Men’s Summer League Update
Class 1 – our Class 1 team finished in 5th position of six teams in the group. Although the team had excellent victories against Templeogue in Round 1 and Castleknock in Round 3, these were offset by losses to Sutton, and two of the semi-finalists Malahide and Fitzwilliam. Many thanks to Class 1 captain, John Sheridan for all his stellar work in getting the team to perform so well, especially given our 2x Davis Cup representatives were unavailable for selection due to injury and U.S. college commitments.
Class 3 – positive finish to the Group stages with the Class 3 team finishing 2nd following a great return of four victories from five fixtures. The team are ably led by former Club President, Jerry Sheehan who won won their playoff match v Clontarf , June 20th at 7pm at home in Donnybrook. The team have a great opportunity to gain promotion to Class 2.
Class 5 (1) - excellent performance from the team with a 100% winning record of five wins out of five matches. Unfortunately due to the anomaly that is the DLTC scoring system, the team finished 2nd in their group but were rewarded with a home tie in the Round of 16 against Naas – the winner gaining promotion to Class 4 in 2019. This round of 16 fixture took place, June 20th at 8.15pm at home in Donnybrook. Captain, Ian Hemmingway and his playing squad were active participants in the Summer League Coaching Programme that was run by Jimmy McDonogh and it is paying dividends. Close match last night but unfortunately Donnybrook lost this one.
Class 5 (2) – another super performance in Class 5 with captain Darragh Connaughton leading his team to the top of their group with four wins from five fixtures and a very strong finish with a 5-0 win against Landsdowne away clinching the vital points. This victory also earned the team promotion to Class 4 for 2019 and they will play a quarter final match on Saturday 23rd June at home in Donnybrook against Leixlip. Similar to the other Class 5 team, the playing squad were active participants in the Summer League Coaching Programme and next year it will include one squad of players vying for promotion from Class 4!!
Class 6 – our Class 6 team, who again were preparing for this campaign since February via the Summer League Coaching Programme found themselves in a very strong group and captain Robbie O’Flynn and his team faced some very difficult matches. Throughout the campaign the team were very unlucky to come out on the wrong side of a number of extremely tight matches and were unfortunate not to pick up any victories. The team was a mix of youth and experience and some of the juniors who were involved will certainly learn from this challenge.
With one team already promoted for 2019 I would encourage any and all support for the fixtures this Saturday, June 23rd. Class 5 at Home on Saturday at 2pm. Class 3 away in Sutton at 2pm.
A BBQ is available this Friday, €10 each, and the bar will be stocked so why not come down to see some Irish Close matches, top billing of the evening is the Championship Mens' and Ladies' Doubles Finals at 9pm in the sunshine. Also all leagues players are having a get together on Saturday at 5pm, BBQ €10. The Irish Close Finals are earlier that afternoon.
Finally let me express my thanks to all those who have represented the club admirably across the five teams, including all those who subbed in when teams were under pressure and in particular, to the team captains who have put in a huge amount of time and effort to ensure we could perform to the best of our ability on court. Likewise, thanks to the coaches for working with the players and in particular Jimmy McDonogh for taking on the Summer League Coaching Programme which has no doubt been a key driver of the success of our Summer League teams.
Rónán Donovan
Men’s Captain – Donnybrook LTC
