Team Ireland face another busy day at the World Wallball Championships

By Paul Fitzpatrick

Team Ireland face another busy day at the World Wallball Championships in New York on Thursday, with fixtures spread across Coney Island and St John’s Recreation Centre.

Armagh’s Fiachra Ó Dúill has a particularly demanding schedule, with the Team Ireland Singles and Doubles representative in action in both.

Ó Dúill gets the day under way at Coney Island at 1pm when he takes on Timbo Gonzalez, conqueror of England's Luke Thomson yesterday, in the Men’s Big Ball Open Singles.

He will return to the court at 6pm alongside Sean Kerr in the Open Doubles; Kerr stepped in to replace the injured Mikey Kelly and the duo have earned wins over Christopher Morris and 4-wall superstar Martin Mulkerrins and Stephen Lavarro/Gary Lau. They meet Alan Sanchez and Julio Carlos, who both competed in the Worlds in Limerick in 2024.

In the Women's Open Singles, Martina McMahon takes on Melanie Garate in the semi-final at midday local time. McMahon had a tremendous win yesterday; the Limerick woman is Ireland's last remaining hope in the blue riband ladies grade.

The Irish pairs have been eliminated in the Women's Open Big Ball Doubles, with McMahon and Aoife McCarthy falling yesterday, as did Ciana Ní Churraoin and Eilise McCrory.

Much of the remainder of the Irish interest will be concentrated at St John’s Recreation Centre, where several of the country’s leading young players continue their campaigns.

15&U rep Kevin McGrath is first up there at 2pm in the Boys U15 Big Ball Singles. His opponent will be the winner of the meeting between Zi Youe and Diego Guzman.

In the 17&U, Lucy McCullagh is also scheduled for 2pm, taking on either Jasmeen Kaur or Li Yucheng in the Girls Big Ball Singles.

There is then a strong Irish presence at 3pm, with three players due on court.

St Gall’s youngster Nina McBride continues her Girls U15 campaign against the winner of Kalenchuk and Kai Yuen, while Cian Dunning also has his second match in the 19&U grade.

Longford’s Thomas Finn is also in action at 3pm in the Boys 17&U Singles. The Abbeylara player is Ireland’s official representative in the grade and will face either Miguel Valle or Hong Kong’s Ren Chun Chak as he attempts to progress deeper into the competition.

Thursday’s programme comes as the championships begin to move towards the business end, with the standard rising and the fields thinning ahead of the weekend.