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Mount Talbot One Wall Results 2017

After a breath taking 2 days of action in our annual competition the handball concluded at 8pm on Saturday evening with a classic Mens Open Final between Charly Shanks from Armagh and Tyrone's Ruairi Kelly. It had been an extremely busy day with over 100 matches played at the impressive 3 court facility that is the Mattie Mc Donagh Centre and the idyllic 2 court river side setting that is Mount Talbot Handball Alley. Indeed there was no need for the reserve court in Tisrara Community Centre as the weather was glorious all weekend and reached 28 degrees during Saturday. Special thanks to Robert Coyle who ensured all games at Mount Talbot ran smoothly and Liam O Ceallaigh the club secretary.

The last match to be played was the Mens Open Final which was a real treat to the large number of spectators present. It was a fitting finale to a fantastic weekend of handball at the countries longest running Onewall Club Tournament. In all over 120 players from 50 clubs in 20 counties travelled and competed for the 16 Cup and 16 plate titles on offer with some of the country’s finest juvenile and adult handballers thrilling the spectators with fantastic matches.

In the Men's Open Final both players really pushed each other to the limit with remarkable rallies and kill shots from distance. Indeed Shanks as the reigning 40x20 All Ireland Senior Champion looked set to take the title after winning the first game 15-7 and in doing so place his name on the Sonny Kildea Sheild for the first time and join several other greats who have captured this title in the past. However Ruairi Kelly having deferred his return flights to Australia (at considerable expense) to play in Mount Talbot 2017 kicked into gear taking the second game 15-12. It all came down to the final game where Kelly held his nerve to take the tiebreaker 11-9 and ensure his name is forever etched on the now renowned and impressive shield. It was a fantastic achievement with both players defeating the cream of Irish handball in what was the finest line up of players since the 2016 Nationals. Charly who has 3 national Onewall titles to his name will have to return to Mount Talbot once again to attempt to get his name on the shield after defeating Johnny Woods and Ben Devlin on route to the final with Ruairi Kelly having defeated Cian O Conghaile, Sean Digney and Sean Kerr on route to the final. In the Men’s Open Plate Michael Egan defeated Vinny Moran 16-14.

The Ladies Open title was retained by the Limerick sharpshooter Martina Mc Mahon who defeated Sinead Ni Ainle and Leah Doyle. Martina having captured the title on her first attempt in 2016 played fantastic handball to ensure the Joan Treacy Classic Cuts Ladies Open Cup will remain in the Broadford club for at least another 12 months. Martina has several All Ireland medals in all codes.

In the Mens B grade Downs Richie McNally defeated Westmeath's Darren Carter 20-6 with the plate title also going to Co Down when last years Mens C All Ireland Champion Barrie McCoy defeating Louth's Billy Caddell. The Ladies B title went to Kildare's Ellen O’Connor who defeated Sligo’s impressive youngster Laura Finn with the plate title going to Laura Keever, the Waterford native defeating Mary Havern 11-5. The Mens C title went to Mike Dillon who had a narrow 21-19 win over Joe O’Connell in the all Galway final with the plate title going to Aidan Connaughton from the Newport club who defeated Eddie Conboy from the newly formed Roscommon club Kilglass Gaels. The Ladies Challenger title went to Michelle McCoy who was victorious over Tyrone's Catherine Kelly on a score line of 18-10 with the plate title going to Jenny Mahon, the Longford native defeating Louth's Eleanor Symth 20-4. In the Mens Challenger grade the large field proved no obstacle to Wexford's Darragh Cloake who defeated Oisin O’Ceallaigh 20-4 in the cup final with the plate title going to Kieran Forde from Annaghadown who defeated Michael Sheridan from Newport. In the Masters grade spectators witnessed some cracking games none more so than the Cup final which was an epic game between Fergal Coughlan of Clare and Tyrone's Niall Kerr. Both players showed youthful exuberance in diving for balls and contesting many long rallies. It was on this occasion the Clare man who triumphed beating Kerr by 4 points having defeated Brian Havern in the semi with Kerr overcoming his fellow county man Eamon McCrory in the second semi. The Masters plate title went to Graham Casbury who defeated Gerry O Fátharta in an entertaining final.

In the hotly contested juvenile grades there was once again a large turnout with players from as far away as Kilkenny, Armagh, Clare and Tyrone and some of Ireland's top juvenile players on show. In the Boys U18 Eimhín O Diolliúin defeated Oisin O Cuailain 28-19, Eimhin had defeated Shane Lawless in the semi final while Oisin defeated Fionn Cusack in his semi final. The plate title was captured by Fionn Cusack on a scoreline of 16-8. In the Girls U17 grade Armagh's talented youngster Cailíosa Ni Dhúil defeated Sadhbh Ni Fhlairthearta who is one of Ireland's brightest prospects. The Girls U17 plate title went to Laura Finn who defeated Kelly Curran 17-5. In the Boys U16 Nathan Kelly captured the title with a 15-10 win over Sean Coughlan. Nathan had come through a tough draw defeating Liam Egan and Eoin McGuinness. In the plate final Liam Egan defeated Gearoid Coleman. The Girls U14 title went to Carragh Kennedy who played fantastic handball by defeating Skylyn O Malley Walsh in a 5 minute tiebreaker 27-20 having been tied at 18 all after 15 minutes play of and extremely competitive and enjoyable final. The Girls U14 plate went to Emma Kinane who overcame Nicole Sweeney 13-8 in the plate final. The Boys U14 grade saw a total of 14 players competing for the title after some fantastic games in the Mattie Mc Donagh Centre and in Mount Talbot the final was contested by Philip Halliday and Jack Glynn with Philip winning a close contest. In the plate Darragh Kyne defeated Cathal O Laoire 17-8. The Boys U12 grade also served up classic matches with several close encounters with Fiachra O Dúill and Monaghan's Sean Callan reaching the final. The Armagh youngster however had too much experience for the Farney player who was making his first appearance at the tournament and O Dúill emerged victorious on a scoreline of 29-12. The plate final went to Stephen Kelly whop defeated Kilkenny's Noah Burke 22-9. The Girls U12 Cup final was won comprehensively by Cliona Ni Chonghaile when she played Emma Curran with the plate title captured by Ava Sweeney who defeated her sister Ella 23-8 on Friday evening. The Boys U10 Cup title went to Gavin Kelly in a 25-7 win over Kyle Connaughton with Niall Kelly taking the plate title in a close final against Mathew Coughlan from Clare which finished 13-11.

The club are once again delighted with the turnout and indebted to all players, parents, coaches and friends who travelled to our club from far and wide to support our tournament. We hope you all enjoyed the event as much as we did and the club want to wish one and all well in the Onewall Nationals in two weeks as well as the All Ireland Onewall Championships due to take place again this year in Mount Talbot on July 15th 2017.

Further details including pictures from the event on the clubs Facebook page Mount Talbot Handball and our website www.mounttalbothandball.gaa.ie