The big guns are still standing in the race for the O’Neill’s All-Ireland Senior Singles crown after a hectic weekend of round of 16 action, writes Paul Fitzpatrick.
Defending champion Diarmaid Nash (Clare) sent out a warning shot to his rivals with a comprehensive win over Galway left-hander Cian Ó Conghaile (21-1, 21-1). Four-time champion Robbie McCarthy (Westmeath) was equally impressive as he despatched Diarmuid Mulkerrins 21-4, 21-2.
The tie of the round was in Mallow where Cork stars Michael Hedigan and Brendan Fleming went toe to toe, with Liscarroll man Hedigan advancing to the last eight on a wafer-thin 8-21, 21-8, 11-10 scoreline.
The tiebreaker was a battle all the way, as 27-year-old Hedigan, who has now qualified for his first Senior Singles quarter-final, told GAAHandball.ie.
“I went 2-0 up, he went up 4-2, then I took a time-out and went up 8-4, my serve started working and my kills were working,” Michael explained.
“He took a time-out then and went back in and before I knew it it was 10-8 to him. In fairness, he killed great balls in that run.
“I got him out, took a time-out and went back in and got to 10-all. He took the next time-out then, I served down the left, roofed it down to his left, he returned it and then another roof down the left and he missed it eventually.
“It was the bounce of a ball at that stage, it could have gone anyway. There was nothing between us.”
Tyrone’s wallball ace Conor McElduff, in his first championship foray at senior level in the 40x20 code, had an eye-catching 21-16, 7-21, 11-5 win over the in-form Daniel Relihan, who had reached the final of the inaugural Southern Classic recently, taking the scalp of Nash in the process.
“Happy enough with the game, it’s the first time I’ve played championship since I won the Intermediate in 2016. This is actually my first time to play Senior Championship in the 40x20 so I’m happy to get the win, especially since Daniel was coming off reaching the final at the last tournament.
“I don’t think I have hit my best form yet, I am still getting acclimatised to the four-wall code. There are a lot of things I can improve on. I want to try and give these boys a run for their money. I think I can be among the top in the four-wall code as well so I’ll be flat out training now before the quarters.
“Yeah, I’m happy enough with the win but the performance can be greatly improved. I’m doing too much paddling, too much chipping it up with the left hand, you shouldn’t be hitting that shot in four-wall. But hopefully I’ll iron out those creases soon and hopefully give this championship a good run.”
Veteran Kerryman Dominic Lynch again showed his class as he came through a tiebreaker against Tadhg Carroll of Cork, with Colin Crehan dropping the first game but recovering to squeeze past Wicklow’s Michael Gregan.
“I’m delighted, it’s great to be competing and into a quarter-final,” stated Lynch, who had been suffering the ill-effects of a virus in recent weeks.
“The whole month of January I was struggling. This week I found I was starting to come into form again. I got a bug after Christmas and it knocked me an awful lot, I lost a half a stone over it.
“Thanks be to God, in the last week, I felt my game was starting to come back so I’m delighted.
“I was serving well and I was killing well but I took my eye off the game a small bit in the second game. Now, he played well, he killed a lot from behind me, I was expecting him to go to the roof or three-wall and he killed a lot.
“I took my eye off it a small bit and you can’t do that at that level. In the tiebreaker I knew I had to really go for it and I served well, that was probably the difference. I got a few lucky breaks and everything just fell into place in the tiebreaker.
“I felt strong and fit and that was the main thing really.”
Earlier this week, Kilkenny’s Patrick Funchion defeated Gavin Buggy of Wexford, also in a tiebreaker, with Funchion’s brother Peter advancing via walkover against Tipperary’s Ger Coonan.
O’Neill’s All-Ireland Senior Singles Round of 16
Kilkenny (Patrick Funchion) dft Wexford (Gavin Buggy), 21-16, 9-21, 11-4
Tyrone (Conor McElduff) dft Cork (Daniel Relihan) 21-16, 7-21, 11-5
Clare (Diarmaid Nash) dft Galway (Cian Ó Conghaile) 21-1, 21-1
Westmeath (Robbie McCarthy) dft Galway (Diarmuid Mulkerrins) 21-4, 21-2
Cork (Michael Hedigan) dft Cork (Brendan Fleming) 8-21, 21-8, 11-10
Kerry (Dominic Lynch) dft Cork (Tadhg Carroll) 21-10, 15-21, 11-1
Clare (Colin Crehan) dft Wicklow (Michael Gregan) 11-21, 21-6, 11-8
O’Neill’s All-Ireland Ladies Senior/Intermediate Singles
Tipperary (Sinead Meagher) dft Galway (Aishling Mullin) 21-1, 21-5
Kildare (Mollie Dagg) W/O Kilkenny (Noelle Dowling) Scr.
Galway (Niamh Heffernan) dft Wicklow (Patricia Byrne) 21-15, 21-9
Tyrone (Eilise McRory) W/O Tipperary (Roisin Cahill) Scr.
Cork (Aishling O’Keeffe) W/O Kilkenny (Amy Brennan) Scr.
O’Neill’s All-Ireland Ladies Senior Singles
Cork (Catriona Casey) dft Galway (Niamh Heffernan) 21-8, 21-2
Galway (Ciana Ní Churaoín) dft Tipperary (Sinead Meagher) 21-5, 21-3