Local handballers make headlines
April 30, 2011It was a magnificent year for 18-year-old, Aoife McCarthy, who collected the 40x20 All-Ireland Junior B Singles and Doubles titles, as well as the 60x30 Singles and Doubles crowns.
In the 40x20 Singles, she defeated Clare's Aisling Fitzgerald with ease. However, the Doubles encounter was a much more competitive affair as the Lake County edged out Fitzgerald and partner, Edel Hayes in the third game.
The Clare ladies were quick to settle and opened a 15-7 lead in the first before McCarthy and Egan began to claw back the aces. At 15-15, it was all to play for, but Fitzgerald and Hayes opened a 19-15 gap before Egan and McCarthy served at 20-20, with a chance to take the game. Unfortunately, it was not to be and the Clare duo served out the game to take the first 21-20.
In the second game, McCarthy and Egan lifted their games and with great results as they dominated from start to finish, taking a 21-6 win to force a decider. The third game produced some great handball, with both of the Westmeath players digging deep to push over the finish line and take a 21-8 victory and claim Westmeath's first ever All-Ireland doubles success in ladies handball. Collecting their coveted medals, the girls thanked Westmeath handball sponsors, Fratelli's Take Away, Rochfortbridge, the Westmeath GAA County Board and Robert Bagnall of the Hilamar Hotel for their support.
Later in the year, Egan and McCarthy collected their second All-Ireland title of the year when they defeated Limerick's Jacqui Enright and Siobhan Lehane in 60x30 Final.
The Limerick ladies opened strongly to take an early 8-1 lead in the first game and looked the more composed of the pairings. However, the Westmeath duo soon settled into their stride however, with McCarthy serving well on the left and Egan controlling play on the right.
Aided by some top-class serving from McCarthy, the pair won the first game 21-10, but struggled to carry that form into the second and went 7-0 down early in the second. McCarthy was victorious in the Junior Singles Final against Lehane two weeks previous, and was confident ahead of the clash.
The Westmeath girls took the second game 21-10 to take victory and add another title to their growing list of accolades. For McCarthy, it was her fourth All-Ireland title of the year, and Egan's third national crown. In July, she secured Open One-Wall status when he claimed the Ladies B title at the One-Wall Nationals in Mayo, defeating England's Anita Ganguly in the final.
Delvin reclaimed its place at the centre of the national handballing tradition, when the village's O'Shaughnessy Handball Centre held its first handball tournament since it re-opened to the public as part of Delvin's Courtyard development.
The old handball alley in Delvin was the venue for the village's last national handball tournament in 2001, and a couple of years ago, work began on a massive rejuvenation and extension project.
The spectacular result was the O'Shaughnessy Handball Centre, opened by then Westmeath County Council chairman, Joe Whelan in 2008, and in the last few years, the centre has become not only the headquarters of a resurgent Delvin Handball Club, but also a hub for community life in Delvin.
In November, a top class tournament took place where many of the names synonymous with 40x20 handball came to put their wares on display. Wicklow's Michael Gregan was in devastating form all weekend, put particularly in the final, where he partnered Dublin's Eoin Kennedy to an emphatic victory over Meath's Tom Sheridan and Kilkenny's Michael 'Ducksy' Walsh.
Three of Saturday's clashes went to tiebreakers, with Sheridan and Walsh getting the better of Mayo's Joe McCann and Clare's Diarmaid Nash. Armagh's Charly Shanks and Cork's Colm Jordon defeated Kerry and Cork combo, Brendan Fleming and Dominic Lynch, with Shanks and Jordon losing out to Walsh and Sheridan in the semi-final.
Long-time tournament partners, Westmeath's Robbie McCarthy and Meath's Brian Carroll, recorded a 21-10, 21-19 victory over CJ Fitzpatrick and Seamus O'Carroll (Limerick), but lost out to Kennedy and Gregan in semi-final. The Tournament Final was one-way traffic, as Gregan and Kennedy put up a fine display, while Sheridan and Walsh had no response to the Wicklow/Dublin pairing.
Congratulations to the Devlin Handball Club for running a wonderful tournament, which also included a local juvenile competition - the future looks bright for the new club in the heart of the midlands!
Mullingar's Robbie McCarthy laid down his intentions for 2010 early in the season when he defeated Dublin's Eoin Kennedy to claim the Leinster 40x20 Senior Singles title. However, while hopes of making the All-Ireland Final were high, Armagh's Charly Shanks upset the script and ousted McCarthy in the quarter-final.
The 60x30 All-Ireland Championships proved more successful for the 23-year-old as he managed to return to the final, where he was faced defending champion, Kennedy, once again. The Dubliner has dominated the Men's Open Senior Singles section of these championships for most of the past decade, and had been the hot pre-match favourite to retain his title, but he was forced to pull out all the stops to overcome a stern challenge from McCarthy.
In the first game, McCarthy Jnr. started brightly, going 0-2 ahead, before Kennedy hit his stride and forged into the lead at 4-2. McCarthy Jnr. levelled the score at 4-4 and then hit a purple patch, edging ahead into commanding leads at 6-10 and 7-11, before Kennedy pointed four times in succession, to level again at 11-11. With the score tied once more at 12-12, it was anyone's match.
Kennedy then began to display his full array of lethal kill shots and silken passing shots, allied to his trademark "rocket-like" serve, as he forged ahead into a commanding 20-16 lead, to put him in the driving-seat.
However, McCarthy Jnr. then began to produce his own armory of pinpoint kill shots, allied to some explosive serving, as he pointed three consecutive times, to make it 20-19. The Mullingar man then unleashed a stinging kill shot to draw level at 20-20, but the Dubliner was unfazed and replied in kind, producing a rasping kill from thirty feet back to close out the game on a narrow scoreline of 21-20.
In the second game, Kennedy started with intent, racing into a commanding lead before McCarthy Jnr. levelled at 13-13. With the match delicately-poised, it looked as if a third game tiebreaker might be on the cards, but the Dubliner was not about to let victory slip from his grasp. Despite a battling display, McCarthy could only muster two more points, as the Dublin maestro edged ahead to seal victory on a scoreline of 21-15.
It was a year of mixed fortunes for Robbie, who also represented Ireland at the Federations Cup in Nizza-Monferato, Italy in November, where he played some of the best handball of the event. Tang's Niamh Egan also donned the Irish jersey in Italy, where the both Men's and Ladies teams finished fifth overall. The Ladies also collected the ELA Cup, where they defeated Italy and the Basque Country. Tweet
