Sáirsint Eric O’Brien
On Wednesday June 1st, the Defence Forces took to the courts at the new Clough Ballacolla HC One-Wall facility in Ballacolla, Co Laois.
This was the 4th running of the annual event, with a new Trophy up for grabs. The “Volunteers Cup” was to be presented to this year’s Senior Champion. Prior to this event, One-Wall blitzes were held on the Army One-Wall courts in Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa, Galway & Cathal Brugha Bks, Dublin to prepare the troops for what lay ahead. The Defence Forces would also use the Championships to select their team to go forward to take on the best in the country at the Wall Ball Nationals in July.
Over 30 competitors made the journey to the Midlands in what was to be a highly fought out contest. The categories for the day were Novice (10 minute games), Junior, Intermediate & Senior (first to score 15 aces).
Play started with the Novice category. This was a knockout format, with a Runners-Up Plate for players knocked out in the first round. From the first round the scores reflected the standard of the day with scores of 20-15 & 12-8 being the norm.
The third rounds saw one of the games of the day between two of the favourites. S/S Jim Suffin narrowly defeated S/S Conor Keegan 13-10 to advance to the Semi-Finals.
In the Runners-Up plate, the semi-finals were both decided by an ace with the final being a battle between Pte Robert Donlon & Pte Robert McDonagh with Donlon edging the win in the last seconds to come out the victor at 13-12 .
Back in the Novice Championship Semi-Finals, S/S Liam Sinnott steamrolled his way to the semi, but was defeated by a new kid on the block Tpr Stephen Monaghan 15-4. The other side of the draw saw S/S Jim Suffin take on Pte Darren Cornally in another thriller that went 11-10 to Suffin.
This set up the Novice Final where both Suffin & Monaghan would battle it out after a long day on the court. Both men attacked every ball and in front of the crowd Suffin started to pull away after a determined battle to finish out the game 11-8.
The Junior Championships was a round-robin, with the top two players facing off in a final. After six games, with blood, sweat & tears spilt on the court, the final was lined up between S/S Joe Doherty & Pte Keith Mullarney. These two old-hands had been on the One-Wall circuit for a few years and were determined to climb the category ladder with a win in front of the crowd and Mr Willie Roache (President, GAA Handball). A battle ensued that ran over 22 minutes. Hand-Out on the serve, followed hand-out on the serve until Doherty got comfortable and won the final 15-12.
All the while the Intermediate Championship were under way in the same Round-Robin format. Three of the best battled it out to gain access to an Intermediate final. Cre Tommy Dillon fought hard and fast, but missed out in the last few aces to gain the spots that were taken by Pte Denis Dowd & S/S John Hurley. This was to be a game to remember, a game that lasted 32 minutes. Ace for ace, the men fought. At the last hand out to Dowd, the game was 13-13. It couldn’t have been quieter on the serve, but Dowd’s ace awakened the crowd. Hurley, awaited the last possible serve of the final, but took a fly ball to kill it off the wall and take back the serve. 2 aces, would turn the fixture around to a win and seal victory for Hurley. His serve was low and hard, but Dowd intercepted a left hand shot to start a rally that ended in Dowd catching a ball and sending Hurley the wrong way around the court to take back the serve. At 14-13, Dowd just needed one good strike and that he did with a drop serve to the back of the court to take the last ace and the Intermediate Shield for 2016.
The Senior Championship was missing a few key individuals, but nonetheless the games provided great entertainment for all. Cpl Eddie Clifford & Pte Kirk Greene battled to see who would take on the GAA Mens Challenger Champion of 2015, Sgt Glen O’Kelly in the Senior final. This game was just as nail biting as the Intermediate final with kill after kill and front wall speed play ending up in a narrow victory for Greene after 29 minutes on the last ace to win 15-14.
This set up the Senior final where O’Kelly used his previous games against the two Kilkenny men to really turn on the style. Greene took 7 aces from the Irish Champ in their round-robin game, but the final was to be a tougher game. Although O’Kelly was comfortable in his 15-4 win, Greene prevented a straight win and took more than a few hand-outs from the Irish Champion.
After a day of skill, enjoyment & banter the handballers were presented their prizes by Comdt Gleeson (1 Bde), Comdt Behan (DFAA) & Mr Willie Roache (President GAA Handball). The DF Handball Club will now send forward a squad to compete in the GAA Wall Ball Championships in Castlebar in July to try and add to their win last year by Sgt Glen O’Kelly.
If you are interested in playing handball at any level (PDF or RDF), please contact Sáir Eric O’Brien at extension 1840 or your BPEO. Beginners are particularly welcome and our One-Wall facilities in Galway, Dublin, Cork or Kilkenny are available for training by DF members at all times.
