The concluding finals at the oneills.com World 4-Wall Championships took place yesterday (Sunday) at the National Handball Centre, with both Open Doubles finals going to the wire, writes Paul Fitzpatrick.
It was a special day for siblings Robbie and Aoife McCarthy, who each won world Open Doubles medals.
In the Ladies Open Doubles, Aoife McCarthy and Martina McMahon teamed up to defeat All-Ireland Senior Doubles champions Ciana Ní Churraoin and Niamh Heffernan 15-11, 2-15, 11-4.
Having defeated the Mayo-Kilkenny partnership of Cuileann Bourke and Ciara Mahon in straight games in the semi-final, the Westmeath-Limerick pairing came out shooting and won the first before dropping game two as the Tribeswomen found their range.
However, with McMahon shooting well off both hands and McCarthy rock solid on the right, they earned the win in the tiebreaker.
“Nice to finish on a high, I suppose it makes the earlier loss a bit easier,” said McMahon.
“Positive vibes now, this is three in a row for me in the doubles so I suppose I'll accept that… Onwards and upwards, this isn't the end of Marti Mac anyway,” she added.
“It's great to be back,” said McCarthy, “and thanks to Martina for asking me to step in with her. I'm just delighted, I can't believe it really.”
Meanwhile, there were emotional scenes later on as Robbie McCarthy and Joe McCann claimed the Men’s Open Doubles crown in a third-game thriller against the crack pairing of Killian Carroll and Martin Mulkerrins.
In a close contest which featured many long, energy-sapping rallies and some amazing killing and retrieving from all four men, Carroll and Mulkerrins were odds-on favourites to win when they led 7-1 in the tiebreaker.
However, McCarthy took over with a succession of spectacular kills while McCann covered the right expertly to take the title on a 13-15, 15-13, 11-7 scoreline.
“I was actually shocked to get it, usually you can’t get Robbie at all,” joked a delighted McCann in relation to McCarthy contacting him to play doubles together.
“In fairness it was a very strange phone call and I asked Niamh (his wife) could I put in a lot more training than I would have expected so I could play with Robbie. My God, it’s an incredible experience. It is unbelievable!”
In an upbeat interview, McCann, who performed very well throughout, modestly played down his own role.
“I just want to add to that, I’m probably going to start crying because a lot’s happened in the last year... Robbie is probably used to running 20 miles with 20kg on his back in under 14 minutes from the army, today I think he ran 100 miles with 90kg on his back!
“It was genuinely an honour to get a phone call, Robbie is the current All-Ireland champion and senior handball was a thing of the past for me. I asked him ‘Robbie, do you think we can win?’ and in his thickest Westmeath accent, he said ‘I’m not ringing you because I think we can lose, Joe’!”