Ardghal remains the number one in Rostrevor Tennis Club

The main final saw reigning champion, Ardghal McMahon face Tim Smith.

Tim had been the dominant force across the three local clubs for over a decade but Ardghal had led the changing of the guard.

Tim knew he had to take it to Ardghal and from start to end he hit some sweet forehands and backhands, especially the forehand side.

It was a wonderful power display but no one can match Ardghal for all court play. He defends really well. He varies the height and spin on the ball. He has a first and second serve that are unrivalled, the first was clocked at 109mph a couple of years ago and his second can be almost as hard, or hit with a heavy kick and his volleying is unmatched.

Tim was ahead and had chances in both sets, but Ardghal always seemed composed. Ardghal won 6-4 6-4 and remains still the one to beat.

It was a busy day with five finals – Jennifer Magennis and Christina Allen faced off in the Plate. There wasn’t much to separate them on the good ball striking but the error count was a tad higher on Christina’s side and that was all that separated them.

Jennifer won 6-2 6-2.

In the Ladies’ final, Eleanor Flannagan took on Carlingford’s Morgane Wood. Like the plate, the rallies were usually long, but Eleanor’s willingness to run down everything forced Morgane to push harder and with that came more errors. Eleanor won 6-2, 6-2.

Lisburn’s Pierce Carty took on Carlingford’s Declan Savage in the Men’s Plate. Both are new to this competition and both offered up some fine tennis. Declan likes to serve and volley – something of a dying art in modern tennis – and Pierce likes the power game.

There were some great rallies but Pierce drew out more errors from Declan and Declan was forced to press harder and take more risks. Sometimes that worked but it also increased the error count. Pierce won 6-2 6-1.

In the Kilbroney Cup, Sean Gibney faced Sean Pearce. This was the first time both had made this intermediary final and for Gibney it was his first time trying.

In an unfortunate clash of tournaments, Pearce was forced to play two matches in the Warrenpoint Open the previous day and the exhaustion showed as the final progressed.

Sean Gibney had wisely withdrawn from that event and his greater stamina meant he soon commanded the points and was able to play some fabulous defensive lobs that turned into winners too. Sean Gibney won 6-2 6-1.

In the third place play off, Gary Hanratty faced Chris Gibbons. There head to head was one apiece in these finals. Gary is an Irish Doubles champion and he can hold his own against most of the top local players from the baseline.

Chris wasn’t going to win trying to out-rally him from the baseline. Spin and angle and drop-shotting Gary had to be the way.

Chris broke Gary’s serve at the start but was then broken. He broke again later in the set and was serving 6-5 for the set but Gary broke back and then took it in the tie break, helped by a couple of those dreaded dead net calls (where the ball hits the tape of the net, drops on your opponent’s side). Only one break was needed in the second set for Gary to win 7-6 6-3.