Juvenile All Ireland Semi-Finals. Good luck to Donnacha Mc Cluskey (St Mellans Handball Club) and Ethan Mc Carron (Monaghan Harps Handball Club) in the boys U17 All Ireland Doubles Semi-final on Saturday in Kingscourt, there they take on Rody Morrissey & Daithi Colleran from Waterford, good luck boys, also good luck to Niamh Mc Elwain who plays in the girls U17 Singles All Ireland Semi-Final and to Calum Sherry who plays in the boys U16 Singles All Ireland Semi-Final, let’s hope all are travelling back up the road on Sunday morning for an All-Ireland Final!!

All Ireland Adult Championships Hard luck to Tydavnet’s Paul Cassidy who lost his All Ireland Semi to John Hurlihy of Cork in the Diamond Masters A Singles grade. Paul lost 21-17, 21-9. Hard luck also to St Mellan’s John Treanor who lost in the Diamond Masters B Singles All Ireland Semi-Final to Stephen Mc Inerney of Limerick 21-17, 21-10. Well done to both though for reaching All Ireland Semi Finals!

St.Mellans Handball Club 

Juvenile All Ireland Semi-Finals. Good luck to Donnacha Mc Cluskey who will partner Ethan Mc Carron (The Harps) in the boys U17 All Ireland Doubles Semi-final on Saturday in Kingscourt, there they take on Rody Morrissey & Daithi Colleran from Waterford, good luck boys, also good luck to Niamh Mc Elwain who plays in the girls U17 Singles All Ireland Semi-Final and to Calum Sherry who plays in the boys U16 Singles All Ireland Semi-Final, let’s hope all are travelling back up the road on Sunday morning for an All-Ireland Final, good luck from all in St.Mellans.

County U10 & U11 Juvenile Championships. St.Mellans HBC hosted the county’s first ever “U10 & U11 County Championships” we had over 20 club players entering both age groups with boys & girls mixed together, play started at 1pm and we had all wrapped up at half past 5 and by that time had completed a main and plate competitions in both age groups, it was great to see so many young players taking part at such a young age, the composure and skill level on display from players as young as 8 years old was superb, in the U10 section we had an all club final with Keegan Treanor (B) taking on James Treanor (M), and as all finals should this went down to the wire in a tie-breaker, Keegan took the first game 11-9, James fought back in the second game and took it 11-5 to force the 3^rd and final game, both players showed great timing and play as they pulled off great shots from all corners of the court, it was point for point until Keegan got over the line 11-9 to secure his first county title, we had all club players from the quarter final upwards, so all looks very good for us going forward to future championships, in the plate section of the U10’s Killian Sherry made the final, there he faced Ryan Gilsenan from Corduff, the plate section was a single game format, Killian battled well but just lost 11-8, again another great display from such a young player, then in the U11 section Aoibhinn Treanor won the plate final, again single game format, Aoibhinn took on Daragh Gilsenan of Corduff in the final, and she won it 15-11 with some great serves down both sides of the court, well done Aoibhinn, also in the U11 main section Caoimhin Mc Meel lost a tough fought semi-final 11-7 in the tie-breaker, again all has to be commended on their displays of all skills required throughout, a big thank you to Annette & Joanne for setting up refreshments and to Ashling and Danielle for helping with the hand out of refreshments, and a massive thanks to Mark & Paddy for refereeing for the full afternoons proceedings,, well done men.

Juvenile Leagues. The juvenile doubles leagues are near a conclusion, so when this happens we will have a presentation night to give all the winners their silverware.

All Ireland Adult Championships. Hard luck to club man and county chairperson John Treanor who lost in the Diamond Masters B Singles All Ireland Semi-Final to Stephen Mc Inerney of Limerick 21-17, 21-10, the lob serve was John’s un-doing, just frustrated John throughout, hard luck John, roll on ’24, in Diamond Masters A Singles Paul Cassidy lost his All Ireland Semi to John Hurlihy of Cork, Paul lost 21-17, 21-9, hard luck Paul.

Adult Club Competitions. Two of the last remaining adult club competitions took place Monday night past (March 13^th), in the “Oakbeech Construction” Ladies open final Aoibhinn Mc Cluskey took on Niamh Mc Elwain, Aoibhinn just had too much of a variation in her serve and play and ran into a lead that Niamh just couldn’t catch, and in doing so won the first game 21-1, in the second Niamh started to handle Aoibhinn’s serve but still was pushed back too often and then Aoibhinn would punish around the front and went on win the second game 21-11 and the title, well done girls, the second game of the evening was the “Hollands of Emyvale” junior Doubles, here we had Dermott Mc Kenna & Conor Treanor v Daithi Mc Meel & Vinnie Campbell, the first game went the way of Dermott & Conor on a score line of 21-15, but the second game worked out to be a ding-dong battle as it went to the wire, both teams not giving an inch and both having several chances to win but again Dermott & Conor got the all-important point to win 21-20 in a nail biter, well done all on a great game, both games were again live streamed by Eoin and can be viewed on FB, also along with all photo’s of all at the presentations, then next Monday evening in the “The Scarna Inn Cup” Intermediate Doubles final is Karl Mc Meel & Damon Hughes v Brian Connolly & Chrissy Meehan, then in the “Treanor Memorials Cup” senior final we have Patrick Mc Kenna & Joe Kelly v Fergal O Neill & Jake Mc Geough, good luck to all taking part, again all will be live-streamed!!!.