A fantastic day of handball in front of a capacity crowd in Kingscourt Cavan on Saturday saw Robbie McCarthy (Westmeath) and Aisling Reilly (Antrim) win the Mens and Ladies All Ireland senior titles. The day opened with a brilliant win by Breacach’s latest rising star, Johnny Woods, who became just the third player ever from the county to win the highly prestigious All Ireland minor crown. The brilliant young recent Premier League finalist in Tyrone, defeated Clare’s Fergal Coughlan in the 2014 O’Neills Sportswear All-Ireland Minor Championship decider in Kingscourt to claim that honour. A 21-13, 21-19 winning scoreline was enough to see him through, exhibiting tremendous character in an absorbing climax to the second game. Woods now still has the Minor Doubles final to come in one week’s tie when he will team up with Carrickmore’s Ryan Mullan in that final.
At Kells on Sunday Maeve McElduff provided a unique clean sweep of All Ireland Minor singles titles in Mens and Ladies codes for her club and County. A most impressive win over Kildare’s Katie Dagg in the semi final, Maeve McElduff was to face Ciana Ní Churraoin (Galway) in the minor title decider but a late confirmation that the Galway player was conceding that final due to injury, saw the Tyrone player secure the All Ireland Minor Singles honours.
It was a case of 50% success for Tyrone at the weekend as the O’Neill County claimed a unique All Ireland Minor singles championship double in the mens and ladies codes but lost out in the other two singles final appearances. Conor McElduff had the onerous task of taking on former Minor, Under 21 and All Ireland Intermediate Champion, Galway’s Martin Mulkerrins, in the All Ireland Under 21 Singles final. Despite tasting defeat in the end, Conor produced an outstanding performance to go down fighting and only losing out in the end in an epic tie-break encounter. Conor showed outstanding resolve to carve out a 21-20 win in the opening game but he then fell to a 21-12 defeat in the second before losing out 21-15 in the third.
The last remaining Tyrone player in an All Ireland Singles final at the weekend was Chris Curran in the Masters Singles decider in Leixlip. Curran only returned to the court in November, having been the CEO of GAA Handball in Croke Park for over 4 years and not competing at all in the sport since 2008. Having defeated Kilkenny’s Stephen Barcoe in the semi final, he found his much fitter opponent, John Corbett (Tipperary), too tough at the final hurdle. Curran lost out 21-13, 21-14 in the end, despite holding the lead for much of both games at 13-11 in the first and 14-8 in the second.
Carrickmore’s Caolan Daly and Darragh Daly fell to 2009 Open Doubles Champions, Mayo’s Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann, in the round of 16 of the 2014 All Ireland series on Sunday. The Daly brothers put up a gallant fight in a tough contest at Kingscourt by 21-14, 21-9.
Results:
Mens Minor Singles Final: Tyrone (Johnny Woods) dft Clare (Fergal Coughlan) 21-13, 21-19
Ladies Minor Singles Final: Tyrone (Maeve McElduff) w/o Galway (Cianna Ni Churraoin) inj
U21 Singles: Galway (Martin Mulkerrins) dft Tyrone (Conor McElduff) 20-21, 21-12, 21-15
Master B Singles Final: Tipperary (John Corbett) dft Tyrone (Chris Curran) 21-13, 21-14
Mens Open Doubles Round 2: Mayo (Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann) dft Tyrone (Caolan Daly and Darragh Daly) 21-14, 21-9
Tyrone hold major claims in weekend finals action
There were a total of 18 Tyrone players at the Pre All Irelands Press Night last Friday and of course 17 players still have finals to come in this weekend ahead and concluding the following weekend of 5th April. We are still awaiting full details and fixtures from Croke Park and these will be released here as soon as available.
The Tyrone Juvenile Handball team will be in action in their six All Ireland finals in Clarecastle this Saturday 29th March, with an 11am start. This is possibly one of the strongest ever Juvenile teams the county has assembled and hopes are high of honours being secured on the most prestigious Juveniles final day of the year.
Sean Kerr will bid to become just the third tyrone player to win the All Ireland Under 16 singles championship title when he takes on Tipperary’s Jerome Cahill. Kerr completed the clean sweep of Under 14 titles two season ago and looks a warm order to take the blue ribband event on Saturday. His club colleague, Eilise McCrory, faces her toughest test of the year against Rosommon’s Fiona Tully in the Girls Under 16 Singles final. Breacach club have already produced a very unique Minor Mens and Ladies double, and it would be an incredible achievement if they add the same double at under 16 level on Saturday.
