Mayo's Vincent Moran failed in his bid to capture a first ever All-Ireland senior singles hardball title at Mullingar on Saturday evening but he made the eventual winner — Eoin Kennedy of Dublin — work hard for his win. Kennedy dominated from the off and took the first game surprisingly easily on a 21 aces to six scoreline. However the Ballaghaderreen man came good in the second, playing some fantastic handball, and he won it 21 aces to 12. Kennedy raced into a commanding 11 aces to one lead in the deciding third and, despite Moran's best efforts, he was unable to recover from that bad start and lost it 21 aces to 10.
There was better news for Mayo at Coca Cola sponsored Handball Feile hosted by Clare over the weekend. The Kiltimagh boys’ team are the toast of Mayo as the side won the 40x20 division two title in impressive style. They beat Inverin of Galway, Bridgetown of Carlow, and Monaghan Harps on Saturday afternoon to qualify for Sunday’s decider at Clarecastle.
The team of T J Byrne, Killian Finn, Shane Walsh and Robbie Gill and sub Martin Byrne put in a storming performance to see off their Monaghan challengers in the two doubles games on an overall 32 aces to 13 victory. T J Byrne and Shane Walsh are back in action again next weekend as they make the trip to compete in the boys’ u14 singles event at the prestigious Leixlip tournament.
Killala, who competed in the boys’ division three, beat Clarecastle in qualifying but lost out to Wexford and Kilkenny sides in their other group matches and missed out on a place in that final, while the Newport boys’ team narrowly lost out on a place in the Division four final as they were defeated 42-34 by St Canice’s of Kilkenny at the semi-final.
