Handball Update

TYRONE’S YOUNG HANDBALL STARS PRIMED FOR ULSTER SUCCESS…
There will be a fantastic feast of handball action in Kingscourt this Saturday as the most exciting young players from across the province make their bid for Ulster championship glory.
The Ulster juvenile championships have now reached the concluding stage, with 24 provincial titles set to be decided in a mouthwatering programme of fixtures involving a total of eight counties.
Tyrone topped the provincial roll of honour in wonderful style last year before going on to steal the limelight at the national finals for the first time and, with a formidable team again travelling to Cavan for the 2013 finals, hopes are high that another memorable day is in store for the county.
The challenges facing Tyrone’s young stars this Saturday will be significant and the programme could hardly be launched with a more enticing encounter as Carrickmore’s Lorcan McBride goes head to head with Monaghan’s Eoghan McGinnity in the under-12 singles decider at 10.30am.
This is a match not to be missed as Tyrone’s world under-11 champion takes on the highly skilled McGinnity who partnered Lorcan in two world doubles finals last October, the pair winning gold together in the 40×20 court.
And while that match is unfolding in court one, there will be two other great tussles taking place in the other courts, with world under-11 one wall doubles gold medalist, Dara Curran from Loughmacrory, partnering last week’s national Cumann na mBunscoil winner, Cahir Munroe, in the under-12 doubles final against a very strong Monaghan duo, including world under-11 singles silver medalist, Jakub Szkup.
Elizabeth McGarvey from Breacach will also be in action at 10.30am in court three against Antrim’s Grace Shannon, daughter of multiple world champion, Fiona Shannon.
The three matches opening the finals programme in each court will certainly whet the appetite for the rest of the day and Tyrone are in with a great shout in each contest.
The Tyrone title challenge continues in the second instalment of games, with Loughmacrory’s Mairead Fox and Caitlin Conway, fresh from winning their Ulster Cumann na mBunscoil titles, flying the Tyrone flag against Down in the under-12 girls doubles final, while Mairead’s brother Antoin, another gold medalist from the worlds, will be joining forces with Darragh Canavan, son of football legend Peter, in the under-13 boys doubles final. Monaghan will again provide a serious test in this one.
Carrickmore star Cormac Munroe, who was a silver medalist alongside Darragh Canavan at the world championships, will carry the county’s hopes in the under-13 boys singles final against the talented Justas Dambinskas, while Tyrone will also feature strongly in the under-13 girls finals, although Emer Kerr certainly has a tough task on her hands against Armagh’s Dearbhla Coleman, a double gold medalist at the world championships.
Carrickmore’s Ciara Mullan, who partnered Coleman successfully in the world under-11 one wall doubles final, will form a strong partnership with Michaela McCartan from Breacach in the under-13 doubles decider, which will also be a tough one against Armagh. Ciara is in great form for this game after teaming up with Cormac Munroe to win the national Gael Linn title a few weeks back.
Tyrone will expect to figure prominently in all of the under-12 and under-13 finals and the chances of success in the boys under-14 grades are also good as Turlough Clarke from Breacach meets Monaghan’s Oran Kernan in what should be a great singles final, and Carrickmore’s Ciaran Cuddy and Conor Kelly take on Armagh in the doubles.
Tyrone will have no involvement in the girls under-14 matches but Elise McCrory will be a serious title contender in the under-15 girls singles final. Elise recently played alongside Aoife Kelly as they won the All-Ireland colleges junior doubles title and Aoife, who captured the All-Ireland under-16 doubles title last year, will go for the under-16 Ulster singles crown this Saturday but has the outstanding talent of four times world gold medalist Niamh Coleman from Armagh to contend with. This has the potential to be the match of the entire day.
Aoife’s two Loughmacrory clubmates, Sinead Donnelly and Aoibhinn McAnespie, will take part in their first Ulster championship final and they will also have Armagh as opponents.
Tyrone will not feature in the under-15 or under-17 boys finals but will have a strong chance of glory in the under-16 doubles final as Breacach pair, Sean Kerr and Jack Campbell, two players who had brilliant campaigns at national level in 2013, confront Monaghan.
Overall, Tyrone will be represented in seven boys Ulster finals and seven girls matches; a total of 14 provincial final appearances for the county.
