VINCEY Poland justified his top seeding by winning the Liam Polly Memorial Cup competition with a straight game win over John McCusker.
It was the climax to the first of the Lecale League’s charity competitions which was hosted by Strangford table tennis club.
Traditionally, a senior competition, the organising committee decided to run this event for Division 2 players exclusively and it proved a major success with all clubs represented.
Continuing with the group format, ensured plenty of table tennis for the large entry.
Poland headed up group one, but with Charlie Murray and McCusker also in the line-up, he needed to be at his best.
But the St John’s veteran of numerous campaigns proved too good for the opposition and came home in first place.
The battle for second spot would be between Murray and McCusker and what a nip and tuck this match was; the Drumaness man just edged home 11-9 in the final game.
Norma Gilgunn, playing in her first competition, can be pleased with her overall performance against strong opposition, scoring well in all her matches.
Group two had second seed Donald Campbell in a section that included home legend Paddy McConville, Charlie McGrath, a great support of charity competitions and one of the league’s most popular players and newcomer Alex Malaesc.
The battle for second place was always going to be between Campbell and McGrath.
When the dust settled, it was the big hitting Campbell who came through in first place with McGrath second. But credit due to both Paddy and Alec for their performances against regular league players.
Group four, headed up by Colin McKinty, always a dangerous competitor in competitions, but he had to contend with an equally talented player in Sean Poland, who has been in great form recently.
John Campbell, another player who is in sight of a regular place in the Strangford C team and the affable Katy Rice, improving with every game she plays, completed the group.
The first spot in this group was always going to be tight, but McKinty’s steady defence was the key factor in finishing top of this group with Poland second.
Group four with Michael Carey having steered Strangford B to their third consecutive divisional title, was the clear favourite to finish in first place, but would have to contend with the Drumaness No 1 Pat Mulholland, who has been in excellent form throughout the league campaign.
Also in this five-man group were Michael Deery, team-mate Niall Houghan and Drumaness man Seamus McGivern, more at home on the snooker table, but still no stranger to the plastic ball.
The games in this group were hotly contested, but in the final game of the group Mulholland and Carey would battle it out for the top place.
The first game could have gone either way with Pat just edging home 12-10.
The next was equally close but, in the end, it was the Drumaness man who finished in top place with just five points the difference.
The first quarter-final match was an all-Strangford clash between McKinty and McCusker.
The first two games were shared, but the steady place of McCusker, mixed with well-judged attack, saw him take the next two games to progress to the semi-finals.
The second match featured the Drumaness’ Pat Mulholland and Charlie Murray. This was easily the match of the round.
Mulholland won the first two games, the next two went to Murray with a nip and tuck decider before Mulholland just edged it 12-10. The third match of the round involved second seed Donald Campbell taking on his skipper Michael Carey.
The games were all close, but the blistering attack of Campbell saw him progress in straight games. Vincey Poland had perhaps the easiest match of the round against new comer John Campbell.
As expected, Poland had too much variation for his opponent and ran out a comfortable 3-0 winner.
McCusker stated this competition a dark horse to a least reach the final.
His opponent in the semi-finals was Donald Campbell and he started as favourite.
This semi-final turned out to be the closest match of the competition. John won the first two games and looked confident to reach the final.
Back came Campbell to even the score, but McCusker won the first four points of the game and held on win 11-6, leaving Donald to reflect on a match he should have won when he held a game point in the first encounter of the match.
The next match was a close affair, but Poland was always in control with Pat Mulholland delighted to have reached this stage of the competition.
It was a gallant effort from the Drumaness man but, in the end, Poland booked his final place with a straight game victory
The home crowd was pleased to see a local man in the final of the competition, but knew he needed to produce something special to beat a player of Poland’s stature.
The games were close and John, encouraged by his supporters, did everything he could to stem the flow of winners from one of the league’s best backhand exponent, but to no avail and lost in straight games.
League secretary, Jim Ritchie, thanked the Strangford club for staging this event and providing refreshment throughout the evening and the competitors for their generous contribution to the charity fund.
Competition referee, Peter Deeny, also acknowledged the friendly, competitive spirit in which this event was enjoyed by all participants.