Twelve venues played host to the various grades of the Adult Softball Doubles finals at the weekend as the titles for 2019 were decided. In total FIFTWEEN counties contested finals with TWELVE taking home gold medals. Limerick were the form county of the weekend taking home THREE titles while Kilkenny, Tipperary, Tyrone, Westmeath and Wexford were next in line with two each followed by Carlow, Cavan, Galway, Kildare, Mayo and Meath all shared one title each.
Limerick’s successes came in the Silver Masters A Doubles were Paul Hedderman and Ken Bourke overcame Mayo’s Michael Ginley and Tom Sweeney over two games. In the Over 35B Final Keith Heelan and John Keyes also won in two games when they defeated Wexford’s Noel Holohan and JR Finn. Finally, in the Ladies Junior B Aishling Shanahan and Ciara McCarthy after loosing the first 21-20 went on to defeat Margaret Purcell and Caoimhe O’Shea of Kilkenny on a 20-21, 21-1, 21-13 score line.
One of the games of the weekend had to be the Over 35 A Doubles with Mayo’s Joe McCann and Joe Dowling coming back from losing the first 14-21 against Dublin’s Carl Browne and Conor Maxwell, they took the second 21-10 and the tie-break 21-14 to the delight of the Mayo supporters.
There was an eye-catching win for Tyrone’s Sean Kerr and Turlough Clarke as they took the U21 title with a good win over Limerick’s Evan Murphy and Nigel O’Callaghan 21-11, 16-21, 21-9.
GAA Handball would like to thank all the host clubs, referees and officials who enabled a large programme of finals to take place around the country.
All-Ireland Adult Softball Championship 2019 - Doubles Results
- MD Kilkenny (Billy O'Neill/Kyle Dunne) dft Monaghan (Eoghan McGinnity/Tiernan O’Rourke) 21-15, 21-10
- U21D Tyrone (Sean Kerr/Turlough Clarke) dft Limerick (Evan Murphy/Nigel O’ Callaghan) 21-11, 16-21, 21-9
- JBD Cavan (Conor Owens/Adam Crosbie) dft Wexford (Shane Birney/Tommy Moore) 21-12, 21-17
- JD Tipperary (John Ferncombe/Sean Maher) dft Monaghan (Darren Doherty/Conor O’Gorman) 21-11, 21-17
- IS Kilkenny (Shane Dunne) dft Tyrone (Ryan Mullan) 21-12, 21-7
- O35AD Mayo (Joe McCann/Joe Dowling) dft Dublin (Carl Browne/Conor Maxwell) 14-21, 21-10, 21-14
- O35BD Limerick (Keith Heelan/John Keyes) dft Wexford (Noel Holohan/J.R. Finn) 21-16, 21-8
- MAD Wexford (Barry Goff/Tommy Hynes) dft Mayo (Vinnie Moran/Paul Flynn) 21-15, 21-14
- MBD Wexford (David Stanners/ Robert Byrne) dft Tyrone (Chris Curran/Conal Curran) 8-21, 21-7, 21-10
- SMAD Limerick (Paul Hedderman/Ken Bourke) dft Mayo (Michael Ginley/Tom Sweeney) 21-10, 21-12
- SMBD Kildare (Gavin Grace/PJ McGrath) dft Mayo (Seamus Grier/John Cunningham) 21-3, 21-4
- GMAD Meath (Tom Sheridan/John Leahy) dft Tipperary (Kevin Mullins/Adrian Johnson) 21-7, 21-2
- GMBD Tyrone (Finbar Fullen/Kenny Curran) dft Tipperary (Willie Burke/Brendan Ryan) 21-3, 11-21, 21-15
- EMAD Westmeath (Robbie McCarthy Snr/Liam Cassidy) dft Monaghan (Conor McDonnell/Peter Larkin) 21-1, 21-3
- EMBD Westmeath (Peter McCabe/Philip Clarke) dft Galway (Brendan McNeela/Pierce Lalor) 21-16, 21-3
- DMAD Tipperary (Billy Mullins/Pakie Mullins) dft Mayo (Kevin Geraghty/Pat Hopkins) 21-3, 21-10
- DMBD Kilkenny (Gerry Murphy/Jerry Maguire) dft Monaghan (Peter Owen Fealy/James Fealy) 21-5, 20-21, 21-3
- RMD Carlow (Sean Ryan/John Rossiter) dft Mayo (Martin Cronin/Pat Hayes) 21-5, 21-6
- O70D Galway (Morgan Darcy/John Kelehan) dft Cavan (Greg Sheridan/Patsy Hand) 14-21, 21-7, 21-13
- LJBD Limerick (Aishling Shanahan/Ciara McCarthy) dft Kilkenny (Margaret Purcell/Caoimhe O'Shea) 20-21, 21-1, 21-13
- LJD Dublin (Maedbh Ní Dhalaigh/Lisa McKenna) dft Sligo (Laura Finn/Sarah Coleman) 15-21, 21-11, 21-5