It was a somewhat disappointing World Championships for Mayo’s handballers overall, despite some fine performances the county drew a blank in terms of titles. Both Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann made surprisingly early exits from the feature Men’s Open event, Keegan losing out to Louis Moreno of the US while beaten finalist Alan Garner put paid to Joe McCann’s progress in the second round. Stephen Cooney lost out to Diarmuid Nash in the third round of the boys 19 and under, while he an Ian McLoughlin had a great run in the Men’s A doubles, only to lose out to the Tipperary-Tyrone combination of Ger Coonan and Caolan Daly at the semi-final stage.
Brian and Shane Heraty and Chris Gavigan were among the early casualties in the men’s C event, however Newport’s Dara Reid had a great run in this event, which had a record 83 entrants, only to lose out in the semi-final to the eventual winner, Shane Hedigan from Cork on a 21-14, 21-17 scoreline.
Heraty also reached the semi-final in the C doubles with Robert Farrelly from Meath but the duo lost out 11-7 in the tie-break to Johnny O’Connor and Shane Hedigan. Ciaran Burke lost out in the third round of the Men’s B singles to C J Fitzpatrick from Limerick.
Kevin Geraghty’s hopes of a title in the golden masters were also dashed by Mark Broveman from Canada on a 21-19, 21-15 scoreline. Ballaghaderreen’s Amy Corrigan had a great run in the girls under 17 singles event, reaching the final, however she lost out to Lorraine Havern from Down on a 21-6, 21-18 scoreline. Clodagh McMenamon and Leon Ryder came close to reaching the girls 19 and under final but they lost out in the semi-final to Roscommon pair Hilary Rushe and Leona Doolin on a 21-13, 19-21, 11-4 scoreline.
