By Paul Fitzpatrick
While Martina McMahon and Catriona Casey have been the dominant superpowers in ladies handball in recent years, the standard among the chasing pack has arguably never been as high.
Chief among them is Roscommon’s Fiona Tully, who takes on Limerick star McMahon in the Senior Singles quarter-final tomorrow (Saturday) at Kingscourt. Dual star Tully, who captained Kilbride ladies to the county football final last year and is part of the Roscommon senior panel at present, has been in fine form of late after picking up another two titles in singles and doubles in the colours of DCU at the USHA Collegiates in Springfield, Missouri.
“I was happy with it. The courts are different obviously, it’s very warm and you’re always going to play that little bit better when you go out there. My goal for this year was to win that, it was my last year in the competition,” Tully told GAAHandball.ie.
The St Coman’s woman made the most of her trip, finding time to play in a pro stop in Texas a week earlier, in which she lost the final to Casey.
“I played in Houston the weekend before. It was that little bit of a better standard [than the Collegiates] but they use the men’s ball in the pro stop. To be honest, I didn’t really get used to the ball till near the end of that tournament, Catriona was used to it whereas I was still getting to grips with it.
“I got off to a really slow start in Houston. It is a lot heavier, especially with overhand shots. To be fair, it’s not that bad but you can notice the difference and when I went back playing with the other ball, my arms were killing me.”
Combining handball with football (Roscommon ladies are into a National League quarter-final) and studying for her Masters has not been easy but her schedule is beginning to clear up a little, she said.
“I have been playing football as well and trying to balance the two of them at the minute. It is hard but in fairness, the football management are so good to me. They work with me whenever I have something on. There is another girl there who does boxing, she is away sometimes as well and they are really helpful with that. They make sure we don’t over-train, they are very good to work with.
“There was a lot on in January and February but it has kind of calmed down a bit now.”
To close the gap on the leading duo, Fiona believes she needs to be more consistent, particularly in executing offensive shots.
“Consistency is number one. Not falling into playing Martina or Catriona’s game, I tend to do that. I need to adjust to their game but also play my own game and cut out errors, particularly hand errors.
“When I played Catriona in the pro stop, I made a lot of hand errors so I know I need to cut that out.
“I do think it’s a mental thing. In fairness, they are both amazing players. I think the rest of the players need to take their chances when they come, we are rally well with them but just don’t get the aces. I think if one of us beat them, that might break the run for others but it is not easy.”
Galway’s Ciana Ní Churaoín forced McMahon to a tiebreaker in the previous round which, said Fiona, shows that other players can compete strongly with the top two.
“Ciana is only back and has worked very hard although I have to say it was Martina’s first game back too and that game under her belt will do her the world of good. Still, it gives you that little bit of hope,” she said.
The ladies game is in a healthy state standard-wise although more can be done to promote it, she believes.
“I feel like, at senior level, the standard is way higher than I’ve ever seen it. Now, we see the top girls killing the ball consistently, the standard has come up a lot.
“I also think the equality isn’t there yet. Even last weekend, all the girls were in court three and they were actually great games, it felt like they were just kind of put in the back court.
“Overall I think a lot has been done and it’s on the up but there’s a lot more that could be done.”
After an enforced 18-month absence, she is rearing to go again.
“During Covid I was playing football but I always knew I would come back to handball. I was never going to leave it. I didn’t play much during Covid but I was always going to come back, there were no ifs about it to be honest.”