Epic battle expected as old rivals clash once more
April 10, 2015
A hugely exciting season finale to the O'Neill's All-Ireland Championships takes place on Saturday in St Coman's, Roscommon with the Men's & Ladies Senior Doubles Finals down for decision.
Top billing is the eagerly anticipated Men's final rematch between reigning champions Paul Brady & Michael Finnegan of Cavan, and Meath's Brian Carroll & Tom Sheridan. Brady & Finnegan enter as favourites, and rightly so as they have dominated the 40x20 doubles scene in recent years. They have appeared in the last thirteen consecutive finals winning a record ten titles. Brady who missed the Senior Singles championship has showed in this year's US Pro-Stops that he is still the top Handballer in the World and instead of the gap closing as the Cavan man gets older the Mullahoran man at 35 years of age seems to be getting better. Finnegan has the know how to win big games, and as well as the All-Ireland titles, he has appeared in the last four World Doubles Finals, winning three, two with Brady & one with Dublin's Eoin Kennedy.
Their opponents from the Kells club have proven quality in the 40x20 court as well, they pushed Brady & Finnegan to a 21-19 tiebreaker in 2013 and a 21-20 tiebreaker in an epic 2012 40x20 final. On Saturday Sheridan will be aiming for title number ten with a fourth different partner in Brian Carroll. Carroll is a dream man to cover the frontcourt. This combined with Sheridan's craft, and the fact that Sheridan is a lefty, gives them an excellent chance to upset the reigning champs. It all leads to another classic.
Preceding the Men's final is another fantastic showdown as Cork's Catriona Casey & Aishling O'Keefe look to retain their 2014 title they won against Kerry's Maria Daly & Ashley Prendiville. This year, they have the same opponents who will be aiming to win back the title they last won in 2013 and add a fourth title to their honours list.
The Cork duo have developed into an excellent pairing in recent years and know that they have the game to win. Having lost out in the Singles final a few weeks ago, Casey will be keen to end the season on a high but the experienced Kerry girls will be up for this and Cork will face a battle against the experienced three time champions
First game on the bill is the Minor Doubles at 2.00pm between Wexford's Daniel Kavanagh and Keith Armstrong and Clare's Fergal Coughlan and Cathair Agnew. Fergal Coughlan who appeared in last year's Minor Singles and Doubles finals will be the most experienced player on the court and his experience along with Agnew will mean the Clare men will be very difficult to beat but Kavanagh and Armstrong are both fine handballers who will be determined to bring the title back to the Model County on Saturday.
