Having won their third Senior Softball Doubles as a partnership, Cork pair Daniel Relihan and Michael Hedigan have no intention of slowing down, writes Paul Fitzpatrick.
The Rebels won the title again last Saturday at Cashel, Co Tipperary and, says Hedigan, the medal ranks up there with anything he has ever won in the game.
“Coming from a 40x20 background, the hardball really stood to us when we were younger, we were introduced to it when we were 16 by Pat Murphy in Broadford and also our fathers and the minute we stepped into the court, we loved it because it’s mainly serve and kill and in 40x20, that’s kind of the aim,” Hedigan explained.
“If you have a great serve you are going to be laughing in hardball and any mistake will be punished. That’s what I really like about hardball, it’s quick, it’s unique you could say and you get punished for any mistake you make. That’s what I really like about it, it’s serve and kill and the games go quick.
“We are after winning three hardball Senior Doubles and one 40x20 Senior Doubles and a senior inter-club so we have five senior titles and I would say they’re all equal in my eyes. Realistically we are hungry to win more, hardball, 40x20, 60x30 if possible. I treat every All-Ireland senior title we won equally. We were delighted with it.”
Michael thoroughly enjoyed competing in the Senior Doubles, he said.
“I loved it, especially in Cashel, great facilities and they looked after us very well, the refereeing was perfect and everything was well organised, meeting up with old friends was great but once we got into the court, we were enemies obviously.
“But it was great to get back to hardball because we love playing it every year and we are looking forward to it next year already.”
There were four pairs entered in the Senior Hardball Doubles and the competition was played as a round robin, first to 25, in the group stage.
“We played Evan and Pat Murphy first and we won 25-10. We went up 17-0 on Daniel’s serve, the joys of hardball! In fairness they got us out and they got to 10 straight away.
“We got them out again and we finished it off, 25-10. Our serves won us that game.
“Then we played Dominic Lynch and Jack O’Shea after that, we won 25-5. Our serves were working well, Daniel’s serve was phenomenal, he was hitting the ball very hard that day.
“In the final, we played Shane Dunne and Ciaran Neary from Kilkenny. It was two games to 21, we got a great start in both games. In fairness, any mistakes we made, we got punished and vice versa. The difference on the day was probably our serves, our serves were very strong but the score didn’t really reflect the game. The Kilkenny boys really made us earn every ace and any time they got a set-up, they punished us.
“We just got good serves going together and that was what got us over the line. Being very specific about it, Daniel’s serve was the difference, he was serving bullets and I was just doing the donkey work as always,” Hedigan quipped.
The pair are looking forward to the oneills.com World 4-Wall Championships next month.
“We’re getting back into it now again and we are going hard at it from this week onwards. We have the Worlds trials coming up, the world Wallball Championships and the hardball affected our training, we didn’t play in the wallball but we were just getting back into the 40x20 at that stage.
“We are going hard from here onwards, the Worlds trials are coming up so we’re really looking at that at the moment. We’re looking forward to the Worlds.
“Myself and Daniel were training a lot among ourselves and we’re going to venture out and play a lot of different opposition from now onwards. We’re looking forward to it to be honest.”
Meanwhile, the Junior Hardball Doubles also went to Cork, with Gearoid O’Connell and David O’Brien defeating Mayo’s Shane Heraty and Ronan O'Malley 21-19, 21-12.
The Masters title was won by Roscommon pair Denis Creaton and Sean Jennings, who ran out 21-13, 21-8 victors against Cork’s Donnacha O’Dea and Jamie O’Donnell.
SINGLES DOWN FOR DECISION
The Senior Singles will be contested this Saturday at Croke Park by Ciaran Neary (Kilkenny), Shane Dunne (Kilkenny), Evan Murphy (Limerick) and Daniel Relihan (Cork).
The Minor Singles sees Kilkenny’s John Hayes take on Travis Gibbons of Sligo.
Taking their chance in the Junior Singles are John ‘Bosco’ Hurley, Steven O’Neill, Aaron Surdival, Willie Quaile, Gearoid Healy and Matthew Gibbons.
In the Masters Singles are Denis Creaton, Michael Carrie, Pat Murphy, David Stanners, Dominic Lynch, Seamus Maughan, Sean Jennings and Billy Caddell.