Saturday the 12th of March saw the first competitive outing for DUCC this season
against Carrickmines.
The Peter Brown trophy is played for annually by the two clubs, this year the
event was held in New Square. Carrickmines sent a team the on paper looked
stronger than the Trinity six, but conditions were to play their part, with the
lawns playing very slowly on the day.
The first round comprised of two doubles games and two singles games. With
2 and a half hour time limits all games went to time and the round ended in
Trinity’s favour, 3 games to 1. The Carrickmines pair of Nathaniel and Alan
Looney were too strong for Danny and Cathal, the former failing to take
advantage of good work done by his inexperienced partner. It could very easily
have been 2 apiece but for an excellent turn at the death by the Trinity captain
Kieran Murphy, who built on the foundation laid by his debutante partner Kevin
Groome. Fiachra also held off a late challenge from Joe McGowan, which might
also have pulled the tie level.
After a quick break for lunch, the second round began with two hour time limits
in order to allow the players watch Ireland be robbed by Mike Phillips in Wales.
Trinity had a substitution for this round, Fiachra for another debutante, Osgur
Long. With the shifted order, play commenced with the same format. In the only
match to be finished before time, Danny scraped past Simon who fell prey to a
bumpy rush peel attempt, which left him stymied on a finished turn. Jack guided
Kevin to another victory against the Alan and Nigel who neer really got to grips
with the unfamiliar conditions. Cathal shrugged off his earlier (partner-induced)
loss to win his first singles game of AC against Anne. Kieran and Osgur then
finished the round out for Trinity, besting the strong Carrickmines pairing of
Nathaniel Healy and Joe Mc Gowen.
The performance of some of the inexperienced players was impressive, and we
hope to see our new blood competing in open competition this season. Well done
to the Carrickmines payers too–dealing with conditions in college is tricky at the
best of times and the scoreline could easily have been quite different!
So a good day for Trinity, who look forward to the meeting on Glenamuck Road
next year!
Scores
Results read from Trinity perspective, with Carrickmines players numbered first:
Trinity
1) Kieran Murphy
2)Danny Johnston
3)Jack Clingan
4)Fiachra Carroll
5)Cathal Cooney
6)Kevin Groome
*In the 2nd round, Osgur Long entered at no 6 promoting Kevin and Cathal one place.
Carrickmines
1)Simon Williams
2)Nathaniel
3)Nigal Werner
4)Joe McGowen
5)Alan Looney
6)Anne-Marie McGowen
Round 1
1&6 vs 1&6 +2 (ot)
3 vs 3 +11(ot)
2&5 vs 2&5 -10(ot)
4 vs 4 +4(ot)
Round 2
1 vs 2 +11
3&5 vs 3&5 +7(ot)
6 vs 5 +3(ot)
2&4 vs 1&6 +1(ot)