The first ever ICHA one wall competition took place in the St Joseph's complex in Co. Wexford on 20th – 22nd November. A record number of eighty students representing thirteen colleges, took part in the singles one wall tournament, with forty also competing in the 40x20 doubles event which the ICHA ran simultaneously. This was the ICHA's 5th year returning to this venue, but this time the four one wall courts would be used in addition to its three 40x20 courts. By Conor O'Gorman
Men's One wall Open final
Martin Mulkerrins took the first seed following his impressive form at the One Wall Nationals in July. Mulkerrins ousted IT Tralee’s Cian Counihan in the round of 16, before fighting off a passionate display from Maynooth fresher Keith Armstrong in the quarter-final. Mulkerrins then faced a stern test in the semi-final from his new UCD clubmate Terry McElvaney, a fellow competitor in the Men’s Open One Wall Nationals, before prevailing on a scoreline of 26-17.
On the opposite side of the draw, UL’s Paudi Quish, who reached the semi-final of the One Wall Nationals, looked set to join Mulkerrins in the final, before he was stopped in his tracks by UUJ’s Conal McCavitt. All eyes focussed on a gripping semi-final on Saturday afternoon, in what was a repeat of the One Wall Nationals quarter-final. Although Quish came out on top in July, McCavitt claimed his revenge in Wexford, eventually overcoming Quish on a scoreline of 18-11 to set up a confrontation with Mulkerrins in the final.
In what was a packed hall on Saturday evening in St. Joseph’s, both Mulkerrins and McCavitt demonstrated an exhibition of pass shots, roll-outs, and incredible retrieval skills. The opening stage of the first game was a tight affair, with both men trading points and neither able to race ahead of the other. However, at 11-11 McCavitt eventually found his stride and marched ahead to a score of 14-11 and although Mulkerrins regained service twice more, he was unable to stage a comeback. McCavitt’s next spell between the service lines saw him seal victory 15-11.
With his UCD team mates urging him on, Mulkerrins started the stronger in the second game, determined to force McCavitt into a third game showdown. McCavitt, although chasing the game for most of its duration, showed admirable mental strength and stamina to prevent Mulkerrins from racing away with the game. The neutral spectators were excited at the prospect of a third game, especially those who had never witnessed the game being played at this level. With Mulkerrins serving at 14-11, McCavitt fired back returns fearlessly until Mulkerrins had to submit and retreat from the service line. With absolutely no intentions of being dragged into a tiebreaker, McCavitt powered through the final 4 marks of the game, sealing his 15-14 victory. Mulkerrins was left with nothing to do but applaud his victor and prepare himself for the 40X20 doubles final. McCavitt, the sole entry from UUJ, returned to his native Armagh with a gold medal from his first collegiate tournament, a phenomenal achievement that has been matched by few others.
Women's One wall
DCU's Aishling O'Keeffe and TCD's Ciara Mahon both came through a round robin tournament to make it to the women's Open final. These top women's players know each other only too well, having faced off in both ICHA tournaments so far this year! This final would take their encounters across all three codes of handball in the space of a month, with Aishling coming out two for two when they met in the 40x20 and 60x30 doubles. Mahon was surely eager to get back to winning ways against her DCU counterpart.
In the first game, Ciara got off to a dream start, going 8 up before Aishling could get on the scorecard. Ciara's precise serving and shot consistency left little for the DCU woman to work with; but after a timeout Aishling managed to recuperate some momentum, bringing the scoreline to 6-9 with an exhibition of low kills. Ciara wouldn't be denied however; she finished strongly and took the first game 15-8.
Another explosive start saw Ciara take a 7-0 lead in game two. Once more, Aishling found herself with an uphill battle ahead, but credit must be given to the Cork native; She dug deep and fought her way back into contention at 8-10. However, Mahon had more to contribute, and with some well struck passes, she to leapt to a 14-8 lead. O'Keeffe was unable to catch her after that, and although she managed to salvage two more points, the game never appeared to be out of the TCD student's control, who went on to a 15-10 victory.
