This weekend see’s the Singles Finals in the GAA HARDBALL All Ireland Championships take place in Thurles, Tipperary and Mullingar, Westmeath on Saturday 4th June. In the Senior decider in Thurles, Dublin’s Eoin Kennedy is hoping to win his 9th All Ireland Senior Singles Hardball title when he meets Limerick’s CJ Fitzpatrick who is going for his first singles win. This is a repeat of last year’s semi final but this year the Limerick player will hope to go one better than their last time out – time will tell?
First up on Saturday is the Junior Singles final in Mullingar which is between Wicklow and Meath. Wicklow’s Jerome Willoughby overcame Tyrone’s Barry Devlin 21-15, 21-16 in the semi-final. While Meath’s Peter Reilly also had a conformable win over Martin Mullins Carlow 21-2, 21-12. The action begins at 1 pm in Mullingar.
The action in the evening switches to Thurles at 3pm with the Intermediate Singles final on first. Cork’s Daniel Relihan last year’s Junior Doubles winners will fancy his chance after a good semi-final victory against Tipperary’s Ger Coonan 21-14, 21-11. Relihan is up against Tipperary’s David Moloney after he accounted for Kilkenny’s Brendan Burke 21-13, 21-4.
This is followed by the Minor final were Kilkenny play Mayo. Kilkenny’s Shane Dunne play’s Mayo’s Patrick Murphy in an intriguing final which is hard to call. Dunne is the 2015 Minor Hardball Singles runner up while Murphy won the Minor Hardball Doubles title with Niall Joyce in 2015. After last weekend’s Doubles success for Dunne against Murphy one might think the Kilkenny player has a slight advantage.
Meanwhile the action finishes with the blue ribbon Senior final with Dublin’s Eoin Kennedy up against Limerick’s CJ Fitzpatrick. In the semi-finals, Kennedy advanced after overcoming Mayo’s Vinny Moran over three games in Mullingar. Kennedy took the first 21-11, but Moran fought back in the second to snatch it 21-19. In the third the Dubliner made no mistake and took the tie-break 21-14.
In the second semi-final Limerick’s CJ Fitzpatrick came out on top as he defeated Kerry’s Dominic Lynch also over three games. In the first Lynch edged it narrowly on a 21-18 score-line, Fitzpatrick fought back in the second to take it 21-6 to setup a tie-break. In the third Fitzpatrick started brightly and took an early lead before extending it, in the end he comfortable won it 21-3.
Back in 2015, CJ started the brightest with some good serving and built up bit of a lead before the very experienced Kennedy clawed his way back. It was nip and tuck between both players with little to separate them but young gun Fitzpatrick just edged the first game 21-19. The second game was another tight game with little again between both players with only a couple of ace separating them, but in the end Kennedy went ahead at the crucial stage and closed out the second 21-14. This setup a very exciting tie-break with again very little between both hardballers. But once again the champion Kennedy edged ahead and even though Fitzpatrick put up a great fight the Dubliner finished stronger and took the tie-break 21-13. So if you are a Hardball enthusiast why not drop into Thurles this Saturday evening to see the best Ireland can offer, kick off is 3pm.
GAA Handball All Ireland Hardball Singles Finals
Saturday 4th June 2016
At Mullingar, Westmeath At 1pm
JS 10. Wicklow (Jerome Willoughby) v Meath (Peter Reilly)
At Thurles, Tipperary At 3pm
IS 7. Tipperary (David Moloney) v Cork (Daniel Relihan)
MS 10. Kilkenny (Shane Dunne) v Mayo (Patrick Murphy)
SS 6. Dublin (Eoin Kennedy) v Limerick (CJ Fitzpatrick)
