Our Boyle Community Tennis Club Grade 4 team of Aaron O'Connor, Matthew Callan, Deirdre Moore and Fiona Lavin took on Portumna LTC in the final match of their Connacht League campaign on 27th November. Fiona and Matthew were up first for the singles matches, Fiona got the first points on the board for Boyle winning her match in straight sets. Matthew had a real battle on his hands in an excellent display of tennis, he lost the first set 4-6 but battled back to win the second set 6-4 - this took a third set to decide and Matthew dug deep to win the deciding set 6-4. A great win after a long hard fought battle now had Boyle 2-0 in front.
Matthew in action in his singles match, (all action pictures courtesy of fellow Boyle Tennis member Bernie O'Farrell - thanks Bernie!!)
Fiona in action in her singles match, (pictures courtesy of fellow Boyle Tennis member Bernie O'Farrell)
Aaron & Deirdre were next up and played the mixed doubles however the experienced Portumna doubles pairing were too strong and got the first win for their team. With the score 2-1 and ladies and mens doubles matches going on this tie could still go either way. Deirdre & Fiona were first to finish winning their match in straight sets, Aaron & Matthew lost out in their mens doubles, leaving the final result 3-2 to Boyle. This result put Boyle top of their Grade 4 table on 10 points and through to a semi final elimination match against Galway LTC - home advantage for this match for Boyle a perk of finishing top of the group!! A huge congratulations to everyone who has played for this team in matches throughout this league; David Hannon, Matthew Callan, Justin Murphy, Aaron O'Connor, Geraldine Austin, Deirdre Moore & Fiona Lavin.
Aaron in action in his mixed doubles match, (pictures courtesy of fellow Boyle Tennis member Bernie O'Farrell)
Deirdre in action in her mixed doubles match, (pictures courtesy of fellow Boyle Tennis member Bernie O'Farrell)
Galway Lawn Tennis Club travelled to play Boyle on 15th January 2023 for the knock out semi final match for the Connacht Winter League Grade 4 division. The Boyle team playing were David Hannon, Matthew Callan, Deirdre Moore and Fiona Lavin. On a cold and wet morning the two singles matches got under way with David and Fiona playing for Boyle. Fiona got the first points on the board for Boyle winning in straight sets. David was locked in a long hard fought battle with the first set going all the way to a tiebreaker - David just edging it out to take the first set 7-6. The second set went Galways way to even the match at one set all. A championship tiebreaker was the order of the day to find a winner in these extremely wet conditions. David held his nerve and won the tiebreak 10-6 to put Boyle 2-0 up and moving a step closer to the winning the tie.
While David's match was still going on the ladies doubles pairing of Deirdre & Fiona went on and played their match winning this in straight sets - finishing at a similar time to the marathon singles match which David had just won - leaving Boyle 3-0 up and winning the tie.
With everyone pretty wet and cold it was decided to only play 1 set in the mixed doubles which Matthew & Deirdre also won. A great day for Boyle Community Tennis Club and a trip to play in the final in Galway's dome next Sunday 22nd January awaits!! The best of luck to the team travelling and we will update you with results.