Words by Stephen Higgins
In the Canton of Bern in south-west Switzerland lies Gstaad, a ski resort that has hosted an ATP event for decades. With a glamorous tournament that dates back to 1915, Gstaad is often referred to as the ‘Wimbledon of the Alps’. But in the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, there is another picturesque club with championships that predate its Swiss rival.
‘The County Dublin Championships is literally why the club was set up’ explains Pat Crowe, Tennis Director of Carrickmines Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club. ‘It was originally played in Lansdowne. But in 1895, the tournament stopped altogether according to The Field [British sports magazine] because of the lack of interest in tennis.’
‘The then secretary of Fitzwilliam Tennis Club was a guy called John Frederick Stokes. He married [the daughter] of William Wilson, who owned Carrickmines House and Carrickmines Golf Club. They set up the tennis club here – the croquet lawns as well – with a view towards hosting the tournament in 1908.’
The club was created where it still stands today adjacent to the M50 and sandwiched between Cabinteely and Carrickmines retail park. Once served by the old Harcourt Street rail line, it is now easily accessed by the Carrickmines Luas stop.
Before its impressive rebuild in 2000, and renovation in 2013, the clubhouse dated back to the early 20th century with a building acquired by William Martin Murphy, Jim Larkin’s nemesis during the 1913 Dublin Lockout.
As you might imagine, back then tennis was not the inclusive sport it is now. The entry fee for the 1914 County Dublin Championships at Carrickmines was just over £1, which is roughly £100 (€115) today and pretty close to a week’s salary for an average worker of the time!
Carrickmines CLTC started during a golden era for tennis in Ireland, when we had more Wimbledon contenders than we knew what to do with. In fact, the 1914 tournament committee featured Monasterevin’s Willoughby Hamilton (the 1890 champion), four-time winner in singles and doubles Joshua Pim, and Pim’s doubles partner during those London triumphs, Frank Stoker.
As outlined in Pat’s excellent history of the club, Carrickmines continued to play a prominent role through the pre and post-war years. International stars such as Elizabeth Ryan, Colin Gregory and Eustace Fannin battled against homegrown talents like the Wallis sisters, Norma Stoker, Vera Mahony, Edward McCrea and Raymund Egan.
In the 1950s, after alternating ownership between the Wilson and Stokes families, Carrickmines was sold to its members. From this period on, Irish players dominated the County Dublin Championship with Joe Hackett, June Ann Fitzpatrick, Guy Jackson, Michael Hickey, Geraldine Houlihan Barniville, Jim McArdle and Kevin Menton all victorious on multiple occasions.
As the Open Era arrived, modern stars visited the club and took advantage of its famed grass courts in preparation for Wimbledon. While compiling the photographs that take pride of place around the clubhouse, even Pat couldn’t believe the players that had graced Carrickmines’ lawns.
‘During the pandemic I had a lot of time to piece together the pictures. I didn’t even know that [John] McEnroe was here for example. I knew Yannick Noah was here and I knew [Mats] Wilander was here. I didn’t even know Pat Cash was actually in Carrickmines as well until I stumbled upon those photographs.’
Matt Doyle, the late Irish tennis star of the 1980s was a significant figure at the club and brought Wilander to South Dublin when he coached the Swedish great. GOAL’s John O’Shea also organised charity exhibitions that brought stars of the era to the courts of Carrickmines.
From the eighties, some very familiar Irish families and names were victorious at Carrickmines including Lesley O’Halloran, Eoin Collins, Gina Niland, Michael Nugent, Yvonne Doyle, Owen Casey, Karen Nugent and Colin O’Brien.
Player Memories
Gina Niland, two-time County Dublin champion:
“I have many fond memories of the County Dublin champs at Carrickmines throughout the years. I played in the 1990’s and early 2000’s. A great combination of high quality tennis and fun – with many overseas players adding to the highly competitive standard. To play on grass was also something that set it apart with very few other clubs still having grass courts at that time. I was thrilled to manage to win it twice in 1992 and 2000. The club had a very special atmosphere during the week of the tournament and the hugely social aspect of the event was also very important with many memorable nights enjoyed by all!”
Owen Casey, three-time County Dublin champion:
“Carrickmines is a stunning club. It’s one of the oldest ones that we have in the country. When you get lovely weather and the courts are playing nice…it’s just different. The members are really nice and they make the players feel welcome. I always like playing there because obviously grass would have been a surface that I liked, and I have great memories playing there after I retired from the tour. It’s kind of like my little bit of Wimbledon.”
Along with a fresh clubhouse and indoor courts, the new millennium brought a junior open – spearheaded by Denise Mason – which is now the largest in Ireland.
‘We started in 2004,’ explains Denise. ‘We expected about 50 kids and we got 315. It’s great to see how the kids progress. David O’Hare was one of the kids that came to the junior open, and Conor Gannon.’ The event continues to boast robust numbers with 830 entries for the 2025 month’s edition, though not all were able to make it due to a cutoff in points. ‘Years ago we had 720 and we got every one of those playing,’ Denise adds with pride.
Carrickmines also hosts some of the best juniors from beyond these shores as part of its membership of the Centenary Tennis Clubs.
‘We got in in 2005,’ says Pat. ‘We decided to host a tournament and called it the Carrickmines Cup. We invited the Czechs over, Real Club de Tennis Barcelona…they all came. There’s a bit of a changeover in teams. The same ones don’t come every year. We go over to Prague every year at under-14 and we’re going over again this October. And they come over here.’
That Czech connection is gilded with Wimbledon gold as Marketa Vondrousova, the 2023 champion at SW19, won the Carrickmines Cup as a junior and met the club’s under-14 team in 2024 in Prague.
Today, Carrickmines CLTC has 1,400 members and offers tennis across 18 courts of various surfaces plus the croquet lawns. Allied with a gym and various social clubs, it’s quite a load for John Doyle, Club Manager for the past 15 years.
‘We have a group of trustees who are old-time members, ex-Presidents and who have served on committees. They steer it along with the main committee and then that filters down to me and the other staff. I suppose we have a way of doing things that’s uniquely Carrickmines. Albeit, it’s a commercial facility. It’s a business so we have to make money to continually reinvest in the club. So it’s a trade off…having partnerships with different companies when you can, but without losing your identity or your soul.’
While participation numbers are strong for tennis in Ireland, like every other club, Carrickmines has to navigate the challenges of competing sports like padel and pickleball, and our shifting climate.
‘It’s changed dramatically, and the biggest change is more to do with expectation and customer service,’ John explains. ‘We are a service industry to a point, and we are here to serve the members…There’s more demand for the non-core tennis stuff to be done well and up to date.’
In terms of the future, John thinks it may involve ‘going cashless. More online stuff. Easier to book. Keeping up to date with the latest playing surfaces and maybe going back to padel in a different format [after being refused planning permission previously]…and trying to reduce our carbon footprint.’
Over 120 years on from its founding by the foothills of the Dublin Mountains, the club’s President Helen Pilkington is very proud of what Carrickmines represents today:
“It is the distinguished and long history of the club since it was founded in 1903 that makes it so special, knowing that so many of the early greats of tennis played here in the County Dublin Championships.’
‘We also have a strong history of croquet with some of our trophies dating back to the founding of the club. And lastly, I think our location is very special with the wonderful views of the Dublin Mountains, and where members and visitors alike feel they are out in the country when they come here!”
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All photos courtesy of Carrickmines CLTC and Stephen Higgins.
Special thanks to Pat Crowe for all his help.
You can follow Stephen’s coverage of tennis at crosscourtview.com
