Cliffhanger in Killarney!

In what will hopefully become a more frequent event, Killarney Table Tennis Club invited a team of Tralee's senior players to play a friendly match on 2nd December in St. Mary's Hall. We are very grateful to Anthony Redmond for his hospitality and for staying on late to let us enjoy our match! All he got for his troubles was a slice of chololate fudge cake and a glass of lemonade!

We started with three singles matches. Killarney's No. 1, Bogdan Pop, disposed of Tony in straight sets (although two of those sets went to 16-14!), while on the adjacent table Brian Monaghan beat Mick Dineen by the same margin. The third match between Igor Buday and Ryszard Tadajewski also went Tralee's way.

2-1 to Tralee at the first break.

Before long it was all square again, however. Two-nil up and match point to Tony and Igor against Bogdan and Mick, but they couldn't capitalise on it and lost the third set, followed by two more tight sets to lose 3-2. Good win for the Killarney pair. Brian and Tony were 3-0 winners over Ryszard and Mick. Roman Puotkalis substituted for Ryszard for the final doubles match, and although Brian and Igor pushed himself and Bogdan all the way, the younger pair prevailed 12-10 in the final set. So 3-3 after the doubles.

With just three singles matches left, it was all square. Roman and Tony's match finished first, Roman hardly having to draw breath in his straight sets win! Igor beat Mick 3-1 to keep Tralee alive.

So it was all down to Bogdan v. Brian. Nip and tuck all the way, Brian's long reach matching Bogdan's lovely forehand! In the end, experience won out against youth, but only by the narrowest margin. So a 5-4 win for Tralee left us all looking forward to a rematch early in the New Year!