please email your teams match reports to gervisknox901@hotmail.com

DRUMULLY/KILLEFARQUE A 5 V FIVEMILETOWN YOUTH A 5

The race for Division 1 honours is hotting up as the league fixtures are resumed after the break. Top contenders, Fivemiletown, travelled to a new location in Killefarque to do battle with Drumully/Killefarque A (D/K) but were held to a 5-5 draw having won the previous encounter 7-3 in Fivemiletown. Home Captain, James Hutchinson drafted in younger brother, Cambridge student Michael as his replacement. Michael, along with Carleton brothers, Leyroy and Andrew, faced a superb cocktail of experience and youth, David Wilson, Tony Frempong and Mervyn Funston.
The roller coaster roared off as Leyroy notched up the first point with a three straight win over David. Andrew made it 2-0 for D/K also with a three straight win over Mervyn. Michael found the going tough against the experienced Fivemiletown wizard, Tony, losing out in the fourth set.
The two 2005 U-21 Ulster Inter-pro players, Leyroy and Mervyn, were next up. In a tough five set game Mervyn made it 2-2 and edged out Leyroy 11-8 in the fifth set. Tony increased Fivemiletown’s lead to 3-2 as he beat Andrew in three sets. Honours were again even after the sixth match, Michael against David, another superb 5 set game. Michael won the first 14-12, David the second 11-7, Michael the third 11-6, David the fourth 15-13, but it was Michael who held his nerve to win the fifth set 11-5 against the seasoned Fivemiletown campaigner.
Leyroy pushed the D/K trio into a 4-3 lead as youth overcame the experience of Tony by virtue of a relentless barrage of loops from the young southpaw maestro. However, the pendulum swung again in favour of the visitors in the next two singles. David beat Andrew and Mervyn beat Michael both in the fourth sets to secure a fifth point for Fivemiletown.
The Carleton brothers’ opponents in the doubles were Tony and Mervyn. Leyroy and Andrew won the first set 11-8 and Tony and Mervyn won the second 12-10, however a superb match equalising point was secured when Leyroy and Andrew won the next two sets 11-8, 11-8.

DIVISION 1 - DRUMULLY/KILLEFARQUE B V DRUM A

What must have been one of the most contested matches in Division 1 took place between Drumully/KillefarqueB (D/K) and Drum A. Drum won the previous encounter 6 – 4 having played 41 sets out of a possible 50 to do so, but the underdogs pushed Drum to the limit. This time round 45 sets were played and the result was a 5 –5 draw.
This result for the D/K trio suggests that recent practise in their new venue in Killefarque Hall has removed some of the ‘Ring Rustiness’ which was evident in previous matches.

Drum’s new signing; Geoff Davis drew first blood for the visitors as he beat Maxi Carleton 3 – 1. David Hutchinson made it 1 – 1 beating Gordon Mc Conkey in the first 5 set game. Man of the match Wilfred Carlton recorded another win for Drum beating Billy Stephens 3 – 2. Maxi levelled the match at 2 all as he beat Gordon in three straight sets; however, Wilfred restored Drum’s advantage beating David 12 – 10 in the fifth. The next game saw Billy take out Geoff with some fine backhand attacks 11 – 6 in the fifth set to level the match at 3-3.

Wilfred went down 2-0 to the D/K warrior Maxi but against the odds fought back doggedly from this deficit to notch up his hatrick of singles wins when he took the fifth set and again restore Drum’s lead. David played cleverly and patiently against the cute “Twiddler”, Geoff, who loves to ‘twiddle’ his anti-loop and live rubber combination bat and the D/K man won 12-10 in the 5th set. Billy kept up his attacking formula against Gordon and secured point number 5 for the home team.
Drum’s doubles combination of Wilfred and Gordon played superb table tennis against Billy and Maxi, winning 3 sets to 1. This brought to a conclusion this marathon match and five points each would seem a balanced result for both teams on the night.

Lough Erne Hotel Division 1
Oonacream 2 v Fivemiletown 8

Fivemiletown trio cream off big quota

The Fivemiletown trio of (David Wilson, Mervyn Funston, Tony Frempong) travelled to Oonacream (Johnston Irwin, Ivan Jeffers, Trevor Montgomery) the new boys in Div 1, who already have creamed off some important wins against tough opposition, however after their recent defeat by Letterbreen, Fivemiletown were out to cream off the biggest share of the quota from this match.