The full fixture list for Saturday’s Ulster juvenile final programme in Kingscourt is as follows…
BOYS ULSTER JUVENILE 40X20 CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS (Courts 1 and 2)…
10.30 U12 Boys Singles – Lorcan McBride (Tyr) v Eoghan McGinnity (Mon)
10.30 U12 Boys Doubles – Dara Curran / Cahir Munroe (Tyr) v Jakub Szkup / Konrad Konal (Mon)
11.15 U13 Boys Singles – Cormac Munroe (Tyr) v Justas Dambinskas (Mon)
11.15 U13 Boys Doubles – Anton Fox / Darragh Canavan (Tyr) v Cailean Myles / Hubert Sheinbach (Mon)
12.00 U14 Boys Singles – Turlough Clarke (Tyr) v Oran Kernan (Mon)
12.00 U14 Boys Doubles – Ciaran Cuddy / Conor Kelly (Tyr) v Shea Donnelly / Sean Reilly (Arm)
12.45 U15 Boys Singles – Conor Leonard (Mon) v Jordan Murtagh (Arm)
12.45 U15 Boys Doubles – Stephen Smith / Thomas Donohoe (Cav) v Martin Mullen / James McCague (Mon)
1.30 U16 Boys Singles – Gavin Coyle (Mon) v Brian McAnenly (Arm)
1.30 U16 Boys Doubles – Sean Kerr / Jack Campbell (Tyr) v Gary Treanor / Conor Mohan (Mon)
2.30 U17 Boys Singles – Ramunas Ramanauskas (Mon) v Cormac Muldoor (Don)
2.30 U17 Boys Doubles – Gary McElroy / Conal McKenna (Mon) v Declan Fitzsimmons / Tom Burns (Dow)
GIRLS ULSTER JUVENILE 40X20 CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS (Court 3)…
10.30 U12 Girls Singles – Elizabeth McGarvey (Tyr) v Grace Shannon (Ant)
11.00 U12 Girls Doubles – Mairead Fox / Caitlin Conway (Tyr) v Rachel McKeown / Eilish Murphy (Dow)
11.30 U13 Girls Singles – Dearbhla Coleman (Arm) v Emer Kerr (Tyr)
12.00 U13 Girls Doubles – Michaela McCartan / Ciara Mullan (Tyr) v Meabh McCambridge / Beth Doris (Arm)
12.30 U14 Girls Singles – Megan McCann (Arm) v Lucy McDonnell (Mon)
1.00 U14 Girls Doubles – Ella Beatty / Rachel McGeown (Arm) v Emma Shannon / Cara Doyle (Ant)
1.30 U15 Girls Singles – Eilise McCrory (Tyr) v Kelly McCracken (Der)
2.00 U15 Girls Doubles – Meabh McMahon / Dearbhla Cooney (Arm) v Sinead Donnelly / Aoibhinn McAnespie (Tyr)
2.30 U16 Girls Singles – Niamh Coleman (Arm) v Aoife Kelly (Tyr)
3.00 U16 Girls Doubles – Aoife McConville / Alana Doran (Arm) v Anna McElroy / Emer Loane (Der)
3.30 U17 Girls Singles – Casey Treanor (Mon) v Aisling Fagan (Arm)
U17 Girls Doubles result – Majella Bradley / Paula McGrory (Don) beat Seona McCracken / Amy McKee (Der) 21-1, 21-7
Brilliant success for St Colmcille’s at national Cumann na mBunscoil finals…
All that is good about GAA Handball was in evidence in Kingscourt, County Cavan, last Saturday as families travelled from all corners of the country for the Boys national Cumann na mBunscoil finals day.
From Galway to Wexford, from Tyrone to Kerry, young stars of the future, having won their way through their county and provincial championships, got the chance to represent their province and compete against top players in singles and doubles in under-11 and under-13 grades.
And once again Tyrone’s conveyor belt was in evidence as St Colmcille’s PS in Carrickmore’s had two of their pupils, Lorcan McGarrity and Cahir Munroe, proudly flying the flag of Tyrone and Ulster in the under-11 doubles section.
Having dispatched Monaghan in the previous week’s Ulster Final, the young Carrickmore pair continued their impressive form in the national series against their Connacht, Leinster and Munster counterparts.
