JUNIOR HANDBALL NATIONALS
Draws for the Junior Nationals Finals Weekend taking place on April 18th & 19th are now available. After a series of qualifier games across the country last weekend, grades have been whittled down to the Last 16 players in each grade.
This year sees a cherished spot on Team Ireland for the upcoming World Championships in Canada for the winners of the Boys & Girls 15&U, 17&U and 19&U grades. The depth of quality in the majority of the grades will lead to plenty of excitement and fantastic battles over the weekend, which has become one of the highlight weekends in Irish Handball’s calendar.
Grades will be split across venues in Cavan & Monaghan, with Kingscourt being the primary base for the event. Sunday’s action will see all finals take place under the one roof in Kingscourt as Juvenile Team Ireland will be decided.
CARRICK HANDBALL
The Carrick Handball Blitze was held in Carrick last weekend with over 30 handballers from Bawn,Corduff,Tydavnet and Carrick handball clubs,competing over Friday Saturday and Sunday for the trophy. Mickey Clerkin from Bawn eventually came out on top defeating David Treanor from Tydavnet in the final. The tournament was a great success and ran without a hitch. Congratulations to Ronan and the boys on a really well run competition.
HARPS HANDBALL
Outstanding Performances by Monaghan Handballers
Double Ulster team champions, Monaghan, made the long journey to St. Joseph’s Community Centre, Wexford on Sunday to compete against the best young players from the other provinces. The twelve players involved, representing their clubs, Bawn, Monaghan Harps and St. Mellan’s, performed brilliantly against the top juveniles in the country at present.
Monaghan Handball salutes the performances of Tiarnán O’Rourke, Seán Callan, James Allen, Deivydas Kaklauskas, Ben Mc Geough, Ailandas Jocys, Jakub Szkup, Benas Semeta, Hubert Sheinbach, Konrad Kowal, Ryan Harnett and Eoghan Mc Ginnity.
With holidays and withdrawals hampering team preparation, it was expected that the Monaghan teams would struggle but the opposite was the case as every player fought for every point. An astute decision to promote Ryan Harnett and Eoghan Mc Ginnity from the Under 12/13 team to the U14/15 team made all the difference as the latter team reached the All-Ireland final by defeating a strong Kilkenny team by a mere 2 points total. Konrad and Hubert were 10 points down going into the last match and in a nail-biting last game overturned tthe deficit to win by two. In the final Monaghan just lost out to Clare in a final that went to the very last match. Highlight of the semi-final and final was the unbelievable individual performance of Harps player Eoghan Mc Ginnity. This augurs well for his attempt to win the Nationals title next week in Kingscourt. Good luck also to Tiarnán and Seán in the doubles.
Spare a thought for Monaghan’s younger team which lost in the semifinal to the eventual winners and strong favourites Kilkenny. The results: Tiarnán and Seán lost to Kyle Dunne and Gearóid Phelan 15-5, 15-5. Deivydas and James lost to Jamie Meagher and Jack Doyle 15-7, 15-9. Ben and Ailandas lost to Billy Drennan and Seán Purcell 15-2, 15-2. Kilkenny were easy winners in the final.
It was 11pm when 2 tired but jubilant Monaghan teams reached home. Thanks to the Monaghan Handball Board, the parents, Conlon’s Coaches and the team managers Martin Mc Entee and Eugene Mc Ginnity.
