Mullingar Juniors enjoy success

Like their more senior fellow members, the Mullingar juniors also had their open tournament in Longford last week.There was a good entry from the Mullingar club and also like their senior counterparts, they can be very proud of their achievements.In the winner's enclosure were Molly Moore who took the Under 10 girls singles title and is a certain star of the future. Her brother, Naosan also took the laurels when he won the Under 14 boys event, beating Rory O'Sullivan (Longford) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in a match of some fine rallies and very competitive tennis. Naosan, partnered by Ryan Johnston took to the podium in winning the Under 14 boy's doubles, beating the Cavan pairing of Adam Johnston and Josh McClory in the final. Not to be outdone, the girls pairing of Faye Maloney and Ashling Rooney had a great victory in the Under 14 girls doubles final. Ashling also took the Under 12 singles title, beating Faye in a very close contest.Overall then, a very fine performance by many Mullingar youngsters and indicates the strength of talent in the club. May they continue to enjoy and reap the benefits of all the coaching over the past couple of years.Leinster Provincial Towns Junior LeaguesOn Wednesday last our Under 10 Boys played in a round robin in the Junior Leagues. Our team comprised Ciaran Nolan, Leon Broderick and Hiatham Elamin who played some very good tennis for their age and proved too strong for Cavan and two teams from Bettystown, and were close runners-up to Naas. As two teams qualify for the semi-finals stages Mullingar are through.Not to be outdone the Under 12s events were all played in Mullingar on Saturday and luckily there were no torrential showers to halt play during the day. Our Under 12 girls played in the morning and Niamh Nolan had excellent matches against all her opponents, particulary Claire Faherty from Portarlington. The team lost out overall. With Niamh on the team were Bianca Groenwold and Emily Broderick.The Under 12 boys played in the afternoon with two teams representing Mullingar. On Team 1 were Essa Saleh, Tye Adamson and Ronan O'Toole, and on Team 2, Rory Johnston, Eoin Stuart and Robert Stuart. The boys had really good matches and Team 1 won their section and so go on the the semi-final knockout stage in August. Team 2 boys were unfortunate in that they were pipped by Naas as they both had the same 36 points but Naas had beaten them earlier so were deemed third.Teams from Bettystown, Naas, Cavan, Portarlington, Abbeyliex, Sandycove and Malahide all competed. All the matches were played in a very sporting manner and it is a credit to our coach, Norman and his team that all the players have improved so much. Best of luck to them in the next stage.