Ace youngsters win tennis titles
FROM THE ARCHIVES: 20 YEARS AGO...
BARBARA Ann Conroy has a successful time of it at the North Leinster Tennis Championships in Bettystown.
She takes three titles – the U-12 Singles, Mixed Doubles (with Conor Steen) and Doubles (with Niamh Duffy).
Another Dundalk win is provided by Neil Walsh in a one-sided final at U-12 level, while Colm Murphy combines with Dubliner James Cluskey to win the U-14 Doubles.
In the U-10 Championship, boys and girls compete in a round robin.
Shauna Murphy, Una McLaughlin, Kate Steen, Steven Hollywood and John McLaughlin qualify for the quarter-finals, and Shauna goes on to win out.
Dundalk manager Martin Murray gets some bad news ahead of pre-season training.
Player of the Year Noel Melvin informs the new boss he is taking a break from the game.
The Monaghan-based bank official had announced he was stepping aside before the start of the previous campaign, only to change his mind.
Murray is now hoping Melvin
has another change of heart.
‘He has the same problem as last year.
‘He isn’t enjoying it. I spoke to him and told him the door is open if he wants to come back.’
Melvin’s decision opens the way for defender Paudie Gollogley to establish himself in the team.
‘It’s probably a chance for him quicker that he thought,’ remarks Murray, who is likely to pair Gollogley with new signing Aaron O’Callaghan.
Sixteen-year-old Peter Tuite creates all sorts of records as he scores a runaway win in the Dundalk Junior Scratch Cup.
He sets a new all-comers course best of 66, six under, for the readjusted lay-out since the installation of three new greens.
Peter lowers the previous mark by three shots, his great second round scattering the 88-strong field.
His total of 139 (73 in the morning) leaves him eleven strokes clear of runner-up and playing partner Robert Whyte, and represents the biggest winning margin in the event.
Peter also emulates his father, Larry, a previous winner. They are the first father and son to lift the trophy. Pictures: Ken Finegan; Words: Francis Carroll