While the drought continues for Cavan's Gaelic footballers, disciples of another, oft-ignored GAA sport - handball - continued to lead the way in 2008, a year which saw enormous strides both on and off the court. What a season 2008 was for the handballers of Cavan. Five 40x20 adult All-Irelands in the bag, an Inter-club national crown, the formation of a new club and the reforming of another, the refurbishment of the handball complex in Cavan town, the election of a whole new county board committee, the instigation of a host of new county championships and, most encouragingly, a full entry in every grade of the Ulster juvenile championships is quite a list of accomplishments for one year. St Patrick's clubman James Brady, a former US Nationals and World B singles finalist, was elected chairman of the county handball board at the beginning of the season and admits that, despite the enormous progress made, there is a lot of work to do. "We've had a hugely successful 40x20 season," said Brady. "And while we weren't as successful in the 60x30 championships, we are strong at senior and junior level and we have put in a huge amount of work with juveniles this year as well." 2008 was a momentous year for the sport in Cavan, with huge success both on and off of the court. The formation of the St Patrick's club has given the game a new lease of life in the county town, and along with the progressive Kingscourt club and the newly reformed Virginia, handball is in very good health in Cavan right now. The Cavan 40x20 Junior Singles is entering its third year, with entries up to 40 singles competitors, while the 40x20 Junior Doubles and with the Riverfront Hotel 60x30 Junior Doubles were inaugurated and proved massive successes, with 52 players competing in the latter competition. "I got together with a few others and we decided to set up our own club last winter," says the county chairman. "We have put a lot of work into setting up the juvenile side of things in St Pat's and thankfully it has gone very well. Cavan were arguably the most successful county in Ireland at adult level in 40x20 last year, with the All Ireland senior singles (Paul Brady) and doubles (Brady and Michael Finnegan) titles coming back yet again, along with the Junior B Singles (Patrick Clerkin) and corresponding doubles (Clerkin and Padraig Cahill). For good measure, the evergreen Patsy Hand and Greg Sheridan took the Golden Masters A Doubles title, while away from home, Brady won his fourth successive US Nationals Open Singles title in Kansas, while Clerkin took gold in the B Singles and B Doubles at the same event. St Patrick's chairman Paul Fitzpatrick also landed the B singles at the prestigious Boston Open in April. Brady and Briody take 40x20 Junior Doubles The event was hosted by the new St Patrick's Club and attracted 32 players, with 16 adults and 16 juveniles in action. In the blue riband Terry Hyland Auctioneering Junior Doubles, James Brady and Shane Briody teamed up to take a closely contested competition. Brady, a member of the teaching staff in St Pat's, paired with fifth year student Briody to defeat Padraig Cahill and Bernard Reilly in straight games, 15-0, 15-14, in the final. The winners were in good form all weekend, coming through a tough group stage where they lost out to Patrick Clerkin and Shane Corrigan in a tie-breaker, after defeating Emmett Fitzpatrick and John O'Grady and Cormac McMahon and Ryan Dolan to take second place. Clerkin/Corrigan took top spot, winning all their games to book their spot in the last four. Paul Fitzpatrick and Cathal Sheridan topped Group Two with wins over left hander Marcus Sheridan and Barry Phair and promising Ballyhaise duo Ryan Brennan and John McCabe, only to go down 15-12, 15-14 in a nail-biting semi, while group runners up Cahill and Reilly shocked Clerkin and Corrigan in the other semi. In the decider, Brady's finishing ability in the front court and Briody's solid play proved too much for their opponents, for whom Reilly excelled on the right side. Fourteen-year-old Cathal Sheridan made amends for his defeat in the Junior semi-final by teaming with James Galligan to land the competitive Under 15 doubles with a thrilling final win over Eoghan Martin and Adrian Smith. Martin and Smith started well, racing into a five-nil lead, only for Sheridan and Galligan to take control and close out the opener 15-12. The second game saw Smith and Martin play some superb handball, with Martin's backwall control putting their opponents under pressure and forcing the match to a tiebreaker. The winners' greater strength showed in the third, however, as some brilliant pass shots from Sheridan and a couple of magical Galligan kills saw the older pair run out 11-1 winners after a tremendous match. There was consolation for Smith however as he picked up a trophy for Player of the Tournament after a great weekend's performance. Feile