Dessie Keegan and his Dublin partner Eoin Kennedy had a great run in the US Open of handball tournament at Fountain Valley California last weekend.
The number three seeds in the featured men’s open doubles event saw off the challenge of US pair Amando Ortiz and Dessie Morales comfortably in their quarter-final match on Friday and then accounted for the second seeds, Kilkenny’s Ducksy Walsh and Meath’s Tom Sheridan in the semi-final on Saturday afternoon on a remarkably comfortable 21-7, 21-11 scoreline. Sunday’s thrilling final which was webcast live on the internet saw Keegan and Kennedy take on three time champions, Marco Chavez and Vince Munoz from the US.
The Americans were in command of the opening game and led 18 aces to 12 at one stage. Keegan and Kennedy found aces hard to come by as Chavez and Munoz served out for the first game at 20 -12, but Keegan and Kennedy got in to serve and made six aces without reply to cut the deficit to three but that is as close as the Irish duo got as they lost the opener 21 aces to 18.
Keegan in particular upped his game substantially in the second and the Irish pair built up a good 14 aces to six lead. Chavez and Munoz did narrow the game to four aces at 14-10 but some fine play by both Irish players saw them take the second 21 aces to 13. There was very little to choose between the two sides in the 11 aces tie-break but try as they might Keegan and McCann found aces hard to come by and the American duo served out for the title at 10-7. It did look as if the Irish duo would get a second chance as Kennedy killed the ball but a dubious replay call by the referee meant a re-serve and this time Chavez and Munoz served out for the match by winning the tie-break 11 aces to seven.
On the domestic front, Claremorris recorded a reasonably comfortable 82 -64 win over Bofield in the county junior B club semi-final on Sunday last and they will take onNewport this week. The winners of that match take on Swinford in the final next weekend at a venue to be decided on Thursday. The annual Liam Roache Cup takes place at Castlebar and Belcarra this Sunday with the draws taking place at 11am and all are welcome. St Paul’s in Belfast hosts the Golden Gloves tournament also this weekend and Joe McCann, Vincent Moran, Stephen Cooney and Dessie Keegan are all confirmed entrants in the Men’s Open singles event. Hopes are high that the Annual John Gaffney Memorial Juvenile tournament can go ahead this Sunday October 31 at Williamstown. The boys and girls seeded doubles event is open to all beginners and improvers of 14 years or younger.
