Wall Amaro, Mulkerrins & Havern top exciting bill at Lough Showdown
A field of 256 players will contest a top quality Lough Wallball Showdown this weekend in Loughmacrory as the club prepares to celebrate 150 years of handball in the Community with the launch of a new book.
Topping the bill is of course the return of Puerto Rico's former World Champion, Wally Amaro, who won the inaugural running of the Mens Open in 2014 and embarks on a 4,000 mile journey to challenge for the crown, which was won in 2015 by Conor McElduff. Unfortunately, that is one showdown that will not take place this weekend as McElduff is now on the mend following a recent health scare and is unable to take part in the hugely anticipated action.
While the Tyrone GAA Handball star misses out, the fact that his recent Mens Open Nationals conqueror, Galway's Martin Mulkerrins, makes the journey north to contest his first showdown is testament to the regard in which the event is held. Armagh's top class one-waller Conall McCavitt and the return to one wall action of 3 times Nationals Open Champion, Armagh's Charly Shanks. A host of very exciting younger stars have also moved up to the Open, such as Wexford's Daniel Kavanagh, Cork's Tadhg O'Neill, Clare's Fergal Coughlan and Tyrone's Sean Kerr and they add to a dazzling line-up while Holland's Kees Van Der Schoot expands the international dimension to Loughmacrory at the weekend too. Westmeath's Robbie McCarthy had to withdraw as he is on 60x30 Softball championship duty while US Nationals champion, Cork's Killian Carroll is also a late withdrawal from the event.
Overall there are many more top class names in there who could be capable of causing a major stir in the grade and that is also the case in the biggest Ladies Open event that the Tournament has witnessed so far. There is no Catriona Casey, the two-times champion, as the Cork star is unavailable but Down's Lorraine Havern will travel as a hot number one seed following her impressive third Irish Nationals open title win. Holland's Miranda Scheffer makes the journey to Ireland to strengthen a high class event and Maeve McElduff (Tyrone), Lauren O'Riordain (Roscommon), Sinead Hanley (Galway), Megan McCann (Armagh) and record-breaking world champion, Antrim's Fiona Shannon and Sibeal Gallagher will also be very much in the mix too.
The youth grades look to be as strong as ever too with a host of Nationals, All Ireland and even World champions competing across the grades. The Boys 11, 13, 15 and 17 grades look exceptionally strong with a host of key players in each of the big fields while the girls grades are also blessed with plenty of talent too.
Overall a fantastic weekend of action is in store in Loughmacrory. The Under 10 competitions will get underway from 5.30pm on Friday evening to start the "ball rolling" and the action will continue right through Saturday and Sunday in the build-up to the Mens Open Final on Sunday evening at the venue by the Lough.
There will also be a big night of entertainment on Saturday night in the GAA Clubrooms with well known band, Mad for the Road, performing so overall it is set to be a massive weekend of games and entertainment in Loughmacrory all weekend.
Club chairman, Chris Curran, is well aware of the subdued atmosphere within the GAA Handball community at present following the untimely passing of Ducksy W"lash, who was due to compete at the event and who had a very close affiliation with the Tyrone club for well over 3 decades.
"While Ducksy Walsh will not be present for the first time in a long while at a Loughmacrory major tournament, we hope that the massive turnout of players and spectators can provide a tribute in itself to the greatest our game has seen. We will of course plan a combined round of applause ahead of our Mens Open final on Sunday evening as our own little way of celebrating a good friend of our club and a great player of our game", concluded Curran.
You an check out all the draws, times and profiles of the action in store at www.loughmacrory.com and the link below, if you would like to come along and see the best players in Ireland and from around the World compete locally.
