Handball

TYDAVNET HANDBALL CLUB NOTES

The Anthony Cadden / Cathal Higgins handball tournament reached its climax on Friday night last when defending champion Paul Cassidy took on Ray Leonard in the final. On the way to the final, Paul played brilliant in the quarter final to defeat Conor Leonard who had earlier defeated Emmet Caulfield and Mickey Holohan. In the semi-final he had another superb victory over two times county U21 champion, Patrick McMahon who had earlier defeated Brendan Final in a cracking match. Leonard in the other half of the draw defeated Conor Bogue and then came through a tricky match against Mickey Eoin McMahon before defeating Conor Mohan in the semi-final. Conor had defeated Cormac Sherry in a marathon game in the quarter final. In the final itself, Paul got off to a great start and went seven points up but Ray Leonard who was looking to win this trophy for the first time gradually asserted control and won the match in two straight games 21-18, 21-14. Paul tried everything but Leonard had just to vast an array of shots and generally took the right decision and in truth he was a deserving winner of the cup.

There were many highlights in this years tournament and the club have some great young players coming through. James Corley’s match against David Treanor was brilliant, Conor Holohan also had a great match with Brendan Finan while Kevin Maguire and Damien McKenna played out a 30 – 29 thriller. Younger players such as Emmet and Ronan King, Cillian Sherry and Conor Leonard all played very well in there first time playing at this level. Next season we hope to start the season off with this tournament and we will probably revert to an open competition within the county.

U17 team of 4 competition: Well done to Tydavnet players James McCague, Conor Mohan, James Corley and Conor Leonard who travelled with their coach, Ray Leonard to county Clare at the weekend to represent Monaghan and Ulster in this team competition. In the semi-final they played very well to defeat Wexford but in the final they were beaten by a very strong Clare team.

County Championships: We have three players waiting to play in county championship finals. Paul Cassidy will play in the Junior final against St Mellon’s Eamon Todd, Mickey Eoin will play in the novice 1 final against Corduff’s Tim Oliver and David Treanor is in the novice 4 decider. We wish them all good luck.

HARPS HANDBALL

Wexford defeat Monaghan

Monaghan’s team of 6 lost the All-Ireland Semifinal to Wexford on Saturday at the Kilcolman club in Tipperary.

Last week we described the Wexford players as the most improved in handball at present and indeed this description was very accurate as the Leinster champions went on to easily defeat Tipperary in the final.

Monaghan sent in our youngest pairing first in the hope of at least getting enough points to stay in touch. Deivydas Kaklauskas and Tiarnan O’Rourke however came up against Wexford’s top pairing of Glen Murphy and Josh Kavanagh and, while they battled bravely, the opposition was supreme. Wexford won both games 15-3, 15-3.

Monaghan’s trump card was expected to pull back this deficit to give our last pairing a chance to push for overall victory. Unfortunately Eoghan Mc Ginnity and Ryan Harnett also lost both their games to the Wexford pairing of Richard Lawlor and Josh Mc Mahon. The scores were 15-8, 15-10. The Monaghan players were involved in numerous long rallies but Wexford again were too strong and built up a winning lead. The match as a contest was over as Jakub Szkup and Konrad Kowal played Cian Kehoe and Diarmuid Moore. Both Monaghan players were superb and at last the Farney boys notched up victory on the scores of 15-6, 15-9 thus leaving the overall scores 75-54 to Wexford.

An important factor during the match was that the court became very slippy due to condensation and, while this did not affect the overall result, Monaghan played the last match under protest.

In fact a very serious injury to Jakub was narrowly avoided as he slipped head first towards the side wall. Thankfully all players ended up with only minor injuries. We wish to thank the parents who helped provide transport for the long journey to Tipperary and for providing support to the team. We are justly proud of the team for reaching the semifinals and for representing county and province with distinction.

County Result

Conor Mc Donnell and Martin Mc Entee won the County Golden Masters Doubles last week with a narrow victory over Peter Brennan and James Fealy from Corduff.

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