Cavan's Paul Brady and Michael Finnegan begin their All-Ireland doubles defence on Monday 10th March in the DALKIA 40x20 Senior Championship. The Breffni pair face Limerick young-guns, Seamus O'Carroll and CJ Fitzpatrick, in what will be a massive occasion for the Treaty minors. O'Carroll's love affair with the DALKIA Senior Singles Championship came to an end last weekend at the hands of Meath's Brian Carroll, but his sights are now firmly set facing two of the hero's of the modern game in Finnegan and Brady. The Cavan duo are a formidable pairing and captured the Men's World Open Doubles title in 2003, relinquishing their crown to Cork's Tony Healy and Dublin's Eoin Kennedy in Canada 18 months ago. Now they are bidding for an incredible third All-Ireland Senior Doubles title in a row, having also won four of the last five finals. Last weekend, Brady booked his DALKIA Senior Singles quarter-final spot but Finnegan lost out 21-19 in a tiebreaker finish against Mayo hard-hitter, Dessie Keegan. Keegan and partner, Joe McCann, were beaten by the Cavan men in the 2007 Senior Doubles final, but continue their campaign trail on today (Saturday). They face Wicklow's Michael Gregan and Johnny Willoughby in what looks set to be a well-fought encounter in Mullingar. Willoughby has been in great form in recent weeks, taking Ricky McCann to a tie-breaker in the Envirogreen Resource National Qualfiers, while Gregan will be hoping to put his season back on track following a back-injury. Dublin's Eoin Kennedy will be hoping to continue his good form when he partners, Egin Jensen against the tough opposition of Antrim's Seamus Ó Tuama and Ricky McCann. McCann claimed his quarter-final singles spot with a win over Mayo's Vinny Moran last weekend, and now he will look to continue this form into the doubles campaign. Meanwhile the DALKIA Ladies Senior Doubles Championship gets underway this weekend, with plenty of the recently crowned US Collegiate champions in action. Kerry's Catriona Casey, who took the Ladies B title, partners Sharon Twomey as they take on Roscommon's Leona Doolin and Marianna Rushe in Clooney, Clare today. Also in action for the Kingdom are Maria Daly and Ashley Prendeville, who face a tough outing against Roscommon's second pairing of Emer Coyle and Deirdre Donohue at the same venue With the ENVIROGREEN RESOURCE Nationals taking place on March 15th and 16th next, players will be firing on all cylinders this weekend in preparation for one of the biggest occasions on the handball calendar. Tweet

Most Read Stories