IC Ireland vs IC Luxembourg

I spoke with Bernard on the Thursday evening before the event as it was my first time captaining a fixture I wanted to be sure I had everything set up.

He asked me if I'd organised travel for the Luxembourg team from the airport to the hotel, I wasn't aware that I was supposed to do that so between Bernard and myself we organised collection. I'd like to say how unbelievably helpful Bernard was over the whole event, so huge thanks to him. Perhaps an idea of a small manual being available of procedures for these events, a check list so to speak ,could be organised for anyone captaining for the first time as I'd to check with other members of things that I needed to have in place/do, just an idea!

 

We collected the team on Friday evening & brought them to the hotel to get settled ,they chose to eat there & so we gave them time to unwind ,eat & then returned to bring any of those who wanted to go for a stroll & an evening nightcap, to the local bar, O' Browns. 

 

We organised to collect the team in the morning & bring them to the club for light lunch at 12. 

Soup and sandwiches were laid out for all players & supporters with a warm up on court, photo & play to follow. I had sent Henri the days schedule prior to this along with my team so everyone knew the run of the day.

Bryan was present for lunch & gave a lovely welcome speech to the teams, many thanks.

 

Matches followed at 1.30pm. The standard was perfectly matched with four out of the ten matches going to tie-break. Please find the results below.

With matches finished, Bernard dropped any players that were still there to their hotel. The last match was a bit long for all to stay as it was an 18-20 defeat by Luxembourg ,I'm no longer having nightmares about our few match points!!!

A pre dinner drink was had before sitting down to the catered buffet dinner.

I'll send on a report 're the catering as there were a few problems there but nothing that disrupted the day or evening to much.

 

I presented each of the team from Luxembourg with a placemat of Irish sayings, they had to do a lucky dip to see which one they got & then read it out, it was very funny! Henri then received an Irish shot glass of baby Guinness.

Henri made a lovely speech which he also asked us to give a standing ovation to the Potter Cup team on an unbelievable achievement. He extended huge thanks to us all especially myself & Bernard for the hospitality that was shown to their team.

Henri then presented me with a beautiful display plate which is pride of place at home, it was very thoughtful & hugely appreciated. Bernard & I were made honoury members of the IC of Luxemburg of which i feel is a great honour & extend huge gratitude to him for this.

 

After dinner most came to a local bar in Donnybrook for a nightcap.

To me it was a huge success & an thouraghly enjoyable experience. Each match was hard fought & played in true IC spirit. We won the fixture 6-4 overall.

 

I have kept in touch with Henri & Magdalena & extended a place for their son Mathie to stay next summer if they'd  like to come & play some Irish tournaments, is the same age as my daughter. He has kept me updated on the tournament he was playing in David Lloyd as I took Mathie out to play for a while during the day & organised for him to play with a junior from Donnybrook,  many thanks to Owen Casey for his help with this.

 

Jo-Anne Williamson

Match results

 Magdalena Zdenovcova vs Grainne O Donoghue 4-6,  6-2,  11-13 

 

- Fabienne Thill vs Emma Davy 6-4, 7-5

 

- Danielle Meunier vs Gillian Chandler 2-6, 1-6

 

Marco Paoluci vs Alan Donnelly 6-7, 2-6

 

Henri Reiter vs Bernard Mc Cormack 6-7, 6-2, 5-10

 

Willie Guiry/Paul Hoffman vs Niall Murphy/Conor Mc Cullough 6-4, 2-6, 10-5

 

Round 2

Paul Hoffman vs Niall Murphy 6-2, 6-1

 

Fabienne Tgill/Marco Paoluci vs Grainne O Donoghue /Conor Mc Cullough 5-7, 2-6

 

Magdelana Zdenovcova/Henri Reiter vs Jo-Anne Williamson/ Alan Donnelly 3-6, 6-3, 20-18

 

Willie Guiry/Danielle Meunier vs Gillian Chandler/Bernard Mc Cormac 4-6, 3-6