Saturday's Ladies Minor Singles final promises to be a brilliant match, pitting two of the top young female players against each other.
Reigning champion Leah Doyle of Kildare puts her title on the line against Niamh Heffernan of Galway in what has the makings of one of the best deciders in this grade for many years.
Both players are familiar foes. Doyle won this title last year, defeating Clare's Catriona Millane in the final on a 21-12, 21-6 scoreline.
Leah had beaten Caitlin Conway of Tyrone in her semi-final while Millane had seen off Heffernan in the other side of the draw, winning 21-13, 18-21, 21-10.
On the strength of that form, then, the Leixlip player would have been favourite to come through the Irish Junior Nationals to seal her place on Team Ireland for the Worlds but Heffernan, from Claregalway, tore up the script, winning 15-12, 15-10 to seal the title and her place on the plane to Minnesota.
Once there, Niamh repeated the trick with a 21-9, 21-12 win in the final of 17&U Four-Wall Singles. However, Doyle did defeat her Connacht rival in the Wallball final in a tiebreaker to even the score to some extent.
Doyle went on to win the 19&U Four-Wall Doubles in tandem with club mate Mollie Dagg at that tournament while, not to be outdone, Heffernan added the A Singles with a 21-15, 21-20 victory over Tyrone's Eilise McCrory.
So, it's not surprising that the duo find themselves facing off again on Saturday in a major final. Both have been in superb form of late, with Heffernan defeating Mairéad Fox of Tyrone in a pair of 21-8 games in her semi-final in Loughmacrory while Doyle saw off Munster champion Amber Nolan of Clare 21-3, 21-0.
There will be expected to be little between them again today as they seek to get their hands on a title which has been previously held by some of the best players in the history of the sport. Catriona Casey, Aisling Reilly and Marie Daly have each won it twice while Fiona Shannon was a three-time winner before emerging to dominate at senior level.
Both players excel in other sports, with Niamh lining out currently for the Galway minor Camogie team (she previously won an U16 All-Ireland medal) while Leah is a top-class soccer player.
Both are strong competitors who are well used to the big stage by now. A packed capacity crowd in Kingscourt should not faze them and an outstanding game between two world-class handballers is in store.
