The Fermanagh County tennis team, who took part in the Inter counties team event in Bangor last Saturday, came home with the Zone Two title which saw them gain promotion to the top tier of Ulster tennis.

The team consisted of members from the two local clubs; Enniskillen and Irvinestown.

The day got of to a great start against County Derry with Singles wins for Louise McGann and debutant Ronan McKeever both with a 6-3 scoreline. This was followed up with Ladies and Gents Doubles convincing wins for Sonja Hateboer and Martina Boyd, again making her debut at County level, and Paul Crilly and John Maguire with similar scores of 10-3. finally, with what was the best result in the tie the mixed doubles pair of Maggie Britton and Donal Burns came in with a 9-4 win to record a score of 41-16 win over the pre-event favourites.

In the second round of matches the team played neighbours Tyrone. The singles and Mixed Doubles results ended in defeat this time, but both Louise/Ronan and Maggie/Donal fought hard in the midday heat and gained valuable points to the teams overall score. Finally the doubles pairings of Sonja/Martina and John/Paul recorded victories to secure a close win of 30-27 and set up the final match against Armagh with all to play for.

In his best match of the day young Ronan showed the team why he is one for the future as he played with elegant style and power to record a 5-4 win over his more expierenced opponent, holding his nerve in a high quality match. Lousie on the other hand can count herself unlucky as she narrowly lost 4-5 but put in a great performance to bring it to the last few points of the match.

The mens doubles of Paul/John also lost narrowly 6-7 but put in a spirited fight to win the last three games and again valuable points in a really good standard match.

The Ladies doubles pair of Sonja and Martina turned out to be the trump card on the day for the team as they finished their campaign with their third win and a massive score of 11-2, and so it was then left to the mixed doubles pair of Maggie and Donal to finish off the day.

After a really slow start they found themselves 2-6 down and nerves where now nail-biting as the rest of the team watched on. It was here that the pair settled themselves and cut out the mistakes and played some really good percentage tennis to draw the score back to 6-6. And after a long, tight tie-break they narrowly lost it but were delighted with the comeback to leave an overall score of 32-25 in the teams favour, which when all the sores where put together left Fermanagh top of the pile.

Team Captain John Maguire was delighted, and stated it was a great day for the team members who give their all in really warm conditions. He felt that they all showed great comradeship and encouragement for each other to gain promotion to the top tier of Ulster tennis for the first time in many years. He also thanked George Stevenson and the Bangor Club for hosting the event and for their hospitatility on the day. Final Table FERMANAGH 103 ARMAGH 92 TYRONE 87 DERRY 60