The Abbeylara Handball Club which has suffered much sadness in recent years has been buoyed up with the achievements of club coach and Ballinlough native Eugene O'Reilly in the past 12 months writes, Michael McGee Abbeylara's handball coach Eugene O'Reilly recently captured the Men's C U.S. Handball open final in Los Angeles California. After a number of tough qualifying games O' Reilly stamped his authority when out classing top U.S. player Marco Coromac by 21-9, 21-9 in an exciting final. O'Reilly who is an Engineer with the Cameron Company in Longford Town has had an unbelievable year in handball winning the University of Limerick One Wall Final; National C singles One-Wall Champion in Sligo. He also won the John Carthy Memorial Cup final with Mayo's Steven Cooney last August in Abbeylara and capped off an unbelievable season by winning the U.S. handball final. The 27 year-old from Crossakiel in Co. Meath was also a member of Ballinlough G.F.C. that reached this year's Meath Intermediate semi-finals. The U.S. Champion explained that he worked hard this year. "I got back playing football and that stood to me a lot when it came to fitness and games. I played a lot of 40 x 20 handball last January and that helped me reaching the Leinster final and also the handball Nationals semi-finals." Coaching for further success The Meath man has been Coaching 25 young members in Abbeylara handball Club since early June and already a number of them are showing great potential according to O'Reilly. "The development of the kids has been fantastic. They are dedicated and that makes my job a lot easier. There are 6 girls who play regularly which is great to see and a number of them if they can continue will definitely be stars for the future," said O'Reilly. The U.S. champion will take a break from playing handball as it has been a long season and will resume training in January. O'Reilly's ambitions will be to get back into the Leinster 40 x 20 final having been beaten by Kilkenny's Stephen Barcoe earlier this year "that is my goal is to give it a better shot this year." "My aim also is to get back to the Handball Nationals which I did reaching the semi-finals. I surprised myself getting to the semi-finals and I was happy with that." "I am looking forward later in the year to aim for the World Championships which will take place in Portland Oregon next October." The personable and charismatic coach could very well accomplish even greater achievements in the coming year. Club Secretary Anna O'Reilly is absolutely delighted that to have Eugene a player of his standard and calibre coaching the kids. "We are very lucky to have Eugene, he has a great interest in the game playing, promoting, and passing on the skills to the younger generation. It is something we never had here in the club was coaching. The kids are having great fun as well as learning the skills. We will keep working and building on it all the time," said the club secretary. Tweet

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