Tyrone Handball News

The handball season is well and truly in full swing as we enter the second week of February, with the action coming thick and fast at every level.
 
And there will certainly be a healthy representation of Tyrone players lining out in Ulster handball finals later this month following some eyecatching results in last weekend’s busy programme of semi-final encounters in the 2013 singles championships.
 
Gabhainn McCrystal set up an attractive Ulster minor final showdown with Monaghan’s Darren Doherty after beating Patrick McCrory in impressive fashion at Armagh, while Doherty was involved in the match of the weekend in the other semi-final as he defeated Tyrone’s Johnny Woods by the slenderest of margins in a nailbiting contest that produced a 21-20 tiebreaker win for the Farney star.
 
Conor McElduff cruised into the Ulster under-21 final and his Breacach clubmate Shane O’Neill eased his way into the intermediate decider where he could meet fellow Tyrone star Caolan Daly, who still has a semi-final hurdle to overcome.
 
Tyrone are also represented in the ladies intermediate final following Lisa McAleer’s semi-final win on Saturday, while Mark McCullagh’s recent return to the court has brought him an Ulster final appearance in the junior b singles after his fourth straight win in the competition.
 
Rory Grogan is through to the over-35b singles final and Kenny Curran will represent Tyrone in the silver masters b decider.
 
Barry Devlin is due to play his outstanding junior championship semi-final against Down’s Paul Shields on Wednesday night, hoping to become the ninth Tyrone player to appear in one of the provincial adult singles finals in 2013. And Caolan Daly could yet bring the number of Tyrone finalists into double figures when he takes on Cavan’s James Brady at intermediate level this Sunday.
 
Ryan Daly, Joseph Kelly, Finbarr Fullen and Seamus McCrory all bowed out of their respective competitions at the semi-final stage on Sunday, with Joseph Kelly coming closest to extending his championship campaign.
 
All the singles deciders will take place on Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th February, with lots of Tyrone players initially involved in doubles semi-finals this coming weekend.
 
Tyrone will have particularly high hopes at minor level where holders Gabhainn McCrystal and Pol Clarke could go through to meet Johnny Woods and Patrick McCrory in an all Tyrone final, but both doubles teams face difficult semi-final assignments against Down and Monaghan.
 
ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES SEMI-FINAL RESULTS…
Minor singles
Gabhainn McCrystal beat Patrick McCrory 21-10, 21-14
Darren Doherty (Monaghan) beat Johnny Woods 21-11, 16-21, 21-20
Under-21 singles
Conor McElduff beat Mark Rainey (Antrim) 21-4, 21-9
Junior B singles
Mark McCullagh beat John Farrell (Monaghan) 21-7, 21-10
Sean Digney (Down) beat Joseph Kelly 12-21, 21-14, 21-10
Junior singles
Barry Devlin v Paul Shields (Down) – Wed 6th Feb in Saval
Terry Kiernan (Monaghan) beat Ryan Daly 21-19, 21-20
Intermediate singles
Shane O’Neill beat Patrick Clerkin (Cavan) 21-15, 21-14
Over 35b singles
Rory Grogan beat Colm Turley (Down) 21-13, 21-18
Martin Turley (Down) beat Seamus McCrory 21-17, 21-14
Masters B singles
Jimmy McKeown (Cavan) beat Finbarr Fullen 21-2, 21-14
Silver masters B singles
Kenny Curran beat John McGeough (Monaghan) 21-3, 21-1
Ladies intermediate singles
Lisa McAleer beat Tracey Floyd (Donegal) 21-3, 21-0
ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLES FINALS 2013
(involving Tyrone players)
Saturday 16th / Sunday 17th February (venues to be confirmed)
Minor singles
Gabhainn McCrystal v Darren Doherty (Monaghan)
Under-21 singles
Conor McElduff v Terry McElvaney (Monaghan)
Junior b singles
Mark McCullagh v Sean Digney (Down)
Junior singles
Barry Devlin or Paul Shields (Down) v Terry Kiernan (Monaghan)
Intermediate singles
Shane O’Neill v Caolan Daly or James Brady (Cavan)
Over 35b singles
Rory Grogan v Martin Turley (Down)
Silver masters b singles
Kenny Curran v Kevin McParland (Antrim)
Ladies intermediate singles
Lisa McAleer v Avril McNamee (Donegal)
Ladies junior b singles
Michelle Warren v Niamh Farrell (Monaghan)
ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP DOUBLES SEMI-FINALS
Sunday 10th February
Minor doubles
Gabhainn McCrystal & Pol Clarke v Pat Havern & Stephen Digney (Down) at St Mellan’s, 3pm
Johnny Woods & Patrick McCrory v Darren Doherty & Eugene McGeough (Monaghan) at Armagh, 2pm
Junior b doubles
Mark McCullagh & Joseph Kelly v Sean Digney & Martin Turley (Down) at St Mellan’s, 2pm
Junior doubles
Barry Devlin & Ryan Daly v Paul Fitzpatrick & Eddie Halligan (Cavan) at Loughmacrory, 3pm
Intermediate doubles
Shane O’Neill & Gary McCrory v Mark McGowan & Mark Marley (Donegal) at St Mellan’s, 4pm
Masters b doubles
Finbarr Fullen & Kenny Curran v Noel Roberts & Sean McGurn (Antrim) at Carrickmore, 2pm
 
There was county championship action on Sunday at under-13, under-14 and under-15 level and the final pairings are now known in all three grades in singles.
 
