Ulster League beaten to the title by a single match

With three wins each to their credit, it came down matches with North Down just ahead 18-17 while Donegal finished in third place with only one match between them and runners-up Ulster League, though they had lost two matches.

The Ulster League had started well in their quest to lift the lift the trophy named in honour of one of the province’s most able administrators Jim Todd, as they recorded a 5-2 victory over the Church of Ireland League with Henderson and Watt 21-13 21-14 victors over Jonathan Watson and Timothy Dawson.

However, Tracey Watson and Linda Ardis came back from losing the first set 21-18 to record a 21-8 21-15 victory for the Church of Ireland side against Sylvia Campion and Judith McClure.

The Ulster League were to suffer a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Donegal in their first match of the afternoon with only Graham Henderson and Michael Watt and Willie Stevenson and Sylvia Campion winning for the Ulster League.

As the final outcome of the trophy was decided by a single match, if Henderson and Patricia Downey had been able to snatch the final set of their mixed doubles – instead of losing 21-19 – or Colin Waterson and Patrick O’Connell had won their three-setter against Jeffrey Magee and Simon Moore, then the table would have been somewhat different.

Ulster League were to record a 6-1 victory over North Down B with five out of their seven matches going to a deciding third set. Despite losing 4-3 to Ulster, North Down A had done enough to record a narrow win thanks to their victories over North Down B (6-1), Donegal (4-3) and Church of Ireland (5-2) and despite the victories in the mens doubles with William Gourley/Justin Ho and Kyle Graham/Michael Turkington losing to Graham Henderson/Michael Watt and Willie Stevenson/Colin Watterson, both in three sets.