Cork and Kerry meet in the Senior Doubles final for the third year in succession. History suggests one side will emerge to take control, but it's very hard to predict which one, writes Paul Fitzpatrick.
Standing on the footpath outside the handball complex in Kingscourt, fresh from her All-Ireland Singles semi-final win over Martina McMahon, Aisling Reilly was asked the question: what sort of shape is the ladies game in right now?
She paused for a brief moment before delivering her answer.
“Four or five years ago,” said Reilly, “there might have been four or five players in the All-Ireland championships. Now it's a strong field, eight, nine, ten, eleven players in it, with games from the round of 16 on so, yeah, I think every year it's going from strength to strength. That's down to us, we're going to every tournament and trying to make every tournament worthwhile. Hopefully it continues to do so.”
The two-in-a-row singles champion made a very salient point – the field in senior ladies handball in this country has never been deeper. The manner in which today's ladies doubles finalists have sauntered through, then, shows just how talented the Cork and Kerry pairings are.
Cork's Catriona Casey and Aisling O'Keeffe have, amazingly, conceded just five points in their campaign to date, beating Clodagh and Ciara McMenamin from Mayo 21-2, 21-2 in the quarter-final and following up with a 21-0, 21-1 victory over another Mayo pair, Amy Corrigan and Leona Ryder, at the penultimate stage.
But the form shown by Kerry's three-time champions Maria Daly and Ashley Prendiville has been just as impressive. They beat Ciara Mahon and Mary Phelan of Kilkenny 21-3, 21-7 in the last eight before seeing off Limerick's Martina McMahon and Katie McCarthy in straight games, 21-8, 21-16, in their semi-final.
While Daly and Prendiville have won this title on three occasions, the younger Rebels' pedigree as a partnership is sound too. They won the Minor Doubles All-Ireland together three times, won the Intermediate All-Ireland and, last year, won the senior title for the first time.
Their beaten foes in that final were none other than local rivals Daly and Prendiville, 21-9, 21-12. Did that win signal a changing of the doubles guard or will the Kingdom reign supreme again? The year before, they held off the Rebel charge, winning the final 21-17, 17-21, 21-16.
So, on head-to-heads, there is not much in it. As in all sporting rivalries, one side will generally take the initiative, kick on and gain the upper hand, but which of these pre-eminent doubles pairs will it be?
Today will tell a tale. Judging purely on singles results, Casey looks the outstanding performer. She delivered a stunning showing in the All-Ireland Singles semi-final against Daly, winning 21-1, 21-7, a phenomenal achievement against a player of Maria's stature. And, to complete the set, she had earlier beaten Prendiville 21-4, 21-1 in the quarter-final, so we can safely say the Ballydesmond lady has the edge.
Doubles handball, though, is a curious game and a solid partnership often add up to more than the sum of their parts. Daly possesses one of the best off-hands in the game while Prendiville is powerful and rock-solid on the right. The Kerry girls know what it takes to win, too.
But Cork are also a formidable duo, with O'Keeffe a gutsy operator who holds up her end well while complementing the outstanding Casey.
Catriona will be sore after losing the singles final to Reilly, a defeat which may have had something to do with her hectic transatlantic schedule, along, of course, with a power-packed performance from the Antrim woman.
Expect Casey to arrive fresh and hungry for this challenge but only a fool would bet against the Kerry women winning their fourth senior All-Ireland. So far, 2015 has been a year of closely-fought championships going right down to the wire; expect this one to be no different.
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