Women's 40x20 Open Doubles
For the second year in a row the Women's 40x20 doubles final was contested by UL and DCU. Being the top seeds, UL's pairing of Ciana Ni Churraoin and Niamh Dunne received a bye to the final which meant that they would be the fresher of the two teams. DCU's Aishling O'Keeffe and Niamh Farrell meanwhile had an impressive tie-breaker victory over TCD's Ciara Mahon and Lisa McKenna in their Semi final, which meant that they came into the final already tested and in good form.
The first game saw Ni Churraoin and Dunne take control from the offset with some pinpoint serving and impressive passing shots. To their credit DCU made the UL duo work for every point, but simply couldn't capitalise on their time between the service lines, meaning UL where able to dominate on the scorecard. 21-4 was how the first finished.
The second was a similar affair. DCU were unable to reproduce the quality of their semi final clash, and were left chasing the game early on. UL's clinical serving was once again instrumental in their success. Some uncharacteristic unforced errors from DCU made it difficult to build any type of momentum and In the end UL ran out deserving winners on a comfortable scoreline of 21-8
Men's 40x20 Open Doubles
UCD's Martin Mulkerrins and Galen Riordan overcame DCU and NUIG en route to the final while their opponents, recent golden gloves finalist Peter Function, and intervarsity veteran Shane Hedigan, of ITT dispatched of both QUB and UL. The stage was set for the final match of the weekend with the viewing gallery at capacity. This was too close to call even for the gutsiest of gamblers; but those that dared leave the fence sided with last years victors and number one seeds UCD.
Game one looked as though ITT wanted to beat the traffic home. They raced out of the traps and stormed to an unprecedented 15-2 lead within ten minutes. The UCD pairing, along with the packed gallery, seemed stunned. No comeback, no late surge, this one was wrapped up in 15 minutes with ITT producing some fast paced attacking handball. They took the first on a 21-3 scoreline.
The second game was just as one sided as the first, but surprisingly this time it was UCD in the driving seat. The first game defeat seemed to push the south Dublin college into overdrive, which perhaps caught the Kerry partnership off guard. Before the fifteen minute mark the game was already out of ITT's contention at 16-3. A few stray aces at the conclusion made the final scoreline a little more respectable (even flattering) for ITT as UCD secured a 21-10 game two victory.
As far as predictions go we were back to square one. Both teams took a more measured approach into the tiebreaker with passes and roof shots being favored over the riskier flat roll-outs. But that didn't mean that that the drama was over. At 1-3 to ITT a particularly deceiving spin shot by Peter Function forced Galen to adjust his footing a little too quickly and twist his ankle in the process. An injury timeout was called for as Galen gingerly left the court with assistance from teammate Mulkerrins.
Luckily Galen was able to return to the fray, and continued to produce a great standard of handball in spite of his injury. However, it wasn't to be a fairytale ending for the UCD team as ITT closed out the third 11-4 to eruptuous applause from the appreciative crowd. Overall the joint one wall and 40x20 doubles format was a success. The weekend was packed with outstanding handball across all grades. On behalf of the ICHA I would like to take this opportunity to thank the St Joseph's club for once again letting us use their great facilities and for the snacks and beverages they provided. Credit also, to all the players who volunteered for refereeing roles, or other odd jobs given by the committee members. Your contribution ensured the tournament ran smoothly over the course of the weekend and was of great help to us!
Men's 40x20 Doubles
- Open: ITT (Funchion, Hedigan) dft UCD (Mulkerrins, Riordan)
- B: UL(Bradshaw, Nolan) dft NUIG (Carter, Ruane)
- C: UL (Nash, Sheehan) dft DCU (Duff, Delaney)
Women's 1-wall
- Open: UL (Ní Churraoin, Dunne) dft DCU (O'Keeffe, Farrell)
Women's 1-wall
- Open: Ciara Mahon (UCD) dft Aishling O'Keeffe (DCU)
- B: Niamh Farrell (DCU) dft Deirdre Purcell (UL)
Men's 1-wall
- Open: Conal McCavitt (UUJ) dft Martin Mulkerrins (UCD)
- A: Cian Counihan (ITT) dft Shane Hedigan (ITT)
- B: Conor Noone (NUIG) dft Paddy Curran (WIT)
- C: Jack Roche (DIT) dft Kyle Duff (DCU)