Daryl ensures his team make ‘Strong’ start

DARYL Strong’s debut in the Veterans British League for the C Jenkins Windows team couldn’t have gone any better.

The Omagh native was playing alongside his Ormeau Table Tennis Club mate, Phil Wallace, and Scottish duo Stewart Crawford and Gerry Campbell in division one and he helped them to a clean sweep of victories. The team defeated Musketeers 4-2, Clippenham 1 4-2, Foresters B 4-2, Foresters C 5-1 and St Georges 1 5-1.

Over the course of those five matches played last weekend, Strong and his colleagues won all of them with the Belfast-based teacher producing a starring role throughout.

The former Omagh Academy pupil, who represented Northern Ireland at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, achieved an incredible 100 per cent win rate, which earned him not one but four player of the match awards.

“I’m really delighted with how it started,” beamed Daryl, who admits his season has started very brightly.

“To be undefeated and receive four player of the match awards is amazing.

“I played very well and I’ve had a good start to the season. I won the first Irish ranking tournament of the season at 40s and 50s, so the season has started well. It’s still very early in the season and there’s a long way to go.”

The team will be back in action for the second round of fixtures in February as the ultra competitive Veterans British League, which has five divisions, a feeder division and a waiting list of up to four years for teams to be accepted, reaches a conclusion for the season.

And while Daryl is hopeful that his team can achieve promotion to the Premier League at his first attempt, he’s looking forward to next season when they will play under the Ormeau Table Tennis banner in which ever division they end the current campaign in.

“I really hope we can get up, but it will be very, very tight because there are many good teams in the division,” he acknowledged. “We have great aspirations to get up to the Premier Division.

“We won a lot of matches 4-2 and myself and Stewart were both 100 per cent and that’s what it took but there’s no guarantee that will happen again.

“Next year we’re going to change over to Ormeau, hopefully, with the same players and hopefully we’ll be able to incorporate more Ormeau players in whatever division we’re in.

“It will be a great opportunity if that happens because we’d have to wait many, many years to get in and when you’re playing at my level I don’t want to wait and start at the bottom, so it’s a great opportunity.”