Moycullen handball club is on the crest of a wave. It is a little over a month since Martin Mulkerrins triumphantly returned home from Minneapolis as the World champion in the 40x20 court, the first Galway man and only the third Irish man to crowned World Number One.
In a matter of days, he was competing in the big alley, 60x30 court, and incredibly reached the Senior singles final but expectedly had to settle for Silver on that occasion. Martin has since had more time to transition to the big alley and has teamed up with younger brother Diarmuid to contest the Doubles championship.
They have, for the first time, qualified for next Saturday’s Senior 60x30 Doubles Final which is being played at 12 noon in the National Handball Centre, Croke Park.
The duo has played together before and reached two senior 40x20 finals. However, 60x30 is a different game, the ball is larger and heavier, the court is two and a quarter times bigger, the floor is concrete not timber, and the ceiling is not a playing surface.
Big alley is the traditional game which was played in alleys at crossroads all over the country. Thanks to the local community and Moycullen’s diaspora worldwide, Moycullen Handball Club developed a state-of-the-art 60x30 court in 2016 to ensure the continuation of the traditional game.
The local facility has given the Mulkerrins’ the opportunity to hone their big alley skills. Both brothers won the 60x30 Minor Single titles, Martin in 2010, 2011 and Diarmuid in 2017.
Reaching Saturday’s final showdown against the much fancied Meath duo, Brian Carroll and Gary McConnell, has been the Mulkerrins’ ambition. En route to the final the Galway lads beat Kilkenny in the quarter-final and Wexford in the semi-final without dropping a game in either match.
The brothers are bidding to bridge a 97-year gap to the first, and only, time a Galway pair claimed the 60x30 Doubles title. On that occasion, in 1926, it was J. Whyte & C. Barrett who brought the honours to Galway.
In the intervening years, only once more did a Tribesman claim a Senior 60x30 title, Michael Walsh was crowned 60x30 Singles champion in 1940. It’s worth noting that the big alley Doubles crown only crossed the Shannon to Connacht on five previous occasions, to Galway in 1926 as mentioned above, Roscommon 1932 &’33, Sligo 1947 and Mayo 1966.
The Moycullen lads and their Kells, Co.Meath opponents are no strangers to each other. The Meath pair got the better of the Moycullen brothers in the 2020 doubles 60x30 quarter-final. They clashed in last year’s 40x20 Senior final which the Galway pair agonisingly lost in a tiebreaker.
Prior to that in 2019 the Moycullen brothers, with club mates Seamus Conneely and Conor Noone defeated the Kells team in the All-Ireland Senior Inter-Club final.
McConnell and Carroll are bidding for their third title in four years. In the years before that Carroll partnered Sheridan and that duo won seven times, Carroll is going for his tenth Doubles title, hence Meath deservedly have the favourites tag for next Saturday’s final.
The Galway brothers will not be fazed by that are in it to win.
The match can be viewed live on GAA Handball Facebook page. Those travelling to the match will need to purchase tickets online available at www.gaahandball.ie
