Up there with the best
November 30, 2006
When Kells Town Council held a civic reception in the local Heritage Centre late in January of this year it was a truly fitting tribute to a dedicated young man who brought tremendous honour to his town, club and county thanks to his fabulous performance in winning the US National under-15 singles handball title a short time earlier.
Gary McConnell is clearly a brilliant exponent of the ancient game and it brought undoubted pride and satisfaction to all who have worked to make him such a tremendous talent when he headed across the Atlantic Ocean the best part of a year ago in search of one of the big prizes in the sport.
The Kells player had reached the semi-final of the same grade in the previous year and was obviously very determined to go all the way on his return visit to the United States when he was the number one seed for the 2006 competition in far off Phoenix, Arizona.
Young McConnell was obviously also very much on top of his game, because once he touched down in Phoenix he essentially set about demolishing most of the opponents who were placed in front of him and then demonstrated the character and determination in his play when making a tremendous recovery in the final when he appeared to be in serious danger of going under at the last hurdle.
McConnell opened his bid for the title with a first round meeting against Jacob Leeson from Colorado and this turned out to be a very one-sides confrontation as the Kells player dropped only one point throughout and cruised to a facile 21-1, 21-0 victory to make the ideal start to the championship.
The remainder of the competition was never going to be as handy as that comfortable start and that's how it turned out in the quarter-final against the Texan Dustin Van Brunt who gave as good as he got for the majority of the first set, before McConnell upped the tempo to edge through 21-18.
He was more in control during the second set, but still had to work quite hard to take it 21-14 and book his place in the semi-finals - the hurdle at which he had been eliminated the previous year.
However, there were no slip-ups on this occasion as McConnell made his intentions very clear in the opening set against Robert Schoder of California which he won easily by 21-5 to demonstrate the sort of form he was undoubtedly in. Schoder ran him closer in the second game, but the Kells lad still won it comfortably, 21-11, and now he was just one big step away from his dream of capturing the US National title and thrilling the followers of the game back in his home town.
He hadn't dropped a single set on the way to the final, but that soon changed as the highly rated Luis Cordova, who is regarded as one of the finest young talents in the sport in the United States, shaded the verdict 21-19 to put the pressure on the young shoulders of the Kells Community School student.
It was touch and go for McConnell in the second set which provided tremendous entertainment. The score stood at 20-20 and when Cordova served for the match and the title he was the obvious favourite to finish the job in straight sets. But that was where McConnell's obvious determination and will to win came very much into play as he summoned up a mighty effort to hold his nerve and win it 21-20.
The action was gripping and tremendously entertaining - the sort of stuff that helps to make handball such a fantastic game to watch at this level - but with the third and deciding set to be played under the tie breaker rules it was a matter of which player could hold his game together and be first to reach the magic figure of 11 points.
McConnell was clearly greatly boosted by the manner in which he had fought his way to a narrow win in that thrilling second set and that was reflected in the manner in which he finished off the final in the third as he dominated it completely to win 11-1.
That was the culmination of a tremendous visit back to the United States for one of the finest young talents in the game and it was only right and fitting that he was honoured in the way he was following his return to his home town where he learned to play handball in the local club.
BRIAN CARROLL'S BIG WIN
There was another great success for Kells and Meath handball later in the year when Brian Carroll won the World Championship under-19 doubles title in Edmonton, Canada, when he teamed up with Robbie McCarthy, that fine exponent of the game from Westmeath.
Carroll lost to McCarthy in the singles final, but they got together in the doubles and defeated American pair Camacho and O'Donnell in the decider. It represented a fantastic moment for Carroll who had missed out on making the Irish squad for the championships when he was beaten in the national final.
The Kells player was obviously very determined to take part in the World Championships because he paid his own expenses along the way to make the trip to Canada, while he also received some sponsorship from Kells Handball Club.
Carroll turned in a very game performance when losing to McCarthy 9-11 in a tie breaker in the singles decider and this time he ran the Westmeath player closer than in the trials for Edmonton. But when the duo teamed up in the doubles they proved a very formidable combination and the success certainly justified Carroll's decision to essentially self-finance the trip to the championships.
TOM SHERIDAN GOES CLOSE
Tom Sheridan enjoyed one of his best evenings in a long and highly successful handball career back in 2003 when he won the All-Ireland 60x30 softball singles title - beating his friend and doubles partner Walter O'Connor in the final - and he put a great effort into attempting to regain the title in 2006 when he went all the way to the final.
He got the better of Wexford player Barry Goff in the softball semi-final and that put him through to the decider against Dublin's Eoin Kennedy who had got past that handballing legend, Michael 'Duxie' Walsh from Kilkenny, at the penultimate hurdle.
And what a Croke Park epic the final turned out to be as Sheridan expended every last ounce of energy in an attempt to get the better of his younger opponent. In a contest that lasted the best part of three hours and had the crowd enthralled, Sheridan looked to be in serious trouble when he fell behind 4-14 in the first set. But he produced a magnificent gutsy recovery to catch Kennedy and then pass him out to take the opener 21-19.
Kennedy bounced back from that setback to win the second set on an identical score line and clinched the title when taking the third 21-5 as the earlier exertions clearly took their toll on the Kells man. Sheridan was beaten, but he had played a huge role in a truly brilliant encounter that was one of the great highlights of the handball year.
There was another meeting of Sheridan and Kennedy in September when they came face to face in the All-Ireland 60x30 Hardball Championship at Mullingar. Sheridan had enjoyed a very comfortable and untroubled passage through to that stage of the competition when he scored a facile 21-1, 21-1 victory over Vinny Moran of Mayo, also at Mullingar, but his title bid was halted once again by the very talented Dublin player who again came out on top by two sets to one.
Sheridan and O'Connor, who were later to make a huge impact in the All-Ireland 60x30 Doubles Championship, were eliminated from the 40x20 equivalent at the quarter-final stage when they lost to Mayo's Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann 15-21, 19-21, having earlier got the better of another Mayo pair, Vinny Moran and Carlos Brennan, 21-11, 21-15 at Roscommon.
The Meath partnership beat the same pairing 21-11, 21-11 in the 40x20 World Championship trials back in April, but their hopes of making the trip were dashed when Dublin combination Eoin Kennedy and Egin Jensen - the former Royal County player - eliminated them at Kingscourt.
Back to the younger brigade who are flying the Meath flag with such distinction, and Gary McConnell claimed the Leinster Under-16 Championship title when he scored a very comfortable 21-2, 21-4 victory in the final. However, his bid to add the All-Ireland Championship in the grade came to an end when Fergus Collins eliminated him at the semi-final hurdle in Ballygar, Co. Limerick, winning in straight sets on a 21-15, 21-5 score line.
However, with players of the caliber of Carroll and McConnell in the county demonstrating such tremendous commitment to the game they love, the future for Meath handball certainly looks very bright and their careers will be closely monitored in the years to come.
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