This Sunday sees the next generation of 60x30 stars descend on St. Coman’s (Roscommon) and Ballymoe (Galway) for Juvenile All-Ireland 60x30 Finals Day.
In all there will be 44 players competing for the 15 titles on offer, with 14 counties represented. There have been many fantastic encounters already en route to this weekend, and spectators can expect a number of exciting tussles from the talent on show.
The Blue Ribband Boys U14 & U16 Singles Finals on paper look like cracking contests. In the Boys U14 Singles, Roscommon’s Dylan Hanley takes on Kilkenny’s Jack Holden after prevailing in a SF tiebreak over Clares Conor Downes, whilst Holden also survived a 15-13 SF tiebreak, this time against reigning 40x20 U14 Champ Lorcan McBride of Tyrone. The Boys U14 Doubles sees Cork (Cian O’Driscoll/Sean Murphy) face Kilkenny (Kyle Dunne/Billy O’Neill) having comfortably defeated Roscommon (Liam Egan/Magomed Yakhyaev) 15-9, 15-6 in the SF. Kilkenny on the other hand are coming in cold having received a bye in their SF.
The Girls U14 Singles is one of the most eye-catching fixtures on the programme, with Galway’s Niamh Heffernan taking on Kildare’s Leah Doyle, with both players are already no strangers to success. The Girls U14 Doubles will be a Limerick (Aisling Shanahan/Ciara McCarthy) v Tyrone (Emer Kerr/Elizabeth McGarvey) affair. The Munster girls came through a tough SF tiebreak against Mayo (Cuileann Bourke/Megan Brett) 15-3, 11-15, 15-10, whilst the Ulster girls were impressive in defeating Kilkenny (Noelle Dowling/Rosin O’Keeffe) 15-4, 15-14.
Tipperary’s Jerome Cahill impressively saw off Galway’s Diarmaid Mulkerrins in two straight games in his SF and will now face Louth’s Ben Devlin in the Boys U16 Singles final, after Devlin received a bye in his SF. Tipperary will again be represented in the Boys U16 Doubles, with James Prentice & Sean McAdams facing Wexford (Anthony Butler/Patrick Boland). Similar to the Singles, the Tipperary lads had a comfortable SF win over Roscommon, whilst the Wexford lads received a SF bye.
The Girls U16 Singles sees two talented young players face off in Tipperary’s Sinead Meagher & Kildare’s Mollie Dagg. Meagher won the U14 Singles title back in 2013, and is also the current U16 40x20 Singles Champion, whilst Dagg won the U14 60x30 Doubles title last year with partner Jade Treacy. The Girls U16 Doubles final Limerick (Katie McCarthy/Catriona Millane) face Kilkenny (Sorcha Delaney/Margaret Purcell) after both teams received SF byes.
GAA Handball would like to wish all the competitors the best of luck, and congratulate both them and their coaches on an already very successful campaign.
Sunday 1st November 2015
Ballymoe, Roscommon OIC John Kennedy (087 6816763) 11am
- GU15D Tipperary (Eleanor Percy/Katie Gould) v Wexford (Lauren Flanagan/Leanne Boland)
- BU16D Tipperary (James Prentice/Sean McAdams) v Wexford (Anthony Butler/Patrick Boland)
- BU17D Tipperary (Barry O’Meara/Dan Healy) v Wexford (Liam Rossiter/Laurence Dunne)
- GU16S Tipperary (Sinead Meagher) v Kildare (Mollie Dagg)
- BU16S Tipperary (Jerome Cahill) v Louth (Ben Devlin)
- BU15D Tipperary (Daire Madden/Conor Burke) v Laois (Eoghan Doheny/Padraic Dunne)
- GU17S Tipperary (Sile Spain) v Kilkenny (Catriona Lawlor)
St. Coman’s, Roscommon OIC Aengus Cunningham (086 2050328) 11am
- BU14S Roscommon (Dylan Hanley) v Kilkenny (Jack Holden)
- BU14D Cork (Cian O’Driscoll/Sean Murphy) v Kilkenny (Kyle Dunne/Billy O’Neill)
- GU16D Limerick (Katie McCarthy/Catriona Millane) v Kilkenny (Sorcha Delaney/Margaret Purcell)
- GU14D Limerick (Aisling Shanahan/Ciara McCarthy) v Tyrone (Emer Kerr/Elizabeth McGarvey)
- BU15S Kerry (Dara Keane) v Kilkenny (Eoin Brennan)
- GU15S Mayo (Cora Conlon) v Kilkenny (Dearbhail O’Keeffe)
- BU17S Waterford (Charlie McDonagh) v Kildare (Kevin Diggins)
- GU14S Galway (Niamh Heffernan) v Kildare (Leah Doyle)