IRISH TIMES/SCSI TENNIS TOURNAMENT:THE SOCIETY OF Chartered Surveyors tennis tournament sponsored by The Irish Timeskick-started the beginning of another selling season.

Now in its 22nd year, this was the first time the event was held since the amalgamation of the Irish Auctioneers and Valuers Institute and the Society of Chartered Surveyors to create the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland.

The tournament took place at Lansdowne Tennis Club with 14 teams taking to the courts in Daz-bright tennis whites.

The annual get-together is an opportunity for the industry to meet socially and it saw the largest entry for a number of years with some welcome new faces in addition to the regular participants.

On-court regulars included Sherry FitzGerald, DTZ, Hooke and MacDonald, the Law Society, Savills, Daphne Kaye and Associates, Knight Frank, Independent Valuations, McGinley Farrelly and O'Connor (MFO) and The Irish Times.

They were joined by first-timers Seamus Monahan and Partners (SMP), Mason Hayes and Curran and Space Property Consultants.

All teams take the event very seriously with some investing in pre-training matches to warm-up, says one-time winner Daphne Kaye and Associates. Her team has also made the semi-finals a couple of times.

The Irish Timesfinished top of Section B, one point ahead of annual favourites Hooke and MacDonald. There was strong volley action in Section A with McGinley Farrelly and O'Connor and Seamus Monahan and Partners finishing on level points. McGinley Farrelly and O'Connor won by a margin of two games.

The semi-finals saw The Irish Timestake on SMP with Hooke and MacDonald facing MFO.

The match between The Irish Timesand SMP was clear cut with The Irish Timesladies Jackie Horan and Alison O'Riordan beating Sharon Robinson and Dolores McCarthy of SMP 4-1. The Irish Timesmen, Lincoln Nelson and Aidan Bolger, beat the SMP combo of Brendan Bournes-Harper and George Condos 3-2.

The Hooke and MacDonald men, David Cantwell and Des Donnelly, beat the MFO pairing of Marcus O’Connor and Ivor Ashe 4-1. The MFO ladies, Adele O’Connor and Wendy Hederman, cancelled that out by beating Hooke and MacDonald’s Maeve Cantwell and Fiona O’Connor 4-1.

The deciding mixed doubles saw Hooke and MacDonald go through to the final.

Hosts The Irish Timesenjoyed a rare victory against favourites Hooke and MacDonald.

Afterwards, participants and industry members enjoyed a rolling barbecue.