Last weekend saw the Senior, Minor, Intermediate and Junior hardball semi-finals take place in this years All Ireland Hardball Championships .
Dublin's Eoin Kennedy going for his 9th Senior Singles title and looking to avenge last year's final loss overcame a tough battle from Kerry’s Dominick Lynch to see off the Glenbeigh man on a score line of 21-12, 21-2. In the other semi final reigning champion Limerick's CJ Fitzpatrick overcame Dublin’s Carl Browne after a shaky start with the Limerick man edging out the first 21-20 however he soon got to grips with the game winning the second 21-4 to secure his place in the final once more as he looks to keep the cup he captured for the first time last year at Kennedy's expense. Last year's game was an excellent contest so fans will be hoping for more of the same this year round.
Moving to the minor singles, Mayo’s Patrick Murphy received a W/O from an injured Cillian O’Reilly of Cavan. Elsewhere, David Walsh of Cork overcame Kilkenny’s Eoin Brennan in a grueling battle the resulted in a score line of 21-17,21-19.
A full list of the weekend’s results can be seen below:
Senior Singles Semi Finals
1. Limerick (CJ Fitzpatrick) dft Dublin (Carl Browne) 21-20, 21-4
2. Dublin (Eoin Kennedy) dft Kerry (Dominick Lynch) 21-12, 21-2
Minor Singles Semi Finals
5. Mayo (Patrick Murphy) W/O Cavan (Cillian O’Reilly) inj.
6. Cork (David Walsh) dft Kilkenny (Eoin Brennan) 21-17, 21-19
Intermediate Singles Semi Finals
9. Kilkenny (Shane Dunne) dft Kilkenny (Brendan Burke) 21-18, 13-21, 21-17
10. Dublin (Keith Burke) dft Wicklow (Jerome Willoughby) 10-21, 21-7, 21-17
Junior Singles Semi Finals
13. Kerry (Jack O’Shea) dft Meath (Peter Reilly) 21-18, 17-21, 21-13
14. Carlow (Martin Mullins) dft Mayo (Ian McLoughlin) 21-2, 21-1