gold for rising St Pat's stars The St Patrick's Handball Club, which has only been in existence for four months, received a massive boost when the Under 14 squad took gold in the All Ireland Feile na nGael in Laois. The Cavan side of Jonathan Leddy, Adrian Smith, Eoghan Martin, Barry Fortune, Senan Gilchreest and Cian O'Reilly played superb handball over the weekend to come out on top of a hard-fought competition which included strong clubs from Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Monaghan and Wicklow among others. St Patrick's found themselves in a tricky looking group with local sides Crinkle and Gorsebridge, but strong serving from right side players Smith and Fortune saw them top the group with ease. Having come through the pool stage without a real test, tournament favourites Monaghan Harps stood between St Patrick's and a place in the All Ireland final. Monaghan raced into a five-nil lead in the first game before Cavan began to claw their way back. With left-hander Leddy dominating on the left side of the court, Cavan took the initiative and broke into a five point lead. Brilliant power serves from Smith and perfectly placed pass shots by Leddy succeeded in freezing out the stronger of the Monaghan pair, and this strategy paid dividends as the Cavan duo took the opener 21-12. The second St Patrick's pair of Eoghan Martin and Barry Fortune needed to score 13 aces to book their place in the decider and they took control of their game from the off. Fortune was rock solid on the right, serving well and flying any loose ball in the front court, while Martin consistently passed and killed with both hands to round off the game 21-10. Having reached their first national final, Cavan were determined not to let the opportunity pass and they tore into the highly rated Coolboy side. Up against a strong doubles pairing which included the winner of the individuals' skills competition, Leddy and Smith turned in their best performance of the weekend, repeatedly overpowering the opposition and killing the ball at every opportunity to take the opener 21-14. Martin and Fortune continued the relentless pace in the second game, and with both players on top form, they raced to a 21-1 victory. Clerkin seals All Ireland Junior B double St Patrick's handballer Patrick Clerkin made history in Mullingar last April when he defeated Limerick's Pat Doody in the final of the All Ireland Junior B singles, becoming the first member of the newly formed club to land an All Ireland title. Kill powerhouse Clerkin lived up to his favourite's billing with a comfortable 21-14, 21-13 win over canny left-hander Doody. While not hitting the heights he did in his semi-final against Kilkenny's Stephen Barcoe, the Cavan player still turned in a solid performance, utilising his favoured right corner kill and right overhand to great effect. After taking an early lead in the first game, Clerkin allowed Doody to seize the initiative at the midway point before re-asserting his dominace with some powerful pass shots and some trademark backwall kills. The second game followed a similar pattern with the 24 year old Cavan player - who has already taken gold in the Irish Nationals C Singles this season - never really in danger. Clerkin and doubles partner Padraig Cahill also defeat Limerick in the Junior B Doubles final two weeks later for a remarkable double. Brady and Finnegan on top again Cavan's place at the top of the tree in senior handball is assured for another year after Paul Brady and Michael Finnegan landed their fifth DALKIA All Ireland 40x20 Senior Doubles title in Kingscourt with a convincing 21-16, 21-11 win over Mayo's Joe McCann and Dessie Keegan. In a repeat of last year's final, Cavan lived up to their favourite's billing in front of a huge home crowd. While world singles champion Brady was, as usual, outstanding, right side specialist Finnegan in particular turned in a magical performance, which Cavan veteran Greg Sheridan described as "the best I have seen him play since minor". The Kingscourt clubman gave an exhibition of "picks" and right corner kills, while consistently pressurising Mayo with a deep two wall serve to the left which broke off the sidewall and gave Keegan serious trouble. Cavan raced to a five nil lead in the opener before Mayo came back to level matters. The Connacht side, fired up having lost two senior doubles finals in recent years, battled well in the first game and were level at the midway point before slipping 18-12 behind. The Ballaghadereen men rallied to 16 with some good serving but Cavan's greater experience came to the fore as they closed out game one, with some fine shooting from both players, on a 21-16 scoreline. The home side started the second game much the stronger, and with Brady wowing the local supporters with a trademark "behind the back" get and a couple of flat kills from long range, Mayo's