Packed Comans witness thrilling finals programme
April 07, 2014
Cavan's Paul Brady and Michael Finnegan following their victory.
In one of the greatest finals in Handball history the Cavan men took a thrilling third game 21-19 to seal a 18-21, 21-11, 21-19 victory after a three hour titanic battle and seal their place in the history books. A packed gallery were treated to a feast of Handball yesterday as all three finals went to third games in a marathon session of finals action that certainly provided value for money at the Roscommon venue.
The first game went to the Meath men as they raced into a blistering start with veteran Tom Sheridan and his parner Brian Carroll in outstanding form. Cavan staged a comeback to level the game at 18-18 but Meath closed out the game 21-18 to take the first.
The second saw Cavan respond with Paul Brady displaying his vast array of skills as he and partner Michael Finnegan took control and ran out 21-11 winners to force a third game. The third game will be remembered for a long time as a classic unfolded with Meath taking a 6-0 lead before Cavan levelled at 6-6 and then went on to lead 18-13 and 20-13 before Meath staged a dramatic comeback that left the scores at 20-19. Cavan showed great resilience to halt the comeback and regain serve and it was left to Brady to have the final say as he killed the ball to take the third game and the title on a 21-19 scoreline much to the delight of the large crowd present.
Earlier in the day the Ladies Senior Doubles Final also went to a third game as Cork's Catriona Casey and Aishling O'Keefe captured their first ever Senior Doubles title defeating old rivals Kerry Maria Daly & Ashley Prendiville winning 21-16, 19-21, 21-7.
In the day's first game Tyrone's Johnny Woods and Ryan Mullan took the minor title again following a titanic three game battle against Clare's Fergal Coughlan and Jacob Loughnane 17-21, 21-10, 21-17. Tweet