Antoin Fox and Cormac Munroe will contest the under-13 final after winning their semi-finals against Darragh Canavan and Ronan Curran, while Ciaran Cuddy and Turlough Clarke will battle it out for the county under-14 title, and Ciaran Daly and Tiernan McCrystal will come face to face in the under-15 decider.
All six of these players won their way through the county trials recently to make the Tyrone juvenile team for the Ulster championships which get underway this weekend.
Tiernan McCrystal (under-15 singles) and Ciaran Daly and Eoin Quinn (under-15 doubles) will launch their provincial championship campaigns in Gort na Mona, Belfast, on Saturday morning, with the rest of the Tyrone boys team in action the following weekend.
Emer Kerr (under-13 singles) and Clodagh Donaghy and Chloe McElhinney (under-14 doubles) will also play their opening championship games this Saturday in Beragh, with most of the remaining members of the Tyrone girls team in action on February 16th.
Four members of the 2013 Tyrone juvenile squad will be representing their county and province in the All-Ireland Gael Linn event which is set to be staged in Kingscourt this Saturday.
There will be eight teams, consisting of an under-13 boy and girl, competing for the national title, with two clubs representing each province.
The Ulster flagbearers will be the Carrickmore pairing of Cormac Munroe and Ciara Mullan, and Loughmacrory duo Antoin Fox and Caitlin Conway, with both teams coming through the provincial qualifiers successfully two weeks ago.
 
There were more members of the Tyrone juvenile squad to the fore in last week’s Tyrone Cumann na mBunscoil finals which took place in Carrickmore, including Dara Curran, Cathair Munroe, Mairead Fox and Caitlin Conway.
 
St Teresa’s Loughmacrory claimed four of the eight county titles through Mairead Fox (under-11 girls singles), Caitlin Conway (under-13 girls singles), Dara Curran and Patrick Curran (under-13 boys doubles), and Grainne Curran and Niamh Fox (under-13 girls doubles).
 
Brian McAleer from Recarson PS took the boys under-11 singles title, with St Colmcille’s Carrickmore capturing the under-11 boys doubles through Cathair Munroe and Tiernan McGarrity. Caolan McCartan won the under-13 boys singles title for Beragh and the girls under-11 doubles title went to Drumduff.
 
Meanwhile, there were some enthralling encounters served up at the Ulster colleges finals in Truagh last week as Tyrone representatives claimed three out of a possible seven Ulster titles, with one more final to be played this weekend which is guaranteed to produce another Tyrone win.
 
Two of last Thursday’s finals couldn’t have been closer and brought contrasting fortunes for the Tyrone players involved.
 
While Cormac Munroe secured a 15-14 tiebreak victory over St Macartan’s Aaron Mohan to give DeanMaguircCollege, Carrickmore, a thrilling victory in the under-13 singles final, there was an agonising 15-14 tiebreak defeat for Omagh CBS pair, Pauric Mullan and Ronan McKay, at the hands of St Pat’s Cavan in a breathless under-15 doubles decider.
 
Jack Campbell ensured St Ciaran’s Ballygawley featured on the provincial roll of honour with an impressive under-15 singles triumph over his Breacach clubmate Sean Kerr, who was representing DeanMaguircCollege.
 
Patrick McCrory earned the ‘Dean’ a second Ulster title with a narrow victory over former Dean pupil Gabhainn McCrystal, who was wearing the colours of Omagh College, and Johnny Woods, representing St Ciaran’s, was denied victory by Monaghan star, Darren Doherty, in another exciting final at under-17 level. Amazingly these same two matches were repeated three days later on Sunday in the Ulster minor championship semi-finals, with McCrystal reversing the result against McCrory and Woods coming agonisingly close to exacting revenge on Doherty, losing by the narrowest of margins.
 
The Dean, meanwhile, lost last Thursday’s boys under-19 doubles final as Ruairi Begley and Sean Loughran succumbed to St Macartan’s, while Omagh CBS pair, Matthew McCartan and Niall Allison, went down gallantly to St Macartan’s in Saturday’s under-17 doubles final.
 
The last final to be played this weekend at under-13 will be a local derby between Omagh CBS (Lorcan McBride & Antoin Fox) and DeanMaguircCollege (Ronan Curran & Ciaran Cuddy), which is expected to be staged in Loughmacrory.
The Ulster winners, which include Tyrone’s Maeve  McElduff in the girls senior singles and Aoife Kelly and Elise McCrory in the junior doubles, will go into the All-Ireland colleges semi-finals on Saturday 16th February.
 
Boys Ulster Colleges Final Results…
 
U13 Singles: Cormac Munroe (DeanMaguircCollege, Carrickmore) defeated Aaron Mohan (St Macartan’s Monaghan) 11-15, 15-5, 15-14
Junior Singles: Jack Campbell (St Ciaran’s Ballygawley) defeated Sean Kerr (Dean Maguirc Carrickmore) 15-6, 15-8
Junior Doubles: Thomas Donohoe & Stephen Smith (St Pat’s Cavan) defeated Pauric Mullan & Ronan McKay (Omagh CBS) 15-4, 13-15, 15-14
Intermediate Singles: Darren Doherty (St Macartan’s) defeated Johnny Woods (St Ciaran’s Ballygawley) 15-13, 15-10
Intermediate Doubles: Ramunas Ramanauskas & Conall McKenna (St Macartan’s) beat Matthew McCartan & Niall Allison (Omagh CBS) 15-9, 15-14
Senior Singles: Patrick McCrory (Dean Maguirc) defeated Gabhainn McCrystal (OmaghCollege) 6-15, 15-10, 15-9
Senior Doubles: Ryan Treanor & C Bogue (St Macartan’s) defeated Ruairi Begley & Sean Loughran (Dean Maguirc) 15-6, 15-9
Friday 8th February @ Loughmacrory (to be confirmed)…
U13 Doubles: Lorcan McBride & Antoin Fox (Omagh CBS) v Ronan Curran & Ciaran Cuddy (Dean Maguirc)