Having been one of the leading doubles pairs in elite handball for several years now, Kilkenny brothers Peter and Paddy Funchion secured their place in the blue riband oneills.com All-Ireland Senior Doubles final with a very impressive win over Meath last weekend.
Brian Carroll and Gary McConnell, the kings of the big alley at present and former 4-Wall senior champions, had no answer to the Cats, who were themselves very close to making the final last year, losing on a wafer-thin margin to the eventual champions.
“Our goal was to make the final and we put all our efforts into that. We played well, that was probably one of your best performances over the last number of years so hopefully we can carry that forward into the final,” Paddy commented.
“We had the game plan going in, we kind of stuck to it. We knew going into the second game that we had to put the hammer down and keep going, there was no point in easing off and hoping for them to make mistakes. We kind of drive on in the second game and we knew that’s what we had to do, keep going for our shots, because they were working out and there was no point in stopping or playing a defensive game.
“We stuck with it and powered on in the second game, it worked out and the plan came together for once!” he smiled.
Left-side player Peter echoed those sentiments.
“Normally we are a little bit slow starting in the second game but once we got the first game under our belts, we were determined to keep the heads down,” he said.
“We are starting to enjoy our handball a little bit more, we’re not putting any pressure on ourselves. Even next weekend in the final, the Cork lads have beaten us before, we have nothing to lose, it’s our first time in the final so we’re just going to do our best and hopefully pull it out of the bag.”
The final will be the biggest game of their careers to date but, according to Peter, they will be entering the court in a relaxed frame of mind.
“Looking forward to it, sure all the pressure is going to be on them because they have beaten us before, they’re the champions. It’s our turn this time!” the Kells clubman joked.
Buy tickets here.
Watch the semi-finals below: