BAWN HANDBALL
It’s All Ireland Final day this Sunday in Bawn when Eugene mc geough plays Colin Corbett (clare) in Kilkenny, Eugene has put in a lot of time Practicing these last few weeks and is in top form, thanks from the club to all who have helped with coaching and practice games , Michael Finnegan , Duxsy Walsh, Raymond Leonard , Martin mc Entee and members of our own club . It’s a great achievement getting this far and the whole club are proud of him . Our table quiz is taking place on 11th may in gallonray house more details next week. We have a number of adult beginners wanting to start playing and would welcome anyone else to join them, We are offering free membership till sept and an hour’s coaching to get you started . contact Eamon 0871236806.
HARPS HANDBALL
For the second weekend in a row Terry Mc Elvaney reached the All-Ireland Under 21 Final. On this occasion Terry and his St. Mellan’s partner, Christopher Mc Kenna, were competing in the Doubles final against Kilkenny opposition. This was a hard luck story for the Monaghan players as they lost over two very close games. The scores 21-16, 21-20 reflect how unlucky Terry and Christopher were. The match looked destined to go to a tiebreak but this was not to be. Indeed Monaghan had a good lead in the first game but the Singles champion, Patrick Funchion was not to be beaten.
There was great news at juvenile level when Ryan Mooney played his best handball this season and defeated the highly-skilled Tyrone youngster Turlough Clarke to win the Ulster Under 13 Singles. The scores were 15-14 and 15-9.
MELLANS HANDBALL
All-Ireland Finals. It was a disappointing day for the club and county as all the 3 sets of finalists were beaten on Saturday last at a change of venue in Kells Co.Meath. Eamon Todd & Christopher Mc Kenna (PJ) were beaten 21-5 21-4 by Darren O Toole & Malachy Whelan from Wexford in the Junior B final, the boys made some very uncharacteristic mistakes which give the Wexford men the upper hand and they never let up, but this experience will stand to you both for future finals of which there will be I’m sure. Our U21 representative of Christopher Mc Kenna(D) and Terry Mc Elvaney from the Harps lost the game of the day to Kilkenny duo Patrick & Peter Funchion, starting of in blistering form and killing from all ends the boys were 12-4 up in the first game only for the Kilkenny fight back to start and they began to eat into their lead and clawed back point by point to win 21-16. The second started with Kilkenny edging in front with our boys playing catch up all the time, then Christopher got an injury which seemed serious but with a 10 minute time-out they regained there composure and started their own fight back and being 20-16 down got back to 20-20 all, but it was not to be and they lost 21-20, but a very admiral fight boys and all who witnessed said there are definitely All Ireland titles still in you both, well done boys. And our final Monaghan pairing of Terry Keirnan(Cmx) & James Gavaghan(Corduff) were beaten by Paul Moran & Niall O’ Connor from Kildare 21-9 21-5 in the junior final, but all players should very proud of achieving what they did by reaching All Ireland finals and even though it was defeat for all, lets hope to see everyone back again next year and hopefully with a happier ending, well done.
Adult County Doubles Championships. We are still waiting for confirmation of the Nov.3 & Nov.4 finals but there have been delays due to injuries, and we also may be having another set of finalists as Gabriel Mc Aree and Aidan Keenan are waiting to play their Nov.4 semi-final but it has also been delayed due to an opponent’s injury.
Adult Club Championships. Both club Doubles finals are outstanding due to injury.
Juveniles. As all coaches have brought down the curtain on the juvenile club season we ask that during the summer months for all juveniles to try to keep playing a little bit of handball as this would stand to them greatly for next years season when it begins, remember parents if there are any wet evenings (of which I am sure there will be) send them down to the alleys.
Community Games. Good luck to our U15 team who now start playing in the Ulster round of games shortly.
Feile Na Gael. We have entered a 6-man team into Feile na Gael and will begin training with these boys shortly to keep them in shape as the competition approaches.
Prize Draw. We will be approaching club members if they would be interested in buying a ticket for the handball council, there are some brilliant prizes for the individuals and also for the club, all will be explained before purchasing.
TYDAVNET HANDBALL CLUB NOTES
JUVENILE CLUB LEAGUE.
On Thursday evening last the group 2 semi-finals and final for the Jack Murphy perpetual shield took place between James Curley v Fintan Hackett and Conor Mohan v Adrian Grew. In the first semi-final James won both games but Fintan played very well and was only defeated 15 – 14 in the first match. In the second match he was defeated 15 – 9 but there were some great rallies in both games and it was a three wall Z serve that helped get James over the line. The second semi-final between Conor Mohan and Adrian Grew was also all about the same Z serve which Conor has really perfected and this won him a lot of points. ForAdrian who only took up playing handball recently it was a great achievement to reach the semi-finals and he played some excellent handball but Conor made it through to the final. The big question in the final between James and Conor was who would have the better serve as both these players are very well matched and are both superb players. As it turned out, Conor after going 5 – 0 behind in the first game got in to serve and scored 12 unanswered points. James got back in a few times but Conor played the best he has played all year with brilliant returns and passing shots before winning the first game 15 – 9. The second game followed the same pattern and once again Conor used the serve to great affect and although James tried everything to get back into the game, Conor won the second 15 – 8 and therefore joined the list of winners of the Jack Murphy shield. Well done to all the players who took part in this group and the other two groups and a special mention to Arthur King who was the main organiser of the competitions and who gave a lot of time and effort ensuring that the leagues were so successful.
By michael Tue 3rd Apr
