Ireland Battle hard in Lisburn
March 21, 2018
The Lisburn Racquets Club hosted a prestigious International Table Tennis Match between Ireland and the highly rated Lithuanian Men’s Side, but the Irish failed to flatter, going down 3-0.
All three Irish players, Ashley Robinson, Owen Cathcart and Paul McCreery were from Ulster, under the guidance of National Coach John Murphy, with Gavin Maguire (Leinster) in reserve from the sidelines. The Ulster trio did not fail to entertain and quickly gained the vocal support of the larger band of spectators, including many friends and family.
Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council supported the event and this was generously expressed by Deputy Mayor, Hazel Legge who spoke eloquently about the value of sport to communities and the urban development: “Without groups like these to nurture and develop talent and skills in the sport from a young age, we wouldn’t be able to compete on the world stage or face international opponents. I was so impressed by the talent displayed here tonight and well done to the Lithuanian team who won.”
The Deputy Mayor and the Chairman of the Council’s Development Committee, Alderman Allan Ewart MBE presented the Lithuanian Coach, Arturas Orlovas with a momento of his visit to Lisburn and Ald. Ewart said: “Staging the tournament in Lisburn provided an exciting opportunity for fans and spectators to see top class table tennis at close hand. Sporting events like these are great for our City Council area, great for tourism and enhances an already packed calendar of sporting events. The Council was delighted to support the event and we hope to see many more tournaments being staged here. Thank you to everyone involved in organising the game.”
The night belonged to the Lithuanian team who ran out 3-0 winners, despite all of the encounters being hard fought and providing a vast array of talents and excellence. This Eastern European side started out as favourites with a superior Euro Team Ranking, 7 places above Ireland, and two of their players having top 200 world rankings.
Tomas Mikutis was their top player and won a tantalising encounter with Irish champion Paul McCreery (Saintfield) using his exquisite defensive skills against attacker McCreery.
Much was expected from Owen Cathcart, the World Junior Circuit winner at aged 15 years from Belfast, and he did not disappoint building up winning leads on 2 sets against Madadras Stankevicius before losing out, and the well-informed crowd put it down to ‘more experience will help!’
Ashley Robinson (Clogher) kicked off the match rather nervously and fought back with composure but gave in at the end to Alfredus Udra.
The Ulster Quartet of McCreery, Robinson, Cathcart and Zak Wilson (Newtownabbey) jet off to the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast with high hopes despite this bruising encounter with Lithuania, and John Murphy will again be the coach guru who has been so instrumental in Ireland and Ulster progressing rapidly up the international Ladder.
The support of the Lisburn Crowd was adequately expressed by two Presidents, Ken Strong (Ireland) and Pat Hunter (Ulster) at the conclusion of this Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council supported event, as the GC18 side was given a rapturous send off.