneally after a very tight final against Mark Nolan’s Team Cork & County who were captained on the night of the final by Jim Collins. The 3rd/4th place play off was won by Team Clock Tower captained by Gillian Fitzgerald. Congratulations to all who played and subbed!
The Ladies Grade 6 Mini Tournament was won by Colette McGarth and Joanne McDonagh. Runners-up were Catherine Clehane and Una Gleeson. Great tennis and fun was enjoyed by all 16 ladies who played in the competition.
4. Ladder Cup Finals
The Ladder Cup finished on Saturday April 12th with three great finals.
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The Lee Cup was won by Hugh Robins after a tight battle against Niall Ferris.
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The Normandy Cup final between Donal Johnson and Chris Shepherd saw Donal emerge victorious and take home the Cup.
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The Mardyke Cup was won by Ed Donovan in a super final against Kevin McCarthy. Huge congratulations to Ed, this year’s win makes it FOUR years in a row that he has won the Mardyke Cup! An incredible achievement!
Thank you to Martin Hurley for running the ladder, not just this year but every year!
Thanks also to Bernie and Liam Murphy from Brook Catering who are so generous in their continued sponsorship of this event.
5. Winter League Phase 2
Our Grade 1 team captained by Dee Swinburne will play Limerick Lawn in the finals on Sunday May 11th in Douglas Tennis Club at 3.30pm. Best of luck to the team. It promises to be a great final so pop over to support if you are free.
6. Spring League
Thanks to all who put their names forward for teams. We have entered two teams this year, one Grade 1,2,3 which is captained by Emily O’Donoghue and one Grade 4,5,6 captained by Catherine O’Riordan. Best of luck to you all!
7. Cork Choral Festival on The Courts
Last Saturday, May 3rd we hosted two fabulous choirs in the beautiful sunshine as part of the 70th Cork Choral Festival. Can Aderyn, a 77 all female choir from Wales and Sing4Joy from Switzerland. We had around 250 people in the club performing and watching for the hour of the event. It was a super afternoon and a huge thank you to Jackie for feeding and watering the masses and to the small army of volunteers especially Maria Crowley and Kalene Kenefick for liaising with the choirs and helping out on the day. Please see photos on the club Instagram and Facebook.
8. International Honours
Congratulations to our members Marie Duffy, Jennifer Haugh, Maura McCarthy and Grace Reidy who played on the Irish Team in the 4 Nations (55-65) Competition in Wrexham last weekend. Special congrats to Grace who captained the Ladies 60’s to victory in their category. Maura, Marie and Jennifer had great games and congrats to Marie and Jennnifer on their wins. Well done to all four ladies…very proud of you all! A mention also to Karen Higgins non playing captain.
Best of luck to Eileen Daly and Joe Donovan who are heading to Florida for the World Team Championships this week! We will be supporting you both from here!
9. Junior Tennis Report
The Junior Committee held a very successful adult and child event on Sunday, April 21st. Thank you to all who took part. The next one is happening on Sunday May 25th from 2pm-4pm. This is the sign up link Thank you to Lousie Statham and all the wonderful members of the Junior Committee who give their time to make these events happen. This is the sign up link
Congratulations to Jessica Carley on her recent win in the U-18 Girls doubles at Templeogue Junior Tour 1250 tournament.
Congratulations to Tommy and Johnny Fitzgerald on their win in the U-18 Boys doubles in Templeogue and to Tommy who was runner up in the U-18 Boys singles final in the same tournament.
In the Castleknock Junior Open Tour 1000 last weekend Tommy and Johnny won the U18 Boys doubles and Johnny won the Boys U18 singles. Congratulations to you both!
Very proud of you all!
Keep an eye open for the Summer Camp sign up, the camps will be starting on July 7th. These are always great fun!
Junior Open – Our Junior Open will be held from June 28th – July 5th. The opening date for entries is Tuesday May 20th. Thank you to Tournament Director Marie Duffy and Referee Ger Flynn for all the hard work they will undertake over the next few weeks. Thank you to our sponsors, Fitzgeralds Family Bakery, Davys and Court Care.
If any of you would like to help out during Junior Week we would be delighted with any offers of assistance! If this is something you would be interested in, please drop Ger or myself an email.
10. End of season Ladies Lunch
The annual Ladies Lunch will take place on Wednesday 11th June.