Paul Fitzpatrick
Antrim's Aisling Reilly retained her O'Neill's Sportswear All-Ireland 40x20 Senior Singles title when she delivered a stunning performance to see off her great rival, Cork's Catriona Casey, in the final at Kingscourt, Co Cavan last Saturday.
While the St Paul's right-hander defeated Casey at the same stage last year, the Cork woman had beaten Reilly on the four occasions they had met since, including two huge finals in the States as well as the Irish Nationals and She's Ace final, and had looked to have taken the upper hand in the rivalry.
Such was Casey's dominance on the female circuit over the last 12 months that she has recently begun trying to become the first woman to qualify for a male professional event in the US. That was the context in which the powerful Reilly entered the final as underdog in the eyes of many observers but she made light of the challenge with a devastating display of controlled, aggressive handball en route to a comprehensive 21-15, 21-11 win.
The fired-up Belfast lady was just too powerful for the slightly shot-shy Casey, who found herself pinned back in the rear of the court and presented with little in the way of offensive opportunities.
Reilly laid down a marker with two rocket-like serves from the start and she rode her momentum to a 10-5 lead in game one.
The hustling Casey, who showed her speed and undoubted battling qualities throughout, dug in and seized back the initiative to go 15-14 ahead after a couple of uncharacteristic sloppy hand errors from Reilly but two mishits went the Antrim woman's way and a surge of confidence saw her over the line at 21-15.
Game two followed a similar pattern, Reilly dominating front court and ending rallies with flat kills and, in particular, powerful pass shots down the right which hugged the side wall.
She raced into an 11-6 lead but the game Rebel girl – who looked jaded, possibly as the result of her hectic tournament schedule in the States - was working hard to dig out her kill attempts and closed the gap once again.
Down the home stretch, though – and roared on by a large travelling support from Belfast – Reilly played her best stuff, 'flattening' a number of kills, including two sweetly-struck left corner fly kills, to run out a comfortable winner.
“It's hard to admit to yourself that you have to change your game to suit another player, but that's just what I had to do and thankfully, the changes worked today,” stated Reilly after the match.
“I felt good in the run-up to the final and I was just hoping all the preparation paid off. I knew I couldn't lose momentum in there and I just kept it going until the end.”
Reilly will now captain Team Ireland at the World Handball Championships in Canada this August. Before then, she will travel to the US for the WPH Race4Eight Player's Championship in Salt Lake City next month.
“I'm delighted to be team captain. It's a huge honour. I'll take a few days off now and then prepare for Salt Lake City,” she said.
Chances are she will meet Casey in that event in the latest instalment of a rivalry which just keeps on giving. This round, though, deservedly goes to the girl from the north.