HARPS HANDBALL
Monaghan Town Under-13 handball team won Gold at the Community Games National Finals on Saturday at the Roscommon venue of Curraghboy.   The team was well behind going into the last singles match in the Semifinal clash with Tipperary after a poor display in the doubles.  However Justas Dambinskas failed to be deterred by a deficit of 19 points and went on to amaze a packed gallery with a display of unbelievable handball in the singles to turn the aggregate scores in Monaghan’s favour.  The final itself looked a formality for an extremely strong Roscommon team especially as they had witnessed the below par performance by Jakub Szkup and Konrad Kowal in the doubles.  What followed was a masterclass in handball technique by Caileán Myles to defeat Roscommon’s best player to give Monaghan a big early lead. The Roscommon player was visibly shocked by the powerful spin serves from the Monaghan player.  Credit for what happened next must certainly go to the tactical expertise of Monaghan coach, Martin, who must have been under pressure to change the doubles pairing. However the pairing remained unchanged much to the delight no doubt of the opposition coach. What certainly had changed was the performance of Jakub and Konrad. They played with such determination that the large vocal suppport fell vitually silent as the Monaghan boys proceeded to win two out of the three games to give Monaghan an unassailable lead going into the final singles.  Victory followed soon after.  There was then a mad dash to get into Athlone for the medal ceremony in front of a huge Monaghan support.

Victory for Eoghan in Williamstown

News of success in Roscommon was soon followed up by reports coming in from the Galway venue of Williamstown.  Eoghan Mc Ginnity had reached the final of the Under-11 One-Wall tournament where he was to meet the Tyrone player who had defeated him in Lurgan last summer. There is no doubt that Eoghan’s handball skill has improved a lot since then and he duly showed an appreciative group of spectators that this season he will be difficult to beat.  He went on to win this open tournament with his usual topclass kill shots and faster well-placed serves.  Eoghan sister’s Louise also entered this competition for the first time and she performed very well.  Eoghan’s family would like to thank the great Ducksy Walshe, Oisín Naughton and Monaghan Harps coach for their advice and coaching in recent weeks.

MELLANS HANDBALL
County Presentation. Remember keep free tomorrow evening Friday the 1st of June as the county presentation will take place in the Harps Complex at 9:30pm sharp, all county adult winners and Runner up’s of all grades must attend to receive their trophies.
Adult County Doubles Championships. Ian Treanor and Eamon Todd played Sean Clerkin and John Mc Geough from Bawn in the Nov1 Doubles final Tuesday evening past results next week.
Masters Doubles Fixtures. Hard luck to Darrin O Reilly and John Kelly who were defeated by Kevin Mc Cague and Cormac Sherry from Tydavnet in the Masters Final last Tuesday evening.
Club Presentation. Our annual club presentation night which will take place on the 23rd of June in St.Mellans, we hope to see all winners and runner-ups out and as many members for a bit of craic.
Community Games. The Community games team played last weekend in the Community Games National Final we had no report going to print so full report in next week.
Feile Na Gael. The Feile na Gael team will soon be called into action, and the team of boys are James Mc Kenna, Gary Mc Kenna, Aaron Mohan, Ryan Mohan, Gary Mohan and Cormac Mc Kenna, so keep practising and keep in shape for the national competition.
Summer Play. As many club members as possible should avail of the free lighting in the alleys during some slightly summery evenings, remember parents get them in to the alleys during the wet evenings.