The second GAA Handball All Ireland Wallball Championships took place in Mount Talbot on Saturday last with Tyrone's Conor McElduff and Cork's Catriona Casey emerging victorious from the Open grades.
This is the second year of the trial competition and this year it came hot on the heels of one of the biggest weekends in Wallball history following the Wallball Nationals in Breaffy House a fortnight ago. The format saw the semi finals take place on Saturday morning with the finals being played that afternoon. While the atmosphere or crowds of Breaffy House may not have been present there was certainly no shortage of quality Handball on show.
Mens Open Champion Conor McElduff continued his fine form in the Wallball court this year as he accounted for last year's champion Paudi Quish of Limerick 15-6, 15-7 in his semi final. In the other semi final Galway's Martin Mulkerrins had a walkover from Kilkenny's Peter Funchion and so a rematch of the Wallball Nationals final of 2016 was on the cards as McElduff and Mulkerrins faced off in the day's final game. In 2016 Mulkerrins took the title but McElduff made sure there would be no repeat this time in a dominant showing winning out 15-10 in the first. The second was a ding dong affair with both players displaying trick shots and great athleticism to wow the small but vocal crowd present. McElduff appeared to have matters wrapped up as he served for game ball but Mulkerrins fought back and came agonisingly close to forcing a third as he missed by inches with a shot at game ball. McElduff didn't need to be asked twice again as he closed out the game and added the title to his Wallball Nationals title.
In the Ladies Open reigning champion Catriona Casey received a bye in the semi final to advance straight through to the final. In the other semi final Mayo's Pauline Gallagher defeated Laois' Niamh Dunne on a 15-8, 15-12 scoreline to advance to her first final. Casey was in ruthless form in the first and made very few mistakes as she closed out a 15-5 first game win. In the second any doubts about complacency setting in were soon dispelled as she raced into an unassailable lead and wrapped up the match and the title on a 15-5, 15-3 scoreline to collect her second title in a row.
Elsewhere on the day there were eye catching wins for Kilkenny's Noelle Dowling who defeated Tyrone's Mairead Fox and Galway's MIkey Kelly who defeated Tyrone's Cahir Munroe in the Girls and Boys U15 finals. In the U17s finals Clare's Caitriona Millane and Tyrone's Dara Curran took the titles with victories over Mayo's Cuileann Bourke and Kilkenny's Eoin Brennan respectively. The Masters and Mens B titles made their way to the Kingdom with Dominic Lynch taking the Masters title and Jack O Shea defeating Mayo's Ian McLoughlin in a high quality Mens B Final while Armaghs Megan McCann secured a comfortable victory in the Ladies B. Finally the Ladies C title went to Kilkenny with Margaret Purcell defeating Down's Michelle Coy in a tiebreaker while Galway took the Mens B title when Conor Noone defeated Cork's Gearoid O Connell.
GAA Handball would like to congratulate all the winners and to thank the Mount Talbot Club for hosting the games and for the hospitality shown on Saturday. Also thank you to all who refereed throughout the day.
All Ireland Wall Ball Championships 2017 – Results
Saturday 15th July
At Mount Talbot, Co. Roscommon.
Mens Open
SF1 Galway (Martin Mulkerrins) W/O Kilkenny (Peter Funchion) scr.
SF2 Tyrone (Conor McElduff) dft Limerick (Paudi Quish) 15-6, 15-7
Final Tyrone (Conor McElduff) dft Galway (Martin Mulkerrins) 15-10, 15-14
Ladies Open
SF1 Mayo (Pauline Gallagher) dft Laois (Niamh Dunne) 15-8, 15-12
SF2 Cork (Catriona Casey) Bye
Final Cork (Catriona Casey) dft Mayo (Pauline Gallagher) 15-5, 15-3
Mens B
SF1 Mayo (Ian McLoughlin) dft Carlow (Kevin Barrett) 15-13, 15-5
SF2 Kerry (Jack O’Shea) dft Down (Barry McCoy) 15-8, 15-9
Final Kerry (Jack O’Shea) dft Mayo (Ian McLoughlin) 14-15, 15-10, 11-7
Ladies B
SF1 Kildare (Ellen O’Connor) Bye
SF2 Armagh (Megan McCann) Bye
Final Armagh (Megan McCann) dft Kildare (Ellen O’Connor) 15-3, 15-0
Mens C
SF1 Galway (Conor Noone) dft Louth (Billy Caddell) 14-15, 15-12, 11-4
SF2 Cork (Gearoid O’Connell) dft Down (Collie Turley) 15-12, 15-7
Final Galway (Conor Noone) dft Cork (Gearoid O’Connell) 15-7, 15-7
Ladies C
SF1 Kilkenny (Margaret Purcell) dft Sligo (Laura Keaver) 14-15, 15-7, 11-10
SF2 Down (Michelle McCoy) dft Cork (Anna Dunne) 15-12, 15-3
Final Kilkenny (Margaret Purcell) dft Down (Michelle McCoy) 15-2, 4-15, 11-2
Masters
SF1 Galway (Graham Cashburn) dft Laois (Kevin Brennan) 3-15, 15-12, 11-10
SF2 Kerry (Dominick Lynch) dft Tyrone (Niall Kerr) 15-13, 15-14
Final Kerry (Dominick Lynch) dft Galway (Graham Cashburn) 15-3, 15-6
Boys U17
SF1 Kilkenny (Eoin Brennan) dft Galway (Jason O’Tuathail) 15-1, 15-9
SF2 Tyrone (Dara Curran) dft Cork (Niall Delaney) 15-9, 15-6
Final Tyrone (Dara Curran) dft Kilkenny (Eoin Brennan) 15-9, 15-9
Girls U17
SF1 Mayo (Cuileann Bourke) W/O Carlow (Laura Donovan) scr.
SF2 Clare (Catriona Millane) dft Tyrone (Caitlin Conway) 15-10, 15-11
Final Clare (Catriona Millane) dft Mayo (Cuileann Bourke) 15-6, 15-2
Boys U15
SF Galway (Mikey Kelly) dft Kilkenny (Jack Doyle) 12-15, 15-13, 11-1
SF Tyrone (Cahir Munroe) dft Cork (Darragh Ducey) 15-3, 15-12
Final Galway (Mikey Kelly) dft Tyrone (Cahir Munroe) 10-15, 15-5, 11-4
Girls U15
SF1 Kilkenny (Noelle Dowling) dft Galway (Sadhbh Ní Flaithearta) 15-3, 13-15, 11-3
SF2 Tyrone (Mairead Fox) W/O Clare (Chloe Philpott) scr.
Final Kilkenny (Noelle Dowling) dft Tyrone (Mairead Fox) 15-7, 13-15, 11-7