Tennis competitions are in full swing
CLIONA Walsh, Sligo’s rising tennis star, played in her first international ranking event last weekend. This was the WOW AIR OPEN 14U held in Iceland. Cliona comfortably won the first match, beating Daria Stefania Malaescu 6/0,6/0. In the second round, Cliona was up against the No 2 seed, Arina Valitova. The first set was very close with the Russian girl edging it on 6/4. Valitova upped her game in the second set, but Cliona pushed her all the way to a 6/2 result. This was a very impressive result for Cliona, giving her international ranking points and is undoubtedly the start of the next phase in her tennis career.
The Mixed Doubles on St Patrick’s weekend was a great success at Sligo Tennis Club, with Captain Emer Concannon playing a blinder on and off the courts. In Group 3, Eugene Rooney took first place as the top man, closely followed by Karl Kelly. Pre-match favourite, Aofin Shorten was the leading lady on 25 points, with Deirdre Moylan not far behind. The second group saw Albert Manuel take the premier spot on the men’s side, following a count-back with runner-up Mel McKeown. Cathryn Toner was the top lady, while Mary Gannon came a creditable second place.
It was a hard-fought affair in Group One, with Brian King eventually claiming the honours for the men, beating James Doyle into second place by just a point. Olivia Seery was a convincing winner of the ladies, with Sinead Gallagher taking second spot.
The players adjourned for refreshment and prize presentations in the Club Bar, and the consensus was that the day was one of the most enjoyable for a long time. The Club and players are very grateful to Gerry Moore and the Sligo Park Hotel for the generous sponsorship.
Mixed Doubles take place on Easter Monday. With tasty prizes from Kate’s Kitchen to hand, competition was fierce across all courts, where an American Tournament format was used.
In Section One, the runners up were Anthony Cunnane and Ursula O’Shea, with Mary Gannon and Padraig Hackett taking top places in the Ladies and Men’s’ section respectively.
Anne Armstrong and Brian Breheny were in second place in Section two, with the honours going to Paula Devaney and Kevin Walsh. Section three was a very close affair, with Hilary Kilcawley and Nick Miller in runner up spots, while Aoifin Shorten and Liam Farrell came away with first prize. Declan Hegarty and Bryan Armstrong were thanked for their sponsorship over many years.
entry is now live on the website and local players are asked to enter on-line.
The club would also like to see players from other clubs in the area taking part as the tournament has sections for all levels and is a fantastic social and sporting occasion.
The Sligo Club Committee will be happy to answer any questions, and assist anyone who is interested in taking part in this year’s event.
Members are reminded that the club is fortunate in having top class coaches available, and who are only too happy to provide individual or group coaching sessions. Contact Conor at Reception for details.
Prizes were presented to the winners of the Wehrly Autumn League and the John Crawford
A quick turnaround saw another Section 3 Denis Daly, Sheila Mc Cormack, Mairead Crawford and Paul Reidy; Section 2 Noel Jiminez, Karl Kelly, Eimear Healy and Olivia Seery. Section 1; Albert Manuel, Noreen Cassidy, Liam Farrell and Mel McKeown.
The Autumn League was a fantastic success with 60 players taking part over a 10-week season. The Tennis Club thanked Tony and Richard Wehrly for helping to make it the success it has become.
Singles Ladder; the winners of the mixed section were; Mel Bourke, Joene Efondo, Graeme Watt, Denis Daly and James Doyle.
Ladies Section; Denise O’Callaghan, Ann Egan, Sheila Mc Cormack, Debbie Ferguson and Nuala Kelly. ROUGHLY 10,000 elite athletes, runners and walkers of all ages and abilities came together in the Phoenix Park for the 16th Great Ireland Run at the weekend.
This race opens with the National 10k Race Championships. Conditions were wet and windy and this made the athletes work for their times especially on the tougher second half of the Phoenix Park 10K course.
In the women’s race, Shona Heaslip recorded a winning time of 34:52.
Sligo AC’s Mari Johnston had a strong run and her 40:01 PB should put her in the mix for the Gold F50 medal.
In the Men’s Race, Great Britain’s Oliver Lockley won a tight race in 30:18.
Strong running by Seamus Somers in 33:56 should put him the mix for an M40 Bronze medal.
Damien Kennedy finished in 36.11 with David Kearins (37:26) the 3rd scorer for Sligo AC. There were good runs also by Bill Carty (40.05) Steve Gilgan (43:34) and Brendan Mc Carrick (47:49).
Enda Whelan’s 46:44 will certainly put him in contention for M65 Silver.
Congratulations to JP Carty on a fantastic new PB of 31.22 on his way to winning the National University 10,000 held in Belfast.