FOURTEEN TEAMS from the world of property vied for The Irish Times Perpetual Trophy at Lansdowne Tennis Club last week. The late August evening sky hung darkly overhead, eventually giving way to a real downpour just as the semi-finalists and finalists went into battle.
Running for over 20 years, the annual tournament organised by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI), is a hotly contested affair. This year, as always, saw strong representation from such hardy industry annuals as Hooke MacDonald, Sherry FitzGerald, Daphne Kaye Associates, MFO The Property Professionals, DTZ, the Law Society, Independent Valuations and The Irish Times.
Newcomers last year AllsopSpace, Mason Hayes and Curran and a team from Co Louth all returned for another crack at the prize, joined by a team from PJ Hegarty.
On the evening true grit and determination won out as Marcus O’Connor led MFO The Property Professionals to victory. It was a great win for a relatively new kid on the block. And it was clear it meant a great deal to O’Connor, who in his acceptance speech said: “We’ve been chasing this prize for the last three years, and we really wanted to win. I’m absolutely thrilled.”
From early on it was evident the teams were evenly matched and this was borne out by the number of matches resulting in a draw. The runners up in both sections had to be determined by a count back of games won.
Industry stalwarts Ken McDonald, Daphne Kaye and Simon Ensor battled it out on the courts – not for the first time in the illustrious history of this tournament – under the watchful gaze of colleagues gathered on the balcony. Mark FitzGerald of Sherry FitzGerald came to offer moral support, not least to his wife, Derval, who played through to the final with DTZ.
David Cantwell cheered on Hooke McDonald, while Liam Kavanagh, Irish Times managing director, checked on the progress of the team that had last year won the eponymous prize.
In Section A, the clear winner was MFO The Property Professionals. Allsop Space and Independent Valuations finished on level points and Independent Valuations were runners up with the most games won.
In Section B, DTZ topped the group and three teams, Co Louth, Hooke MacDonald and the Law Society, all finished on the same points. The Law Society finished narrowly ahead on games won.
In the semi-finals, MFO took on the Law Society while DTZ faced Independent Valuations. The match between MFO and the Law Society was an outright victory for MFO with their ladies winning 4-1 and their men 3-2. The second semi-final ended in a draw with the DTZ ladies beating the Independent Valuations combination 4-1. The Independent Valuations men evened the match by beating the DTZ men 3-2. As DTZ had notched up six games to Independent Valuations’ four, they went through to the final to face MFO.
The final was determined by the winners of one set. The MFO men beat the DTZ men 6-3 while the MFO ladies won by 6-0.
A soaked, but clearly delighted Marcus O’Connor, of MFO The Property Professionals accepted the trophy from Peter Dargan, Irish Times National Sales Manager and Roland O’Connell of SCSI.
The evening ran seamlessly, as ever, thanks to the brilliant organisation of Valerie Bourke of SCSI.
