Another fantastic weekend was had in Galway at the 2016 Irish Junior Nationals as almost every top seed claimed the titles in the key grades.
Wexford's Josh Kavanagh took the 13&U crown and was impressive throughout the weekend, defeating Kilkenny's Jack Doyle 15-12, 15-8 in the final. Tyrone's Mairead Fox then added the 13&U Girls Nationals to her All-Ireland U14 singles title when defeating Kilkenny's Noelle Dowling 15-10, 15-13 in a close final.
The Boys 15&U Final was easily the match of the weekend as Antoin Fox held off Lorcan McBride 11-9 in the tiebreak in an all Tyrone final, with both players showing spectacular skill levels. Kildare's Leah Doyle upset top seed Niamh Heffernan from Galway 15-8, 15-11 in the 15&U Girls.
Sean Kerr (Tyrone) & Fiona Tully (Roscommon) added the 17&U Nationals crowns to their All-Ireland Minor titles, defeating Cork's Tadhg O'Neill & Kildare's Hannah Dagg respectively.
In the 19&U, Tyrones Johnny Woods & Galway's Ciana Ni Churraoin finished their 40x20 juvenile careers in style, defeating Fergal Coughlan (Clare) & Eilise McCrory (Tyrone) respectively.
The decision to run the 11&U grade as a Fun event proved to be a major success with over 50 young players given a minimum of 5 matches each, resulting in a lot of very happy kids delighted to get the opportunity to play so much Handball in a pressure free environment.
A huge thank you to Galway Handball and all the host venues/referees/volunteers for their time and effort to making this event run so well.
See below for the full list of results.
Finals Results:
- Girls 19 & Under: Ciana Ni Churraoin (Gal) dft Eilise McCrory (Tyr) 15-2, 15-2
- Girls 17 & Under: Fiona Tully (Ros) dft Hannah Dagg (Kild) 15-2, 15-7
- Girls 15 & Under: Leah Doyle (Kild) dft Niamh Hefferan (Gal) 15-8, 15-11
- Girls 13 & Under: Mairead Fox (Tyr) dft Noelle Dowling (Kilk) 15-10, 15-13
- Girls 17 & Under B: Laura Finn (Sli) dft Eimear Dunphy (Lao) 15-6, 15-3
- Girls 15 & Under B: Emily Sheridan-Fox (Mea) dft Karen Collins (Gal) 15-2, 15-5
- Girls 13 & Under B: Siobhan Prentice (Tip) dft Cailiosa Ni Dhuill (Arm) 13-15, 15-1, 11-6
- Boys 19 & Under: Johnny Woods (Tyr) dft Fergal Coughlan (Cla) 15-8, 15-13
- Boys 17 & Under: Sean Kerr (Tyr) dft Tadhg O’Neill (Cor) 15-9, 15-13
- Boys 15 & Under: Antoin Fox (Tyr) dft Lorcan McBride (Tyr) 9-15, 15-10, 11-9
- Boys 13 & Under: Josh Kavanagh (Wex) dft Jack Doyle (Kilk) 15-12, 15-8
- Boys 17 & Under B: Caolan Smith (Cav) dft Aidan O’Flaherty (Tip) 15-5, 15-13
- Boys 15 & Under B: Niall Delaney (Cor) dft Anthony O’Connell (Cor) 8-15, 9-15, 11-1
- Boys 13 & Under B: Darragh Ducey (Cor) dft Tiarnach Doheny (Lao) 15-11, 15-6
