Mark
and Gavin receives his Munster Open Under 17 Boys prizes from
Tommy Keenan ITTA tounamnet Referee
It was like turning back the clock. An all Eastpoint final has been a rare breed of late but the first major tournamnet of 2007 say just such a thing. The event was junior boys and the players who achieved this remarkable feat were Mark OFlynn and Gavin Maguire. Both had tough semi finals in what is the mostly keenly contested age category. Gavin had to repeat his previous days meeting with number 2 seed Ryan Flood and although the match was always close Gavin came out on top by 3 games to nil.
Mark had a tough assigment against number one seed Daniel Keenan and Dan duely won the first game easily enough. Mark produced a faultless second game to level the score but Dan took the third to regain his lead. In the final two games Mark played some of his best table tennis this season to win both games and clinch a 3-2 victory
The final one could imagine might have been a dull affair but it was not with both boys displaying grit and determination in a close and hard fought battle. the final score of a 7-11,21-19, 13-11, 11-9 win for Gavin displays how close it was with that long duece game being important in the flow of the match.
Both boys had excelled in the Mens singles also reaching the semi finlas. Gavin beat Ryan Flood in the quarters and Mark overcame a tricky opponent in Karim Sabir to book a match with John Murphy in the other semi. Gavin lost 3-0 to Na Ning and Mark lost 3-1 to John in the semi. Mark won the mixed doubles with Fiona Dennett. they beat Gavin and Jean Hughes in one semi and John murphy and Louise Long in the Final
The younger players also competed in Cork and all had a good weekend with the hoighlights being Conor Beades finishing 8th in the Under 12s and Joe Robinson's good win over Ciaran Kelly in his group where unfortunately he lost on a count back.