J Irwin v M Funston 11/9, 11/9, 10/12, 4/11, 9/11.

The first match of the night was between Johnston Irwin and Mervyn Funston and it was Johnston took the early initiative winning the first two games with the clever use of his long pimples, which caused wobbling returns from the big slow forehand topspin loops of Mervyn. At 10-10 in the third game and just when the end looked inevitable for the Fivemiletown player, he seemed to find another gear and it was a gear of devastating consequences as the Oonacream player was stranded by two consecutive forehand drives. After pulling the third game back Funston went on to dominate the next two games, and win a match that Irwin surely thought was his for the taking earlier on.

I Jeffers v T Frempong 11/9, 9/11, 3/11, 10/12.

Ivan just managed to win the first game of this encounter by hitting controlled forehand drives that Tony found tough to block or attack. Tony then decided to change tactics and attack Ivan with fast spin loops especially with his renowned devastating backhand. Although Ivan fought hard to defend against these tactics, the sheer consistency of the Frempong attacks just proved too much for Jeffers to handle and the Fivemiletown player took the next 3 games to give his team an overall lead of 2-0

T Montgomery v D Wilson 7/11, 11/9, 8/11, 11/8, 11/7.

David started very well smashing confidently taking the first game easily, however, Trevor fought back with good counter hitting to win second game. David again won third with Trevor returning the favour to level the match in the fourth. Montgomery then put Oonacream back in the frame when he also won the deciding fifth set.

J Irwin v T Frempong 5/11, 9/11, 5/11.

Tony excelled himself in this game winning in three straight games, by playing controlled spin shots and attacking brilliantly off Johnston’s blocked balls, which are extremely difficult to read due to the disruptive spin generated by his pimples. Tony went on to win this match with growing confidence much to Johnston’s frustration.

I Jeffers v D Wilson 11/7, 11/5, 7/11, 11/6.

With Oonacream 3-1 down at this stage Ivan needed a win to keep his team in the match. Jeffers won the first two games with excellent serving and looping, which kept Wilson back from the table and didn’t allow him to play his usual attacking game. David took a more defensive approach in the third set and had to work hard to stop Ivan from attacking. This tactic worked well and won the Fivemiletown player the third game, but in the fourth set Ivan proved the quality player that he is when he reverted back to a faster attacking game, which broke through David’s defence and secured a vital game for Oonacream.

T Montgomery v M Funston 7/11, 15/17, 10/12.

This game brought out the best in both players with Mervyn attacking with backhand and forehand strokes and Trevor blocking and counter hitting confidently. Again the match went to the Fivemiletown maestro who just seemed to have a little extra, especially in second game, which enthralled the spectators with the quality of table tennis on display.

J Irwin v D Wilson 11/5, 7/11, 5/11, 14/16.

Johnston knew this was another important game, which could keep them in touch with the now rampant Fivemiletown team, and seemed to have his tactics worked out when he won the first game. However, David showed the wealth of his experience as he played controlled attacking shots against the pimple specialist, who just could not return his powerful forehand smashes and crafty defending which brought Fivemiletown another win after a closely fought fourth game.

I Jeffers v M Funston 11/7, 7/11, 6/11, 7/11.

Ivan again took command early in the game and won the first game of this epic by playing aggressively with brilliant backhand strokes. However, on big occasions such as these Mervyn seems to have the attitude, “Anything he can do I can do better”, and unfortunately for Jeffers this was the case as Funston unleashed an array of backhand drives and fast topspin loops that won him the next three games and the match leaving Ivan deflated and wondering where or how it all had went wrong.

T Montgomery v T Frempong 11/7, 12/10, 6/11, 7/11, 9/11.

The final singles of the night proved to be another closely fought match with still vital points to be won. Trevor seemed to have the upper hand on Tony won winning the first two games with another display of excellent counter hitting, which Tony found difficult to attack. In the third end Frempong upped the tempo as he fired faster and spinner topspin loops at his opponent and Montgomery found this change in pace too hard to live with and Tony cruised through with another devastating win.

Jeffers/Montgomery v Frempong/Funston 5/11, 12/10, 10/12, 11/13.

The doubles match also proved very entertaining for the spectators with brilliant play from both sides of the table and although a very close encounter, Fivemiletown again came out as victors. Final score Oonacream 2 Fivemiletown 8.