Allez Gavin

Lots of Allez and a bit of VA Va Voom as well. We flew to Frankfurt airport but it was the Audi A4 that they gave us as the hire car that really was the star of the show!!

It was my first visit to the French League and Gavin turned on the style for the occasion. The opposition was led by world ranked Belgian international Phillipe Saive and they started strongly winning the first four games with only Nathanael MOLIN registering a win for Montpellier TTC. Gavin stepped up against the number 238 in France and in an exciting an close game won 16-14 in the fifth. It was great to see him play with such skill, maturity and confidence. He looked every bit the National champion as he clawed back the fourth set after being down 2-1 and then served and returned superbly in the fifth to fully deserve his victory. It was not an easy task as the player had pimples on his forehand and quite an awkward style.

When Olivier made it 3-4 it looked like it could have been a close game but after Saive beat Nat 3-1 the games slipped away from Montpellier. Gav stepped up to win his second singles of the evening 3-0 but the match scored finished at 11-5 for Metz.

It was interesting to see the match which was played in a good spirit in a nice hall with good conditions. Thanks to Nat, Olivier, Jean-guillaume, Eric and Dorian for making me feel welcome both at the match and at the meal afterwards.

View from the Bench

It was a tale of two benches. Sitting on the bench outside ALSAA as Gavin Maguire was there getting some air and eating wine gums to take away the taste of sick. Not ideal preparation for the National Championship final but that is where I found myself.

On the bench for the final I realised that when Alan Monks won the National in 2000 and 2001 I did not coach him in either final. I was away for the first one and in 2001 he played Brian Fitzgerald who was playing in our club at the time.

Gav Maguire is National Champion

Harry Houdini would have been proud of him, the Great Omani would have been a fan and I heard that David Blaine is looking for some tips. Gavin Maguire was down 2 sets to one and 8-3 in the fourth but he executed one of the greatest escapes of all time to snatch a shock win at the Irish Senior Table Tennis National championships held at ALSAA sports centre last weekend.
It did not look possible at that point that Gav would claim his first ever Men's title but he played superbly to fight his way back and defeat reigning champion John Murphy 11-7 in the fifth set.
The surrounding hype has been extraordinary. Amazingly Gav was quite sick during the finals and I have to say that I don't really recommend celebrating your triumph in the toilets getting sick. It had a kind of surreal feel to it as the media waited outside for interviews and Gav in no fit state to talk to anyone(except the toilet bowl!)
However this exceptional young man gathered himself together and gave two fabulous interviews before returning to the toilet for some unfinished business! Not to worry he made a full recovery in time to be able to enjoy his victory later that night. Well done to him for all that stuff!