Cormac Munroe and Darragh Canavan hold a massive chance in the Boys Under 14 doubles decider where they will face Tipperary. The duo, who reached a world 13 & Under doubles final back in 2012, came through a hugely competitive county and provincial series and can prevail to take All Ireland honours to Carrickmore. Aaron Owens and Tiarnan McCrystal have shown terrific resolve to win through in Ulster and at the semi final stages and face another tough test against Tipperary in the final.
Meanwhile, a very unique treble is on the cards for the Mullan family from Carrickmore. County Coach, Martin Mullan, will see all three of his children in action in All Ireland finals in the coming ten days which is a fantastic achievement alone. Ciara Mullan will face Clare in the Girls Under 14 singles final and following her eye-catching win over Kildare’s Leah Doyle in the semis will be very difficult to deny. Pauric Mullan then teams up with Matthew McCartan in the Boys Under 16 doubles decider. They have portrayed excellent qualities in reaching the title decider and take on a highly regarded Tipperary combination of Colin Ryan and Jason English in saturday’s final.
At adult level, Tyrone will also compete in three All Ireland doubles final at the weekend. On Saturday, Seamus McCrory and Rory Grogan will travel to Leixlip to take on tipperary in the Masters B Doubles Championship final and will be hard to stop in that having shown excellent battling qualities all through the 2014 series. Then ion Sunday the action will swing to Tinryland in Carlow as the Ladies Minor Doubles and Mens Under 21 doubles finals go ahead. Conor McElduff will now team up with US 19 & Under champion, Gabhain McCrystal, in the All Ireland Under 21 Doubles final this Sunday against a strong Cork partnership but the Breacach duo hold major claims there. In the Ladies Minor doubles, Maeve McElduff and Aoife Kelly will be hoping to add to their Under 16 Doubles All Ireland win of two seasons ago when they take on Clare in the final to open that programme.
Fixtures:
Saturday 29th March, in Clarecastle, Co. Clare [2 Courts], starting at 11am
BU14 Doubles: Tyrone (Cormac Munroe/Darragh Canavan) v Tipperary (John Mc Grath/Sean Mc Adams)
BU16 Singles: Tyrone (Sean Kerr) v Tipperary (Jerome Cahill)
BU16 Doubles: Tyrone (Matthew McCartan/Pauric Mullan) v Tipperary (Colin Ryan/Jason English)
BU17 Doubles: Tyrone (Aaron Owens/Tiarnan McCrystall) v Tipperary (Ceallach Hennessy/Liam Bradshaw)
GU16 Singles: Tyrone (Eilise McCrory) v Roscommon (Fiona Tully)
GU14 Singles: Tyrone (Ciara Mullan) v Clare (Bridin Dinan)
Saturday 29th March, in Leixlip, Kildare, 2pm:
Masters B Doubles: Tyrone (Rory Grogan/Seamus McCrory) v Tipperary (Martin McInerney/John Lee)
Sunday 30th March, in Tinryland, Carlow, 2pm:
Ladies Minor Doubles: Tyrone (Maeve McElduff/Aoife Kelly) v Clare (Natasha Coughlan/Lauren Tuohy)
Under 21 Doubles: Tyrone (Conor McElduff/Gabhainn McCrystall) v Cork (Michael Hedigan/Daniel Relihan)
Under 14/15 Team win Ulster title
Tyrone’s Under 14/15 Team (of 6) secured the Ulster title on Monday evening when they produced an impressive display overall to defeat Monaghan on a 90-38 scoreline on the night. The Team of Conor Kelly, Tiarnan McAleer, Colm Logue, Antoin Fox, Ronan Curran and Shane Grimes will now go forward to contest the All Ireland semi final on Finals day on Saturday 5th April. Conor Kelly & Shane Grimes were first on court and got the Red Hand team off to a great start, winning 15 7, 15 8. That was followed by Antoin Fox and Colm Logue who enjoyed a 15 12, 15 1 victory. Ronan Curran and Tiarnan McAleer were last on court and a 15 4, 15 6 win for them saw them through comfortably. Well done to all six players who will now prepare for the All Irelands in just under 2 week’s time.
