Search Results for 'Leona Doolin'

Mayo duo Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann made a somewhat disappointing exit from the All-Ireland senior doubles championship as they lost out to Wexford duo Barry Goff and Colin Keeling in three games at Thurles on Saturday evening. There were hopes that the pair would at least threaten for a place in the last four of the doubles championship, and they started with great intent. This was rewarded with a fine 21 aces to 13 win in the opener that set them up nicely for victory. However matters took a turn for the worse after that initial good showing and Keegan, who had been unwell during the week, was unable to maintain the intensity of the first game and the duo paid the price, losing this second game heavily, 21 aces to 5.

The hugely successful Irish one-wall Nationals championships which concluded at the Breaffy House Resort on Sunday evening, yielded two hard-earned titles and one near miss for Mayo’s handballers. Following his final defeat last year, Aughagower’s Shane Heraty was the top seed in the 40 strong field for the Men’s C singles event. True to form Heraty won his opening match on Friday and added two more Saturday victories to reach Sunday morning semi-finals. Success in the encounter set up an afternoon showdown with Kilkenny’s Ciaran Neary. In a thrilling decider played in a single timed match Heraty kept his head and playing some brilliant handball he landed the title on a narrow 19 aces to 15 scoreline. Mayo were guaranteed the girls’ under 18 singles title after both Amy Corrigan and Leona Ryder reached the final. Corrigan defeated fellow Mayo ace Ciara McMenamon in her semi-final, while Leona Ryder pulled off one of the shocks of the weekend when she defeated the fancied Catriona Casey of Cork and Aoife McCarthy from Westmeath in the tough bottom section of the draw. It was also an excellent and sporting final with the Newport youngster prevailing over her four-wall doubles partner on an 18 aces to 16 scoreline.

There were no real surprises in the two provincial senior finals at Ballaghaderreen on Saturday afternoon as all-Ireland senior doubles champions Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann maintained their unbeaten run to take the provincial title at the expense of fellow club mates Vincent Moran and Campbell Brennan. The champions were in devastating form in a very one sided opener and they won it for the loss of just two aces. Moran and Brennan finally got around to playing some handball in the second and the duo, to their credit, made a real fight of it and it looked like the game could go either way at one stage. However Keegan and McCann did just enough to see off the challenge as they won the second 21 aces to 17. Marianna Rushe ran out the expected easy winner of the ladies’ senior singles final with an easy two games to nil victory over fellow St Coman’s contender Leona Doolin.

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.