Mullahoran athlete Paul Brady enjoyed a groundbreaking 2003, capturing All-Ireland and World Championship glory in handball as well as nailing down a starting place on the Cavan senior football team. He also helped the Dreadnoughts to a first county SFC final in five years. Paul Brady is recognised as Cavan's No.1 handballer. He's also widely-regarded as one of the top handballers in the world, a reputation underlined by his incredible successes at both All-Ireland and World Championship levels in 2003. Early in the year, Paul made history by winning both singles and doubles All-Ireland titles. Some six months later, the Cavan pro achieved a similar result in the World Championships. Paul finished the year ranked fourth in the world and this ranking would almost certainly have been higher had he not been forced to miss the US nationals in Michegan through injury. At the time the offending injury was sustained, in June, he was rated No.2. Making this story all the more remarkable is the fact that the Mullahoran clubman also found time to concentrate on gaelic football in '03. He was a regular starter with Cavan's seniors in both league and championship and also helped the Dreadnoughts reach the county SFC final for the first time since 1998. All in all, between the two disciplines, it truly was an extraordinary innings ... and there's plenty more to come from the gifted Mullahoran star. All in a year's work? You'd better believe it! Having taken the decision to base himself in Ireland as and of August 2002, Paul quickly forced his way on to Mattie Kerrigan's county senior football panel with a series of powerful displays for Mullahoran. Somehow, he managed to excel in both football and handball during the ensuing season, though it's in the international arena of professional handball that his extraordinary skills really come to the fore. Paul hit the headlines in 2003 when he became the first Ulster man to win an All-Ireland senior singles 40x20 title, with a stunning victory during the first weekend in April. The final was a real thriller and the Cavan man held his nerve to defeat three-times winner Tony Healy (Cork) with a two games to nil triumph at the O'Loughlin Gaels club in Kilkenny. Brady took the first game 21-6 with a forceful smash and grab game but trailed 18-15 in the second game before closing out with six points on the trot to bring the spoils to Cavan and Ulster for the first time. When the doubles title was added in partnership with Michael Finnegan from Kingscourt, there was plenty of cause for celebration! By October, the young Mullahoran handballer was at it again. This time, it was the world championships and Paul took gold by again beating Corkman Healy in the decider, this time by two games to one, at Croke Park on Friday October 24th. Brady won the first 21-14 but went down 21-3 in the second. Despite playing with an injury, he took the deciding game 11-3 to become the first Irish-based player to win the men's crown. Again, the doubles title was added to complete an amazing medal haul; again, Michael Finnegan was Paul's doubles partner. Little wonder Paul admits to being "happy" with his year's work! "It was a great year, definitely the best I've had so far," he notes. He's been playing the game for twelve years, starting a month short of his 12th birthday at St Pat's College, Cavan. At the time of writing, the Breffni County's world champion had just turned 24. Paul played at all levels with the Pats, mostly doubles, with a variety of partners, and has since gone on to represent both the Mullahoran and Kingscourt Handball Clubs with distinction. His earliest successes were all in doubles. He had already won a number of All-Ireland colleges doubles titles by the time he captured his first major singles success - an under 17 World Championship in Canada in 1997. He went on to win three US nationals followed by a collegiate title when he was 20. Initially, the Cavan man was based in the US for 18 months, playing the Pro tour, but he has been playing the circuit from home in Ireland since August 2002. He still flies over and back to the States on a regular basis to compete against all the best handballers in the world. Between the handball and the football, Paul Brady is about as close to a full-time GAA sportsman as you're likely to get. He trains practically every day, with just the occasional day off. Most days, it's handball first and football in the evenings. Needless to say, the Mullahoran man is one of the fittest warriors in the county! During his formative days as a handballer, Paul was coached predominantly by Fr John Gilhooley at school but he has progressed to a level where he can essentially oversee his own training regime. It requires a lot of discipline, but Brady is nothing if not determined... Regarding the ongoing physical conditioning, Paul notes: "I train practically every day, sometimes on my own, but I'd often go up to Dublin to train with some of the top handballers in the country, and sometimes north to Belfast. We all work together and help each other out. Outside the court, there's a lot of running and weights and circuit training." All of which meant that, in terms of fitness, Paul slotted effortlessly into the Cavan senior football team last year - in spite of the fact that he hadn't played for the county at any level previously. He reveals: "With the handball, I simply didn't have that much time for football and I suppose last year was the first time in seven years that I'd been able to devote any time to football." Consistently good showings with Mullahoran Dreadnoughts led inevitably to the county call-up. "After being away for a few summers, I came back in August 2002 and got the call-up for the 2003 national league and championship." Indeed, Paul immediately became a regular and played all Cavan's championship games in '03, mainly at wing back. It was all rather disappointing as the Blues failed to get their challenge off the ground, but looking forward to next year's campaign, he says: "Eamon Coleman is as good a manager as you're going to get and hopefully he'll make a difference. We're certainly hoping for a good year. "Of course, we always go into every game thinking we're going to win, but last year was really disappointing, so I suppose we'll have to wait and see how things shape up. There's no point making any boasts about what we're going to achieve, but we have a good management team in place, they've trawled the county for talent, and things can only get better!" On the club front, Mullahoran reached the senior county final in 2003 but lost to Cavan Gaels. Despite defeat, they can derive a great deal of satisfaction from their performance - they only lost the decider by four points, having lost to the county town side by 17 in a 2002 semi-final. Paul was centre back in '02 and centre forward in '03. He confirms: "We're definitely hoping to win a senior championship, and it's well within our ability to do so. We won the championship in 1998 as well as U21 championships in '99 and 2000. Last year was our first time back in the senior final since '98, so we're getting closer to winning it again." Paul Brady will lay his world handball title on the line in Canada in 2006. By then, he could also possess another Cavan SFC medal and, who knows, perhaps an Ulster SFC souvenir as well. Stranger things happen every day. Tweet

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