Up first was the challenge from Wexford, who, with their large supporting contingent, provided a stern challenge. In fact the Wexford boys opened in great style, taking the first game 11-8. But soon the complexion of the match began to change as McGarrity’s pinpoint serving and Munroe’s consistency around the front court saw the Carrickmore youngsters fight back to take game 2, and the match, 11-7.
This proved to be the positive start the lads needed, and with confidence high, further wins were recorded against pairings from Leitrim and Tipperary which saw them emerge as winners of their section.
This was a fabulous acheivement for these two young players who look set for very bright futures in handball.
The girls national finals will take place on Saturday 23rd March and Tyrone will again be well represented.
Nine All-Ireland semi-finals this weekend for Tyrone’s Ulster adult champions…
As the top juvenile handballers from Tyrone stake their claim for provincial honours in Kingscourt this Saturday, there will also be nine Tyrone players on All-Ireland semi-final duty over the weekend as the national adult 40×20 championships reach the penultimate stage.
Six of the Tyrone players who will be facing champions of Munster have the bonus of home advantage and there are some superb fixtures lined up for Beragh and Loughmacrory this weekend.
The Beragh programme of games begins on Friday night as Gabhainn McCrystal takes on the brilliant talent of Clare’s Colin Crehan in what promises to be a scintillating minor singles semi-final. Crehan is the reigning world 17 and under champion but Gabhainn is arguably producing the best handball of his career and with home advantage will fancy his chances.
The high quality action continues in Beragh on Sunday as Maeve McElduff, Rory Grogan and Shane O’Neill bid for All-Ireland final places against renowned opponents from Limerick, Cork and Tipperary in a very attractive triple bill.
Maeve’s clash with Limerick’s Martina McMahon is a repeat of the recent All-Ireland senior colleges final won by the Munster girl, although Maeve was victorious when the two girls met in the world one-wall semi-final back in October.
Shane O’Neill also has a tough battle on his hands against well known Tipperary player, Ger Coonan, but this game will also go to the wire and Shane has every chance of prevailing.
And Rory faces a difficult assignment against Dale Cusack but will undoubtedly compete strongly against the Cork player.
Loughmacrory will host two games on Sunday involving the home club’s Lisa McAleer and Mark McCullagh, who both face stern tests against opposition from Clare and Cork.
Lisa takes on Clare’s Lisa Loughnane in the All-Ireland intermediate semi-final, hoping to go a step further than last year, while Mark has Corkman John Casey to try and negotiate in the junior b singles semi-final.
Three of Tyrone’s All-Ireland semi-finalists will have much further to go to fulfil their big games this weekend. Niall Kerr will be in Cashel to face David Moloney in the All-ireland masters semi-final and Kenny Curran must travel to Broadford in Limerick to tackle Denis McCarthy from the home club in the silver masters b semi-final.
But Barry Devlin has the longest journey of all as he must head to Liscarroll in Cork for his All-Ireland junior singles semi-final aganst Shane Hedigan. It will certainly be a big challenge for Barry but the Breacach man is playing very well and will be quietly confident of upsetting the Corkman in his own backyard.
2013 All-Ireland 40×20 Singles Semi-Finals
Munster v Ulster…
Friday March 8th at Beragh 6pm
Minor Singles – Gabhain McCrystal Tyrone v Colin Crehan Clare
Saturday March 9th at Cashel, Tipperary 6pm
Masters A Singles – David Moloney Tipperary v Niall Kerr Tyrone
Saturday March 9th at Liscarroll, Cork 2pm
Junior Singles – Shane Hedigan Cork v Barry Devlin Tyrone
Saturday March 9th at Broadford, Limerick 5pm
Silver Masters B Singles – Denis McCarthy Limerick v Kenny Curran Tyrone
Sunday March 10th at Beragh 1pm
Ladies Minor Singles – Maeve McElduff Tyrone v Martina McMahon Limerick
Over 35 B Singles – Rory Grogan Tyrone v Dale Cusack Cork
Intermediate Singles – Shane O’Neill Tyrone v Ger Coonan Tipperary
Sunday March 10th at Loughmacrory 2pm
Ladies Intermediate Singles – Lisa McAleer Tyrone v Lisa Loughnane Clare
Junior B Singles – Mark McCullagh Tyrone v John Casey Cork