MELLANS HANDBALL

All Ireland Semi-Final. Christopher Mc Kenna(D) takes center stage again this time in the U21 All Ireland Semi-final with Terry Mc Elvaney from the Harps, there they take on

Killian Carroll and Patrick Herilry from Cork, a very strong pairing, one great advantage especially for Christopher was we had a home game in St.Mellans but this game had to be moved to Tydavnet as they could accommodate a large crowd, this is very disappointing for the boys and the club, the game is at 2pm in Tydavnet Sunday coming the 24th so all support would be very much appreciated.

All Ireland Final. There are still no word on Michael Mc Carron’s All Ireland but when we get date time and venue we will be published all the details.

Adult Club Competitions. There are now fixtures up for all both sections in the club doubles competitions, the High House and the Coalisland Fireplace Doubles have been emailed out and are on the notice board in St.Mellans, the singles are now reaching semi-final stages and we ask any outstanding games to be played, thank you.

Adult County Junior Final. Eamon Todd’s Junior Final still hasn’t been rearranged but when we get the new fixture we will text out to club members so all can travel to support.

Juvenile County Doubles. A list of the doubles both girls & boys that are entered into the county doubles for our juveniles is on display at both alleys so keep practicing as this will be the last juvenile outing of the year.

BAWN HANDBALL

Well done to Gary mc Elroy Bawn along with Conal Mc Kenna from emyvale who played Clare in the all-ireland U17 doubles semi final in clarecastle last Saturday, despite a great performance the lads were unlucky this time against a strong Clare pair. Juvenile training is still every Saturday evening at 5 and with almost 30 boys and girl’s taking part from Bawn, latton, corduff, shercock and annaghmullen . Preparations are going well for our 80th anniversary /gathering event on14th -16th June, all clubs are asked to keep note of these dates for a charity handball competition, details later.

HARPS HANDBALL

Ramunas Reaches Final
Ramunas Ramanauskas had to dig deep against a very gallant and sporting Ciarán O’Neill from Waterford in the All-Ireland semifinal in Under 17 Singles which was played in Broadford County Limerick on Saturday last.  Ramunas won the first game by 21 points to 13 primarily by using low powerful serves coupled with excellent killshots. However he had expended a lot of energy in the process and the superior fitness of O’Neill told in the second.  The Waterford player deservedly won this game by 21 points to 9.  In the tiebreak Ramunas benefitted from some astute advice from his coach who recommended a change of pace to conserve energy and a mixture of different serves.  This seemed to work somewhat although points were hard to come by.  A few excellent killshots got Ramunas across the line and into his second All-Ireland final in 2 years – the last being the 60×30 final which he lost.  His opponent there will be the powerful Meath player Robert Fox.  They have met before with the honours even so an excellent final is in prospect.  The venue is likely to be in Kilkenny next week.
Ramunas now joins fellow Harps player Terry Mc Elvaney who will compete in the Under 21 Singles against Galway’s  Martin Mulkerrins.  Terry is also involved with Christopher Mc Kenna in the Doubles Semifinal which will be played in Scotstown this weekend.  Their opponents are Killian Carroll and Pa Herlihy from Cork.  The Cork players are firm favourites to win this one.
There was disappointment at the Tipperary venue of Ballyporeen for Conor Mc Donnell and Paul Cassidy who lost in the third game against
locals Pat Ryan and Michael Maher in the Golden B Semifinal. Having won the first game quite comfortably the Monaghan duo came within 2 points of victory in the second only to lose by 21 points to 19. Some crucial decisions did not go their way and the third game went to the Munster pairing.

TYDAVNET HANDBALL

Ulster juvenile handball championship finals

The Ulster juvenile handball championships were not a happy hunting ground for our players on Saturday week last. Both Conor Leonard and Conor Mohan were defeated in the U15 final and U16 doubles finals respectively. As luck would have it both our players were struck down with the stomach bug that has been doing the rounds this past few weeks and both were unable to produce the kind of handball that they are capable of. One thing is for sure is that if both players had been in full health there would have been different scorelines but as it was neither had the energy to dominate proceedings although both gave it all they had. In the U15 doubles final, James McCagueand Monaghan Harps Martin Mullen were defeated by a very strong doubles pairing from Cavan in St Patricks handball club in Cavan. Finally Casey Treanor received a W/O in the U17girls final as her opponent Aishling Fagan from Armagh was unable to play.

County GAA leagues and championships

The Tydavnet A team have reached the semi-final of the GAA league where they will play St Mellan B and more news of this later. Also our adult team in the county league have reached the semi-final and more on their opponents next week. We have still a number of doubles pairs involved in the doubles championships and we wish all of them good luck.