By Paul Fitzpatrick
In boxing, they say styles make fights. In handball, styles make matches and that maxim should be borne out in this Saturday’s All-Ireland Senior Singles final.
In opposite corners are Westmeath’s Robbie McCarthy, the four-time champion and warm favourite, and Clare’s Diarmaid Nash, a two-time Senior Doubles winner who has won many prized tournaments over the years but has yet to land the big one.
McCarthy (35 this year) has done it all in the game, winning senior titles in 40x20 (now rebranded as 4-wall), softball (the traditional 60x30 game) and One Wall. Prior to his quarter-final last Saturday, opponent Colin Crehan correctly described the Mullingar man as “the most decorated player in the draw”.
McCarthy came on the scene as a young phenomenon but his elevation to the top was delayed, principally by the presence of in Paul Brady.
When the Cavanman stepped away from ‘domestic’ play, McCarthy took over, winning three Senior Singles title in succession from 2014-16, losing the final in 2017 and bouncing back to win again in 2019.
McCarthy’s skillset is astonishing. He carries power in both hands, has a blistering serve, is defensively excellent and, given his brilliance in the ‘big alley’, has a complete mastery of all shots.
McCarthy had qualified for the All-Ireland final in March 2020 but his clash against Martin Mulkerrins was shelved at short notice when the first lockdown was imposed. As an indoor sport, handball was deemed high risk and most activity was halted for the best part of two years, depriving him – and the chasing pack – of the chance to win more titles. He did manage to win the Senior Singles titles in the 60x30 court in 2020, behind closed doors, but 2021 was a write-off, with no competitions played.
Understandably, this led to a huge degree of uncertainty in the sport but competitive action resumed in the autumn and all of the top players returned.
All, that is, bar McCarthy, who was overseas with the Irish Defence Forces and missed out on all of the events on the pre-championship tournament circuit. If there were doubts, however, about how McCarthy would play on his return, they have been emphatically quashed in recent weeks
His form has been extraordinary. In the round of 16, he beat Belfast man Owen McKenna 21-13, 21-0, securing his passage to last weekend where the quarters and semi-finals were to be played over two days.
Crehan, who won the recent Irish Nationals (the next biggest competition after the championship), was fancied by many to test McCarthy but was swept aside (21-16, 21-6) and 24 hours later, he again impressed in beating Armagh’s Charly Shanks in a pair of 21-10 games to reach his 10th final in 11 years.
Lying in wait this Saturday is Nash, who has had a slow burner of a season yet arrives at this point in electrifying form. The 31-year-old Dublin-based actuary lost the first round of the Golden Gloves in Belfast, the semi-final of the Mick Kerr Memorial in Tyrone and then reached final of the Nationals, which shows progression.
Nash also made the final of a pro stop in Houston, Texas in late January, losing in a tiebreaker after an impressive run.
His championship campaign started slowly as he saw off Wexford veteran Gavin Buggy (21-16, 21-16) in the opening round before taking the first game on the same scoreline against Kilkenny’s Peter Funchion.
However, it clicked for the Clareman in game two of that match as he won 21-3 and he carried that form into last Sunday’s semi-final, defeating Mulkerrins on an eye catching 21-5, 21-14 scoreline.
This Saturday will mark Nash’s third appearance in the Senior Singles final; he lost his first, eight years ago, to McCarthy, and again to Saturday’s opponent in 2019, but along the way, he has picked up vast experience and he comes into this match in sparkling form.
In that Houston final, Nash was overwhelmed in the first game against Killian Carroll but completely changed his game, moving to a slower lob serve and dismantling Carroll in game two, which was proof, not that it’s needed, of the Banner man’s smarts.
Nash is regarded as one of the canniest players in the game; defensively, no player in the world is better. His conditioning is top class and his front court play in particular is sensational.
Over the years, with changes in the ball and court temperature, handball has become more of a shooter’s game and Nash, once regarded as a grinder albeit with a very good two-handed offense, has adjusted.
In a 2019 interview, he admitted that he had had to do so. “The way it's gone now, you're not going to out-run any of the top players. If you're not going for attacking shots, you will lose, basically, whether you lose in three hours playing defensive shots or you lose because you missed a shot, you will still lose,” he said.
“You need to develop offensive shots. Lads' fitness levels are too good now, you won't win by grinding them down. I might have tried that in the past, saying 'I am fitter than you, I am going to make this as long as possible'. That doesn't really work.
“It's a mentality as well, playing to win rather than not to lose and that means shooting, it doesn't have to be an 80-20 percentage shot, you can shoot when it's 50-50 sometimes.You have to risk something to win. That's life, really."
Not blessed with natural power, Nash’s serve has improved as the years have gone on, providing more attacking opportunities, and his retrieving has been jaw-dropping recently, particularly against Mulkerrins when he consistently picked and re-killed the Galway man’s shots.
This game will likely be won in the front court. McCarthy loves to hold the centre and take the pace off the ball with his trademark paddle kills but Nash is equally adept inside the short line, possessing a dazzling repertoire of fly kills off either hand.
McCarthy starts as favourite and has returned from the last two years with a renewed hunger but, for Nash, this is potentially career-defining. The Clareman is on a mission and looks ready to peak but can he topple one of the all-time greats? An epic awaits.
