On July 16-17th Hospital Handball Club hosted the third annual King of the Gym competition in John the Baptist Community School Hospital. With just over 200 games played within 24 hours, this years event proved to be the finest of the previous two years.
For the first time in the history of the tournament, the club introduced the inaugural Queen of the Gym event. This was used as a means of promoting ladies handball in the area and as a result there was a dramatic increase throughout all female grades in the tournament.
The Ladies Open final featured Galway star Sinead Hanley and last years Queen Catriona Casey. The game was nail bitingly close with Catriona slicing the ball down both side-lines and Sinead taking ever opportunity and hitting, what’s described by many, as the “rollout” of the tournament. Both ladies put on a spectacular performance for the large crowd in attendance however it was Casey who finished strongest. The game ended on a 25-11 score line with Casey claiming her second crown in a row.
The Men’s Open final saw rising Cork star Tadhg O Neill go head to head with Limerick’s Paudi Quish. Quish burst out of the blocks and raced into an 11-3 lead however after a tactical time out O Neill slowly clawed with the game back to 11-11 with some dazzling dives. It was neck and neck with the pair exchanging service without any ace three times. Quish broke the deadlock first and powered into a strong lead. Tadhg again pulled the score line back but Paudi’s lead was too much for the Cork man to overcome. The game finished at 25-14 in favour of the Hospital native.
Hospital Handball Club would like to thank John the Baptist Community school for providing the club with the opportunity to host one of the countries largest wall ball events and also all the players who attended this years event.
King/ Queen of the Gym results:
- Men’s Open Final: Paudi Quish dft Tadhg O Neill (25-14)
- Ladies Open Final: Catriona Casey dft Sinead Hanley (25-11)
- Men’s B Final: Gearoid O Connell dft Kevin Barrett (25-24 after tiebreak)
- Men’s C Final: Eoghan Sheehan dft Anthony Crotty (21-15)
- Boy’s U17 Final: Eoin Brennan dft David Walsh (22-12)
- Girl’s U15 Final: Cailíosa Ní Dhúill dft Mary Ellen Phelan (16-15)
- Boy’s U15 Final: Eimhin O Diollúin dft Cormac Doheny (30-10)
- Girl’s U13 Final: Sadhbh Ní Fhlaithearta dft Sarah Walsh (26-10)
- Boy’s U13 Final: Billy Drennan dft Mikey Kelly (29-16)
- Girl’s U11 Final: Emma Kinane dft Emer Barron (15-7)
- Boy’s U11 Final: Fiachra O Dúill dft Rory Carthy (30-10)