Annahilt A overcome Bright side

Annahilt A overcome Bright side

24 November 2021

IN the Senior Section of the East Down Churches League Annahilt A were good 8-0 winners over Bright and Banbridge A saw off their B team by the same score.

The only game to go to five sets in the Annahilt and Bright match was the second singles when Kyle Graham put up an excellent display to better Victor Edgar 10-12, 11-4, 7-11, 11-8, 11-6. 

In his second game Kyle was an 11-5, 13-11, 11-6 winner over Adrian Brown.

Geoffrey Beattie had to work hard in his game with James Ferguson, but got home 11-8, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6.

The big surprise of the night came when Beattie faced Arnold Ennis. The first set saw Beattie edge home 15-13, but he then lost the second set 7-11 before cruising to success 11-5, 11-2.

At number three, Daniel McFaul will be hard to beat and he kept up his unbeaten record with a straight set winner over Ennis and Ferguson.

Roy Coard also won his games against Edgar and Brown without ping a set.

Sadly once again, Banbridge B players only wrote Christian names on the card. 

Therefore, all we can say is that Joe Colvin replaced William Humphrey on the A team and Brian Morrow, who played his first match of the season as number four on the B team, is now the regular number four on the A team and took part in the only five setter of the night against Cormac.

Sadly, due to an injury playing hockey for Ballynahinch, Richard Hamilton will be out of action for St John’s A and Jim Mills has also indicated that he is unable to continue at present. We wish both loyal players well.

Annahilt C moved to the top of the Intermediate Section with a hard fought 9-1 victory over Banbridge D.

Mervyn Cairns in the top two singles games was too experienced for Maya Forsythe and Katherine McConnell, while Jack Shaw kept up his winning run with good wins over Anna and Trevor Russell.

James Cairns also added two more wins to his CV. In his first game he had to pull out all the stops to better Trevor Russell 10-12, 13-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-3, but he had an easy win over Trevor’s daughter, Anna.

Brian Jennings lost out to Katherine McConnell 8-11, 9-11, 4-11, but after losing his first set 7-11 to Maya Forsythe, he came out on top 11-8, 11-9, 11-8.

It is good to see the doubles played in this match and the first doubles proved to be a thriller with both teams having winning chances.

Victory went to the home duo of Mervyn Cairns and Jack Shaw, who squeezed home ahead of Maya Forsythe and Katherine McConnell 11-7, 5-11, 12-14, 11-5, 13-11.

Brian Jennings and James Cairns beat the Russell duo in straight sets and this game was closer that the final scores suggest.

The player of the week was Annahilt’s Geoffrey Beattie.