DEFENCE FORCES 40x20 CHAMPIONSHIPS
Article - Sáirsint Eric O'Brien Pictures - S/S Paddy McKernon
The largest 40x20 Defence Forces (DF) Championships took place in Clarecastle, Co Clare on 10 February. Over 30 troops made the journey to the Mid-West to battle it out over 4 Competition Categories. The DF introduced a player grading system last year and this year was the year to see the dividends with every category being a real battle from the first round to the finals. All Categories were timed games (or first to 21), except the Senior Championship which was best of 3 (15 aces), with a plate competition for 3rd Place.
The Novice Championships were fought out between 15 players with half of them being newcomers to the DF Handball circle. From the start, both ends of the draw saw 3 or 4 players that were potential finalists. The 3rd Place Plate being won by S/S Patrick "Bonner" Maher after a nail biting final of 11-10 against O/S Adam Barry. The road to the Novice Final was a bumpy on for the two finalists, both having tough Semi-Finals that were only won by 2 aces, with the final a battle of wits between Sgt Michael Hogan and Pte John Dwyer. The game as level for the first half of the match, but the younger Dwyer applied the pressure to pull away over the next half of the game to win it out 15-7 after a late burst by Hogan.
The Junior Championships had 9 players. The First round was fairly one sided with the winners having no real panic in their games, except for the figt to the finish between S/S Joe Doherty and Pte Darren Darcy seeing the first of Darcy's Last Minute Blitzes to come back and win the game. Darcy was 9-3 down with 2 minutes to go when he turned on the Carlow-Style and came back to win 11-9 in a tie-break (drawn games after time went to a first to 2 aces play-off). In the plate 3rd place final, Pte Tomás Dunne showed a fine game of handball to defeat the returning Cre Tommy Dillon and take the bronze. The Junior final was another Darcy special. He faced Pte Patrick Roache. With the game safely in Roaches hands after 8 minutes, Darcy again found the will and came back from 7-4 to take it to 8-8 with only 30 seconds to go. The last rally of the game really brought the heat to the gallery with everyone feeling every swing of the ball and when Darcy finally sunk the last ace the crowd's roar could be heard in Galway!
The Intermediate Championship was a tight battle between 4 of the big men of DF Handball. Tpr Brendan Higgenbotham won the 3rd Place slot after a good game from S/S Micheál Quigley. The Intermediate final was a real Batle of the Giants, with Tpr Stephen Smullen facing Sgt Glen O'Kelly. Ace for Ace, Hand-Out for Hand-Out went the first few minutes, but Smullen's patience paid of when he started to pull away from O'Kelly. The remaining few minutes still seeing Hand-Out after Hand-Out, but Smullen taking an ace or two everytime. The game ended up 16-8 to Smullen, with neither player having anything left in the tank after a real battle and a half for the spectators.
Then the big one, the battle for the newly returned Major General Quinn Cup. This cup was first awarded in 1923 and is now back home in the DF after being kindly returned by the last winner Francis "Rocky" Cunningham.
With 2 out of our 4 ranked Senior players available it was a straight game of best of 3 (up to 15 aces). Pte JJ Hennessy faced the might of 3 time DF Senior Champion Pte Colm Jordan. It was a repeat of the 1 Brigade Senior final two weeks earlier and Hennessy did well to take 5 aces in each game of Jordan whose serve low enough to blur the floor and whose stylish play was the envy of all.
With the game ending 15-5, 15-5, the Major General Quinn cup went to Jordan for his 6th Senior DF title.
Now the DF faces their old adversary in the 5th running of the DF v Gardaí in Salthill, Galway on 25 February. The Gardaí have kept the 40x20 Shield in their custody for 4 years now, but the troops are ready to bring the attack to the Gardaí and snatch the 40x20 shield for the trophy cabinet in Dún Uí Mhaiolíosa along side the DF v Gardaí One-Wall & 60x30 scalps that we took in 2015!
Congrats to all who took part and see you for the One-Wall Barrack Blitzes in April/May.
If you are in the PDF or RDF and are interested in playing handball in the DF, please contact your BPEO or Sáirsint Eric O'Brien (ext 1840).