confidence suddenly began to wilt. Down 19-8, Mayo battled back gamely to make three more aces but it was a case of too little, too late as the champions seized back the initiative before closing out the match with two quick rallies. "We're delighted to get through it, we knew it was going to be a tough battle," said a happy Brady after the game. "Mayo were really up for it but we knew that if we hung in there and played our own game, our experience would count in the end. Thankfully that was the case." Hand and Sheridan take Masters crown There was further success for Cavan when Patsy Hand and Greg Sheridan landed the Diamond Masters A Doubles with an impressive win over Roscommon's Pat Clarke and Noel Raftery in Mullingar. After going down 21-9 in the opener, Cavan turned it around to take the remaining two sets 21-17, 21-16 and seal a deserved All Ireland. Sheridan and Hand have enjoyed considerable success in the Masters grades in recent years, and they will have their sights set on a 60x30 double later in the season. Brady secures record-breaking US National title Cavan's handball superstar Paul Brady created history in Kansas City, Missouri last June when he won his fourth US Nationals Open Singles title in succession in the most dramatic of circumstances. The Mullahoran man became only the second player, after the great Naty Alvarado Sr, ever to win four in a row, but it took a superhuman effort to hold off the challenge of Cork's Tony Healy in the first ever all-Irish US final. Brady, who has won every "major" (Irish senior championship, US Nationals and US Open) in the game for the past four seasons, cruised through the opening rounds with comfortable wins over New Yorker Jonathan Iglesias and Canadian Tyler Hamel. In the semi-final against fourth seed Emmet Peixoto, Brady started with a trademark attacking blitz to open a 13-1 lead, but some uncharacteristic errors allowed his opponent to make 14 points in the opening set. Game two was a tense affair before the Cavan dual star pulled away with a succession of power serves to close it out 21-13. Much of the pre-tournament hype had centred on the return from retirement of legendary Californian David Chapman, but the eight-time winner was surprisingly defeated in the quarter-final by a determined Healy, who then ousted American number one Sean Lenning to set up a Cavan-Cork decider. Brady and Healy, the brightest stars in a golden generation of Irish players, have met in countless finals over the past decade, with the Mullahoran man generally holding the edge. Healy is a truly world class competitor however and he proved it by turning around a 14-17 deficit to stun the estimated 20,000 live webcast viewers by taking the first game 21-17. Brady regrouped during the two minute break between games and tore into the Ballydesmond man on his return to the court. Finally finding his power serve, "the Gunner" kept Healy pinned back in the rear court and launched missile after missile to the bottom of the front wall to open a commanding lead. Although Healy battled to get back into the game, Brady kept up the onslaught and closed out the second 21-14 to set up a tiebreaker, the first time Brady has been taken that far at this stage of the American handball showpiece. The stage was set for an epic finale, and neither player disappointed. Healy burst into a 6-2 lead, only for Brady to drag himself back into the game to level for the first time at seven. When Healy pulled away to nine, it appeared as if the US championship was going outside of Cavan for the first time since 2004, but Brady played two superb rallies to level matters again at nine. In an incredible, cruel twist, the Cavan man buried a killshot at nine all only for the ball to burst on impact with the front wall, meaning the rally would have to be replayed. Shrugging aside his rotten luck, Brady managed to make it back to the service box and reel off a quick ace. At 10-9, the world champion executed a text book hook serve down the left, before rolling the return out in the right corner to seal a sensational win. An exhausted Brady, who at 28 is already a legend of the game with plenty of time on his side, received a standing ovation from the packed gallery at the end. "I'm exhausted, and just delighted to get through it," claimed Brady. "It took a massive effort to get past Tony and I'm just relived to have retained my title." The commentary team on the live web broadcast compared Paul Brady's dominance to that of Tiger Woods or Roger Federer in their respective sports, although that was of little consolation to the vanquished Healy. "They said it would take a big heart to defeat David Chapman," said the distraught Cork man immediately after the game, "but it takes a heart and a half to beat Paul Brady. I threw everything I had at him, and I still couldn't beat him." Tweet

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