Dublin's Eoin Kennedy & Carl Browne are the 2016 All-Ireland Senior Doubles champions after upsetting the odds against ten time champions Paul Brady & Michael Finnegan (Cavan) in a marathon 2.5 hour match on Saturday night in Kilkenny in front of a packed gallery at O'Loughlin's HC.
The second All Ireland Finals festival weekend made its way to Kilkenny as finals in all Doubles grades took place in O'Loughlins and surrounding venues on Friday and Saturday as 24 All Ireland titles were decided altogether. There were thrills, spills and tears and cheers throughout the weekend as players claimed precious Celtic Cross medals at levels from Minor Ladies to Over 70's and each title was fought for with great spirit and endeavour as it was clear just how much these title mean to Handballers at all levels.
On Saturday night the showpiece finals finished off the weekend programme beginning with the Ladies Minor Final where Armagh (Niamh Coleman & Megan McCann) defeated last year's champions Clare's Doireann Murphy and Clodagh Nash.
In the Boys Minors, Cork (Tadhg O'Neill & David Walsh) claimed the Boys title with victory over Tyrone's Sean Kerr and Turlough Clarke as O'Neill made amends for his singles defeat to Kerr. The power and accuracy on display was a joy to behold as both teams left their all on the court. In the end O'Neills power and precision backed up by the rock steady Walsh proved too much for the Tyrone pairing as they ran out 21-14, 21-5 winners.
So the scene was set for the Mens Senior Doubles final the showpiece game of the weekend. In time when they write the book on Sporting upsets this game could very well make the final cut as on one hand you had ten time winners Cavan facing into Dublin who have only played two seasons together and with the ageing softball specialist Eoin Kennedy better known for his big alley exploits. Alas, like many underdogs in this sporting year they had not read the script and despite Kennedy claiming in the pre match programme that they "had nothing to lose" they tore into their opponents from the off with Kennedy rolling back the years with an outstanding display of retrieving and killing on the left.
The Dubs pair blitzed their way to a 5-3 and then an 8-3 lead before Cavan levelled at 8-8 and folowing some uncharacteristic errors by Brady the Dublin men opened a 13-9 lead when Browne caught Finnegan on his backswing and the result was an injury timeout to stop a bleed to Finnegan's eyebrow. The crowd were edgy and feared a repeat of last year's final where the Cavan men had to retire injured but following a clean up job they took the court again only to see Kennedy flatkill two to stretch the lead to 17-9 as the break in play seemed to have no effect on the Dublin duo. Cavan hit back and brought the score to 17-12 before Dublin pushed onto 19-12 and despite a brief rally from the Breffni Men they took the opportunities when they came their way to secure a 21-16 first game win.
"We knew if we won the first then the worst that would happen would be that we would go to a third game" said Kennedy afterwards and this is exactly what the case would be. Cavan awoke from their first game slumber and started to dominate racing into a sizeable 8-1 lead with both Finnegan and Brady displaying a series of wonderful soft kills. They stretched this to 11-5 but the men from the capital came roaring back and narrowed the gap to 11-10 as Browne dived an retrieved two consecutive kill attempts before dump killing into the right corner much to the delight of the sizeable Dublin support. However the ten time champions had been to the well enough times before to know what they needed to do and both men began to find their range as they reached 18-10 and despite a brief rally from Dublin they forced a third game taking the second 21-12 as the Cavan contingent found their voice in O'Loughlins.
Game three left the large crowd in no doubt as to the desire of both sets of players to win and it was no holds barred in the court as both pairings were giving their all on the court. Credit must go to referee Gavin Buggy who was excellent throughout and kept control of the game at all times. Dublin appeared to be the fresher pairing and opened a 9-5 and then a 12-6 lead before Cavan brought it back to 12-8 as the crowd were on the edge of their seats. Cometh the hour and cometh the man and it was time for Kennedy to shine as the veteran produced some scintilating handball to push the Dubs into an 18-8 lead. Two more points and the Dubs were looking at match point but Brady briefly threatened to spoil the party as he rattled off 3 aces in quick fire succession but in reality they had left to big of a hill to climb and it was fitting that it would be Kennedy who would finish the game as he flattened a back wall kill to seal the victory his 30th senior title and his and Browne's first as a partnership in the 40x20 court.
A clearly delighted Browne paid tribute to Kennedy afterwards saying, "It is a pleasure to play alongside somebody like Eoin and I am delighted to have won this title with him"
An emotional Kennedy admitted he never expected to be in this position in 40x20 again but paid tribute to Browne who he said had worked incredibly hard on his game as a right sided player and said it was a fantastic feeling to pick up another title at Senior level. He paid tribute to their Cavan opponents and also mentioned what a privilige it was to accept the new Tommy O'Brien cup as he had looked up to Tommy when he was growing up.
2016: Dublin seal shock 40x20 Senior Doubles crown from GAA Handball on Vimeo.
Results:
- Mens Senior: Dublin (Eoin Kennedy/Carl Browne) dft Cavan (Paul Brady/Michael Finnegan) 21-16, 12-21, 21-13
- Boys Minor: Cork (Tadgh O’ Neill/David Walsh) dft Tyrone (Sean Kerr/Turlough Clarke) 21-14, 21-5
- Ladies Minor: Armagh (Niamh Coleman/Megan McCann) dft Clare (Doireann Murphy/Clodagh Nash) 21-14, 21-18
