Robbie McCarthy has established himself as one of the brightest lights of a golden generation. Paul Fitzpatrick charts his career ahead of today's final.
It takes a potent blend of skill, desire and belief to win a senior All-Ireland handball medal. Only very, very good players manage it – but only the absolute best repeat the trick.
To cross over and pick up titles in other codes adds greatly to a player's legacy. When the history of Irish handball comes to be written, then, the man who defends his title today in Kingscourt, Robbie McCarthy, will feature prominently in the section marked 'all-time greats'.
Handball may be approaching a tipping point in terms of membership and mass participation but, for the longest time, it was very much a family business, handed down through the generations.
The name above the door may change but the show remains on the road, the sport passed down from grandfathers to sons to grandsons, branching out to cousins and, in the past couple of decades especially, uncles and aunts and nieces.
It's no surprise, then, that the game came naturally to McCarthy – his father, Robbie Snr, was and is a talented player, equally adept in all codes and a man who reached the Promised Land of senior status back before the dawn of the intermediate grade in 1995, when the junior ranks was a killing field full of precocious youngsters and canny veterans.
Young Robbie burst on to the scene when winning an U14 All-Ireland title but gifted as he was, he worked hard on his game. That win came in a tiebreaker but he quickly improved and soon the whisper went round that here was a player who could, in horseracing parlance, be anything.
There were big wins along the way. Aged 14, McCarthy headed north to the Golden Gloves and stunned the handball world by claiming the U17 title against a stacked draw.
Onlookers sat up and took notice. A couple of years later, then, McCarthy arrived when landing two All-Ireland 40x20 and 60x30 minor titles in succession, romping to victory in the singles finals.
One moment stands out in the memory from one of those deciders – off balance and defending a vicious serve, the kid leaned low and flicked the ball underhand to the ceiling with a enough spin to send it careering back down the left, clinging to the sidewall. It was a breathtaking piece of skill and hinted at the player McCarthy would become.
Anyone watching knew that this was a boy who would, surely, go all the way as a man. He developed quickly in his late teens and passed out the crop above him, defeating Joe McCann to gain senior status in the small court and Patrick Finnegan, another two-time minor champ, to do likewise in the big alley.
Having made the leap so quickly, he took time to find his feet at senior level but he managed it in time and, in his fourth senior final, toppled the big alley king, Eoin Kennedy. It felt like a defining moment, just as when Kennedy himself finally beat the peerless Ducksy Walsh in what Egin Jensen once termed 'the Theatre of Dreams' – a full house in Croker on the eve of the All-Ireland finals next door.
Since then, McCarthy has confirmed his position as the foremost 60x30 player in the land. Along the way, he has picked up One Wall titles and pro stop wins in the US, as well as a world Open Doubles last year.
It's testament to his persistence that while he has shipped a couple of tournament losses to the younger brigade coming up, in championship, he has held off the charge of that cavalry. He beat Killian Carroll in a semi-final, Diarmaid Nash in a final and, last year, saw off Charly Shanks.
A lesser man would have folded, down 20-16 in the third and a raucous Armagh crowd baying for their man, but McCarthy was cool as a breeze. It's worth noting, too, that he made at least four sporting calls against himself in that decider that were the mark of a true champion.
In short, it wasn't easy but McCarthy got the job done on that occasion. He almost always does.
That he doesn't hold a win over Brady is a blot on his CV, there's no doubt. Then again, the only active Irish player who does, Kennedy, defeated the Cavanman when he was a nascent, streaky comet and not the shooting star he became.
Many have struggled to slay that dragon and McCarthy has beaten the rest, at home and abroad. It hasn't always been plain sailing for this Irish Naval recruit but he has persevered, kept on working and refined his game.
He's got every tool to work with. Try to over-power him and he will diffuse you drives with soft dump shots. Take him to the roof and he'll dismantle you with milimetre-perfect wall-huggers. Only the very, very best can live him with.
Shanks showed last year, not that there was any doubt, that he deserves to be mentioned in that category, too.
Their clash of styles is intriguing. The challenger will need to be flawless if the Gael Linn Cup is not to winter in Mullingar again.
A classic awaits. Buckle up.
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