HANDBALL

Fresh from his victory in Williamstown, Eoghan Mc Ginnity added the Under 12 Ulster One-Wall title in a thrilling final last Sunday in St. Kieran’s College, Ballygawley. However he did not meet Tyrone’s number 1 player, Lorcan Mc Bride, as expected in the final. In fact he came up against fellow Harps player Jakub Szkup who upset the odds by beating Tyrone’s triple-gold World medalist in the Semifinal.

The final itself, which lasted an hour,  was a thriller. A packed sportshall was treated to an amazing display of determination and skill and both players were treated to a standing ovation at the end.  And what a finish it was!  Eoghan easily won the first game 15-5 and seemed to be headed for victory.  However Jakub recovered well and forced Eoghan into errors to take the second 15-10.  The stage was now set for a tiebreak of such high quality that most of the spectators were in awe throughout. Eoghan again took an early commanding lead but Jakub fought back to level the match at 9-9.  You could hear a pin drop at this stage as both players were involved in long energy-sapping exchanges.  Inevitably the match came down to a single point for victory at 10-10. Either player could have won at this stage as at least 9 match points were saved in furious exchanges.  An error by Jakub saw Eoghan achieve that one-point victory. He now travels to the Roscommon venue of Mount Talbot for another tournament  in his preparation for the National One-Wall in Castlebar later this month.

Monaghan’s handball coach, Martin, received much praise for the high standard on display by the Monaghan players.  Indeed his policy of introducing younger players to competition to gain experience is paying great dividends. Evidence of this came in the performances of Ailandas, Deivydas, Louise, Hubert and Justas.  The latter had a great tournament and was only beaten narrowly in the Plate final.  A special mention goes to Ibrahim Sultan who reached the Under 16 Plate final after wonderful performances throughout the tournament.