The Men’s and Ladies Doubles 40x20 Open Championships in each of the four provinces are down for decision this weekend with Leinster, Munster and Ulster all kicking off tomorrow night (Wednesday).
In Connacht the top seeds are Mayo’s Joe McCann with his new but very experience playing partner Vinnie Moran, they will most likely face Galway’s Martin Mulkerrins / Seamus O’Conghaile but Mayo and especially Ollie Cassidy / Ian McLoughlin will be hoping it’s an all Mayo final. The Ladies Final between Ciana Ni Churraoin /Sinead Ni hAinli (Galway) v Lauren O’Riordan / Fiona Tully (Roscommon) has still to be confirmed.
Leinster’s top seeds are Eoin Kennedy / Carl Browne (Dublin), they will fancy their changes to make it to Saturday’s afternoon final showdown. They will most likely face last years All Ireland Doubles winner Brian Carroll with his new partner Gary McConnell (Meath) but time will tell. The Leinster Ladies final is hard to call with both pairings namely Ciara Mahon / Mary Phelan (Kilkenny) and Patricia Byrne / Shauna Hilley (Wicklow) hoping to take home the title.
The Munster championship is wide open after the withdrawal of the top seeds namely Diarmaid Nash and Niall Malone due to work commitments. The new number one seeds Ger Coonan / David Moloney (Tipperary) will fancy their chances but so too will a host of others. In the Ladies competition it’s a straight final between the All Ireland champion’s Cork due of Catriona Casey / Ashling O’Keefe and Limerick’s Martina McMahon / Katie McCarthy.
In Ulster you can’t bet beyond last year’s Ulster winners and former All Ireland Double champion’s Cavan’s Paul Brady / Michael Finnegan but who will contest the Ulster final? Will it be the Antrim pair of Owen McKenna / Sean Devine or the Tyrone young guns?
Click here for the Provincial Doubles Championship Draws
Note:
- The 4 Men’s Provincialwinners qualify for the All-Ireland QF
- The 4 Men’s Provincial runners-up advances to the last twelve
- Remaining men’s doubles teams who competed in the provincial championship can compete in the qualifier competition if they so wish. At least 1 of the Doubles players must be eligible to play Senior.
- Entry forms for the Men’s Senior Doubles back door competition have been emailed out to all Co. Secretaries via their official handball email address and must be returned to the GAA Handball Office by Friday 19th February.