Ballymoney are table toppers in Isle of Man

BALLYMONEY table tennis players have just returned from the Isle of Man after competing in the inaugural twinning match.

John Fall, Brian Orr and Gary McClelland made up the team and won the match with a score line of 5-3 Gary McClelland opened the match against Isle Of Man number 1, Mason McLarrney and lost out by 3 sets to 1.

Brian Orr brought the Toon team back to levels with a straight sets win over Ste O’Hare and John Fall opened up a lead by beating Julian Briercliffe 3–1.

The match all boiled down to the clash between John Fall and 14 year old Mason McLarney. John showed all his experience and cunning to come out the winner 3 sets to 1 and give Ballymoney victory by 5 matches to 3.

The Ballymoney team are hoping that they can return the hospitality for a return match in 2011 as part of the link between the two towns.

Table Tennis season closes with success!

Ballymoney has ended the season on a high and achieved the best results for a very long time.

Ballymoney competed in the Northern Ireland Premier league for the 1st time since 1995 and finished in a very respectable third place. Mark McGuiggan was joined by the Rasharkin Poles, Pawet and Dawid Sulkowski and team Manager, John Fall was more than pleased with the final position.

In the Ballyclare league Ballymoney won Division 1 for a 3rd year on the trot after a thrilling final match decider against Ballymena Academy.

Paul McGuiggan’s Division 2 team finished down the league but had a great run of wins in the Senior Knockout Cup eventually beating Knockagh B in the final. Mark Lynn was the star of the team with an unbeaten record in the league and many fine wins in the cup.

David Peden captained his Division 4 team to league victory and used a squad of 6 players to out gun all rivals.

The team also made it to the semi final of the Junior Knockout Cup losing out to Ballyclare C.

Individual League Events

Brian Orr finished runner up in the Division 1 singles loosing out to Ballyclare’s Andrew Davies by 3 sets to 1.

Orr lost the first 2 sets but clawed back the 3rd by 11-9 but this was only a temporary set back for Davies who played well to close out the match in the 4th.

In the veterans event it was Brian Orr who made up for the Div 1 defeat by taking the title beating team mate Francis Shirley in the semi final before dispatching Jimmy O’Hara in the final.

Division 2 title favourite Mark Lynn came through in great style to lift the Div 2 singles title. This was no less than Mark deserved having a 100% record in the league.

Next season will be a bit tougher for Mark as he steps up to the A team in Division 1.

Ruth McGilligan was Ballymoney’s only lady player in the Ladies event and she battled her way through to the final where she came up against Ulster player Cherith McBride. Ruth went down by 3 sets to 1 to her younger opponent but lost nothing in defeat with a good display of attacking table tennis.

With Ballymoney C winning the Division 4 title there was huge expectation in the singles event with any one of the team with the potential to lift the title. The 2 finalists were father and son Noel and Thomas McCann who produced a dramatic and enthralling match. Father Noel scoped the 1st set but 15 year old Thomas struck back to level things at 1 all.

The decider could not have been closer with a determined and confident Thomas scraping home 13-11 in the decider. This was not a case of Dad letting son win by any means and Thomas should be proud of the manner of his win!

The league dinner took place at Allen Park Golf Club on Friday 7th May and Ballymoney was well represented.

The club now closes for the summer and plans are to re-open on Monday September 6th for the new season.