The town of Kells has a proud tradition in handball and it was with a great deal of satisfaction and pride that the local club, and the community as a whole, noted the successes of one of its greatest ever exponents of the game in 2003. Tom Sheridan has been regarded as an outstanding doubles player for many a long day, and with very good reason too, but last September he proved that he could play a very good match of singles handball as well when he captured the All-Ireland 60x30 Senior Softball Singles Championship. It was an incredible occasion really, as the man Sheridan defeated in the final at Croke Park was none other than his friend and doubles partner Walter O'Connor from the Gormanston club. Not only was Sheridan winning the singles crown for the first time, at the ripe young age of 35, but he was also becoming the first player from the Kells club to win an All-Ireland title at senior softball level, so it's understandable that it meant so much to the player and the club. It was also his first appearance in that particular decider. Amazingly, it was Sheridan's 49th All-Ireland title in all grades, from under-12 up, which gives an accurate indication of what a consistently brilliant player he has been over a long number of years. O'Connor, like Sheridan a 35-year-old, and who won the All-Ireland singles crown back in 1998 when he deprived the great Michael 'Duxie' Walsh from Kilkenny of a 14th successive title, was probably a player the Kells man would have preferred not to face in the decider. After all, it can't exactly be easy playing somebody you are so used to training and playing with on a very regular basis and somebody who is also such a good friend. But that's exactly how it worked out and Sheridan, who just got on with the job of trying to win the title, went into the final as favourite thanks to an impressive run to the Croke Park showpiece. He did extremely well to dethrone reigning champion Eoin Kennedy of Dublin at the quarter-final stage and then got the better of Tommy Hynes from Wexford at the penultimate hurdle, so it's easy to see why he was the fancy of so many to complete the job. O'Connor, to his credit, had done very well to come back from a serious road accident nearly three years earlier and reaching the final represented a very fine achievement. But it was his county colleague and doubles partner Sheridan who took control of the final from a a very early stage as he stormed into a decisive lead and never really looked back. Sheridan was in control of the opening game throughout and won it comfortably on a 21-6 score line, but it wouldn't be in his good friend's nature to go down without giving it a really serious effort and the second game proved to be much closer and more tense as O'Connor bravely battled for survival. But Sheridan just proved too strong and won it 21-15 to clinch the title, much to the delight of the travelling Kells supporters. Sheridan's fabulous achievement was commended at a meeting of Kells Town Council where calls for a civic reception to mark his success were unanimously supported, with councillors rightly paying tribute to the local veteran. O'Connor was very gracious in defeat and paid tribute to Sheridan in the aftermath of their Croke Park showdown. "I'm delighted that he won, but would prefer if I didn't have to play him in the final," O'Connor said. "It was a surreal atmosphere that seemed to affect both of us. After all, we train together four nights a week all year round." Having come face to face in the singles final, it was terrific to see the two friends back together a matter of days later claiming yet another 60x30 All-Ireland Senior Doubles Championship title at Croke Park as they maintained their dominance of the category. The duo had won four of the previous five softball doubles crowns and that soon became five out of six as they successfully defended their title, beating Tommy Hynes and Colin Keeling from Wexford with considerable ease in the final. The Wexford pair had taken the title three years previously in 2000, but they were no match for the Meath duo who took complete control of the contest from the outset by building up a commanding 11-0 lead in the first game. That opening set the general trend of the match and Sheridan and O'Connor went on to win the first game 21-6. The second took on a similar pattern and they raced into leads of 7-0 and 19-6, before winning it 21-12 to secure yet another title. It was the seventh time for Sheridan to share in the winning of this title as he also triumphed with fellow Kells player James McGovern, himself a superb handballer, back in 1992 and '94. After all that success he really capped it all by winning the senior singles last September - at a very advanced stage in his career. "I suppose I left it late all right at 35," Sheridan said. "I started playing handball when I was four or five, so I won it about 30 years after I started. I played some amount of handball during that time. "I hadn't played much singles before this year. 'Duxie' Walsh was on the scene and was dominating, winning the singles 17 years out of 18. "Eoin Kennedy from Dublin hammered 'Duxie' in the final last year and after that a lot of lads thought that he couldn't be beaten. A lot of them didn't even bother to enter. They were saying he was going to win it for the next 20 years." But Kennedy's reign as champion came to a halt when Sheridan got the better of him at the quarter-final stage in 2003 to really mark himself down as a very serious contender for outright honours. "Once I beat him I was installed as favourite to win it out," Sheridan added. "And I really believed after that particular victory that I could go all the way. I then beat Tommy Hynes from Wexford 21-17, 17-21, 21-5 in the semi-final. Getting a three-set match at that stage really helped me. It was good training and it stood to me." Next up on the biggest stage of all was his doubles partner and friend O'Connor. How did it feel facing the former champion in the final? "There was a lot of pressure on me going into the final," he said. "I had beaten so many of the good players on the way, whereas Walter had received two walkovers into the semi-finals and then had a very easy 21-1, 21-8 win at that stage. I was also beating Walter in training, so I was expected to win and the pressure was on. "Walter stood for my daughter Emily Kate and we have played and trained together so much over the years. But it didn't bother me playing him in the final. He was just another opponent as far as I was concerned. I think it got to him more than me. I won easily enough in the end." Sheridan revealed that he might not have got the chance, or rather put himself in the position, to make the big breakthrough in singles handball. "I was considering packing it in this year," he added. "I just felt that I had enough of it. I have a few injuries to ankles and knees and I feel it in the morning after training or playing when I'm coming down the stairs." Of course, the dust had hardly settled on his big singles win when he teamed up with O'Connor to win the doubles, beating Hynes and Keeling in the final. "It was nice to team up with Walter and win the doubles title again," he said. "We had scraped past the same boys the previous year and we were expected to be beaten. They are a fair bit younger than us too. "But Walter played out of his skin on the night and we won very easily. We were surprised by how easy it was. We have now won five of the last six 60x30 doubles titles." Sheridan has yet to definitely decide on his future beyond this year, but with those 49 titles in the bag he might just be tempted to stay around for another while in an effort to make it a half century. Tweet

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