Last weekend saw the 2nd annual Provincial Wall-Ball finals take place across all four provinces. As expected there were some anticipated results, sprinkled with a few surprises.
Connacht:
The Connacht Men’s Open Final saw the always formidable Martin Mulkerrins (Galway) recover after a rocky start to defeat Ciarán Burke (Mayo) in a three-game thriller on score line of 11-15, 15-0, 11-5.
In the Ladies Open Final the experience of Paulin Gallagher (Mayo) prevailed over young gun Fiona Tully (Roscommon), when Gallagher took the win with scores of 15-4 & 15-1.
Munster:
In the Munster final, last year’s Men’s Open Champion Paudi Quish overcame Tadgh O’Neill (Cork) on a convincing score line of 15-7 & 15-5.
The Ladies Open final saw the two main powerhouses of ladies Handball, Catriona Casey (Cork) and Martina McMahon (Limerick) face off against each other. Casey proved too strong on this occasion and sailed to victory with scores of 15-13 & 15-8.
Leinster:
In the Leinster Men’s Open Final Peter Funchion (Kilkenny) overcame a shaky start to dominate over Ben Devlin (Louth) in a three-game battle with a score of 13-15, 15-5 & 11-0.
The Ladies Open Final saw Niamh Dunne (Laois) defeat Ciara Mahon (Kilkenny) in two games with a score line of 15-10 & 15-11.
Ulster:
The Ulster Men’s Open Final was a contest between Conor McElduff (Tyrone) and Darragh Daly (Tyrone), McElduff proved too strong for Daly by defeating him in two games with a score of 15-7 & 15-6.
With the extremely high calibre of players that have entered in all grades of the 2017 Wall-Ball All-Ireland series, including the Men’s & Ladies Open, the All-Ireland final event is something that shouldn’t be missed by any Handball enthusiast.
The All-Ireland final event will take place in Mount Talbot, Roscommon, on Saturday 15th July 2017 and promises to be a spectacle that you don’t want to miss.