Hive of championship activity for local handballers

It has been a busy few weeks on the Mayo handball circuit with alleys around the county buzzing with activity.

Building on the success of the inaugural Winter League, a follow-on 40x20 Spring League was organised to help with championship preparations. 36 players from eleven clubs within Mayo as well as others from Sligo and Roscommon, entered the competition.

The finals were hosted by Claremorris on Saturday, February 24, last. In the ‘A’ division final, Mikey Kelly (Claremorris) played Shane Heraty (Aughagower). The first game was very tight but Heraty took control in the second, comfortably winning in the end.

The ‘B’ final was an enthralling encounter that saw a contrast of styles, in which the energetic Eoin Fox (Bofield) defeated Travis Gibbons (Collooney). The ‘C’ final brought together Darren Walsh (Kiltimagh) and Liam McCormack (Claremorris). Both players were slow to settle but as the game progressed, Walsh came into his stride and pulled away to claim the laurels.

At youth level, great work is currently being done by coaches in Aughagower, Belcarra, Bofield, Claremorris and Newport. Clubs are at last returning to comparable levels of activity that they enjoyed before the disastrous impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The young handballers of the county have achieved several notable successes recently. Isla Fox (Bonniconlon NS/Bofield) won the Cumann na mBunscol girls U11 competition and subsequently represented Connacht at the national finals in Croke Park where she performed very well. She recently also won the Connacht U11A girls singles championship.

In the Cumann na mBunscol Connacht doubles finals, Mayo achieved second place in U11 boys (Shane Rafter and Patrick Judge, Bonniconlon NS/Bofield), U11 girls (Orlaith Mongan and Kate Ralph, Belcarra), U12 boys (John Foody and Jack Monaghan, Claremorris), and U13 girls (Ruth Hallinan and Kayla Nally, Clogher NS/Belcarra).

In the Connacht 40x20 juvenile championships, William Cahill and Conor Melvin (Bofield) won the Connacht U11 boys doubles, while Eoin Tuohy and Conor Melvin narrowly lost the Connacht U12 boys final after playing some great handball.

Seán Nevin and Feidhlim Guilfoyle (Newport) are the Connacht U14 boys doubles champions after seeing off the Galway pairing of Adam Hanley and Ryan Ferri. In the Connacht U15 boys doubles, Bofield’s Calum Durcan and Ronan Gallagher were second best in the final to Lisacul's Michael Greene and John Reilly (Roscommon). Belcarra Handball Club can proudly boast the notable distinction of producing both the girls and boys Connacht U17A champions of 2024, with Shauna Hallinan and Tiernan Brady bringing home the honours for Mayo.

In the 40x20 adult doubles championships, Mayo fared well at provincial and All-Ireland semi-final level this year but unfortunately failed to win any titles at the All-Ireland finals played in Croke Park over the weekend of March 9/10.

In the Over-35 doubles championship, Aughagower partners Shane Heraty and Mark MacNally won their way through Connacht and saw off Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final (21-14, 21-11) but narrowly lost to Wexford in the final (16-21, 17-21).

In the junior doubles, Mayo’s Lorcan Conlon (Bofield) and Paddy Murphy (Claremorris) qualified for the Connacht final but lost a tight contest to Galway’s Séamus Conneely and Conor Noone (16-21, 19-21). Bofield brothers Michael and Alan Gilmartin played very well to win the Connacht junior ‘B’ championship for Mayo, beating Rónán Ó Curraoin and Cian Ó Fathartha (Galway) in the provincial final, but unfortunately then fell to Clare (15-21, 3-21) in the All-Ireland semi-final.

In the Masters ‘A’ championship, Dessie Keegan and Vinnie Moran came through a close battle in their All-Ireland semi-final against Tipperary – with a brilliant kill from Vinnie to win it at the death (15-21, 21-19, 11-10) – but in the final they lost (5-21, 7-21) to very formidable opposition from competition favourites Cavan, who were represented by James Brady and former world champion Paul Brady. Having exited at the penultimate stage in 2023, Ballinrobe’s John Coyne and Tom Sweeney went a step further this year in the Emerald Masters ‘A’ doubles championship by defeating Limerick in the semi-final (21-3, 21-5) but did not perform to the best of their ability in the All-Ireland final and fell heavily to Meath opposition.

Veterans Joe Cummins (Bofield) and Séamus Hughes (Ballinrobe), who enjoyed All-Ireland success together in the big alley last year, were hoping to make up for their disappointment of losing the 40x20 All-Ireland final on a tiebreaker in 2022. They overcame Cork in this year’s Diamond Masters ‘B’ semi-final (21-2, 21-17) but unfortunately came up just short again in the final, with the purple and gold from the south-east once more proving to be Mayo’s nemesis (12-21, 16-21).

In the Golden Masters ‘B’ semi-final, Mayo’s Tom Malone and Martin McAndrew lost to Clare (19-21, 6-21). Ollie Cassidy and Niall Joyce also failed to make it past the All-Ireland semi-final stage in the intermediate championship, losing to Cork (9-21, 17-21). In the All-Ireland intermediate ladies final, Mayo’s Maria Burke and Clodagh McManamon, both from the Newport club, lost to Tyrone’s Elizabeth McGarvey and Caitlin Conway (4-21, 6-21), having unfortunately had to concede home advantage to the northern pairing. It is good to see Clodagh back representing Mayo in handball. She announced her return in style by winning the ladies ‘B’ competition played on the She’s Ace festival weekend in Croke Park in January.

In the Connacht 40x20 adult singles championship currently underway, Eoin Fox, Darragh Sweeney, Lorcan Conlon, Paddy Murphy, Peter Cassidy, Alan Gilmartin, Michael Corley, Martin McAndrew and Michael Heraty have all successfully progressed through their opening games.

In the All-Ireland senior singles championship, last year’s junior ladies champion Cuileann Bourke (Belcarra) had a very difficult opening round assignment against reigning All-Ireland senior champion Ciana Ní Churraoin of Galway, who beat her convincingly. In the men’s senior singles championship, Niall Joyce (Claremorris) was defeated by Sligo’s Cormac Finn (Ballymote) 21-15, 21-19 in the opening round.