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Casey and Nash take Open crowns in Belfast

The Men's and Ladies Open Singles at the St Paul's Golden Gloves will be going south to Munster after Diarmaid Nash and Catriona Casey claimed top honours.

Clare left-hander Nash defeated number one seed Charly Shanks of Armagh in the final (15-3, 15-6) while Cork's Casey saw off local favourite Aisling Reilly (15-1, 15-12) in the Ladies decider.

But the big talking point was the brilliant form shown by Nash. The former Clare U21 hurler was magnificent throughout the tournament, giving up just 32 points in total in his four matches.

Nash was awesome in his semi-final against Martin Mulkerrins, winning the first game 15-0 and riding his momentum to a 5-0 lead in the second and while the Galway man rallied, the Tuamgraney clubman closed it out 15-7.

In his semi-final, Shanks, meanwhile, rallied from 11-2 and 14-7 down to win the first game 15-14 against Wicklow's Michael Gregan - who had posted an eyecatching 15-5, 15-4 win over Brendan Fleming - and followed up with a 15-1 win in the second.

In the final, Nash controlled the front court exchanges; his right corner kill was dialled in throughout and he utilised it to close out game one. In the second, despite a great effort from Shanks, Nash (27) piled on the pressure from the service box and three ace serves - including at game-ball - helped him seal the victory.

Elsewhere, Casey was in splendid form as she eased to yet another ranking success, just a week after winning the latest WPH pro stop in Tucson.

The Ballydesmond superstar saw off Sinead Meagher in straight games (15-2, 15-0) in her semi-final before defeating St Paul's own Reilly in the final.

The event was a huge success, with 180 matches over three days.

"We are at the end of a weekend's handball but months of work went into it. We just wanted to make this weekend memorable. The great players are back," commented Tournament Director Séamus Ó Tuama.

Results of other divisions to follow.


Men's Open Singles results

Preliminary round

Niall O'Connor dft Shane O'Neill 12-15, 15-9, 11-7

Conor McElduff dft Niall Joyce 15-8, 15-1

Round of 16

Charly Shanks dft Niall O'Connor 15-10, 15-5

Paul Moran dft Michael Hedigan 15-13, 15-13

Michael Gregan dft Owen McKenna 15-11, 8-15, 11-9

Brendan Fleming dft David Hope 5-15, 15-4, 11-6

Martin Mulkerrins dft Daniel Relihan 15-5, 15-11

Peter Funchion dft Sean Kerr 15-2, 3-15, 11-9

Patrick Funchion dft Darragh Daly 15-6, 9-15, 11-3

Diarmaid Nash dft Conor McElduff 15-3, 15-0

Quarter-finals

Charly Shanks dft Paul Moran 15-5, 15-7

Michael Gregan dft Brendan Fleming 15-5, 15-4

Martin Mulkerrins dft Peter Funchion 15-13 13-15 11-9

Diarmaid Nash dft Patrick Funchion 15-5, 15-8

Semi-finals

Charly Shanks dft Michael Gregan 15-14, 15-1

Diarmaid Nash dft Martin Mulkerrins 15-7, 15-0

Final

Diarmaid Nash dft Charly Shanks 15-3, 15-6

Ladies Open Singles semi-finals

Catriona Casey dft Sinead Meagher 15-2, 15-0

Aisling Reilly dft Fiona Tully 15-2, 15-6

Final

Catriona Casey dft Aisling Reilly 15-1, 15-12