Cora produces quality display

Another eight finals staged

ANOTHER EIGHT county finals were contested in the county 40 x 20 handball championships last week.

All medals were extremely hardearned following a championship format which all but guarantees that the strongest pairings will reach the concluding fixture.

In St. Joseph’s on Wednesday, it became apparent that the Junior ‘C’ singles caters for a high standard and is proving an increasingly difficult grade to gain promotion from.

Matthew Hynes from the St. Mary’s club in Wexford town prevailed against Liam Rossiter from Ballyhogue following an evenly-matched three-game battle which ended with a scoreline of 21-12, 13-21, 21-15.

The next game on the programme wasn’t so close however, as Cora Doyle, a product of the successful St. Joseph’s handball nursery, proved too much to handle for Marguerite Gore from St. Mary’s in the women’s Junior singles on a scoreline of 21-3, 21-11.

James Stanners from St. Martin’s received the reward of capturing the Masters ‘B’ singles for all his dedication following another three-game match, defeating Robert Byrne from Bridgetown 14-21, 21-7, 21-8.

It was a very successful night for the Stanners family as, preceding this game, James’ two brothers, Seán and David, were victorious in the Masters ‘B’ doubles final following an epic battle. They survived on a scoreline of 18-21, 21-16, 21-14 against David Redmond and Kevin Cowman from Templeudigan.

Benny Doyle from Horeswood and Mick Armstrong of Kilmyshall shared the spoils in the Golden Masters age group, as Benny won the ‘A’ singles 13-21, 21-19, 21-13.

Mick gained revenge for that defeat, accompanied by Jimmy Dunne, by capturing the Golden Masters ‘B’ doubles at the expense of Benny and his partner, Declan Hart, in Piercestown on Monday.

The temperature outside was close to freezing that night, but things were pretty hot inside the court by all accounts.

Cian Kehoe and Josh Kavanagh of St. Joseph’s added to their medal collection in the Minor doubles as, sadly, their opponents, Dean O’Neill and Diarmuid Moore from Ballymitty, were unable to fulfil the fixture due to injury.

Similiarly, in the women’s Junior ‘C’ singles, Lucia Merrigan from Coolgreany took the title uncontested.

Another round of county finals will be decided this week, with St. Joseph’s catering for one of the highlight matches this Saturday as Galen Riordan of Ballyhogue faces Keith Armstrong from Kilmyshall in the Intermediate decider.

And then on Wednesday, February 13, Galen will also contest the highly-anticipated Senior singles final against Gavin Buggy of St. Joseph’s.

All the latest fixtures and results can be found on www.gaahandballwexford.ie

Robert Byrne (Bridgetown) with James Stanners (St. Martin’s), winner of the Masters ‘B’ singles final.

Matthew Hynes of St. Mary’s (right), winner of the Junior ‘C’ singles title, with runner-up Liam Rossiter (Ballyhogue) and official Barry McWilliams at the final in St. Joseph’s on Wednesday.

Kevin Cowman and David Redmond of Templeudigan (left) went down to David and Seán Stanners (St. Martin’s) in the Masters ‘B’ doubles decider.

Cora Doyle of St. Joseph’s (left), the Junior ladies’ winner, with runner-up Marguerite Gore from St. Mary’s.

Ricky Barron of Barntown (left), winner of the Golden Masters ‘B’ singles, with official Tracey Hogan and runner-up Jimmy Dunne from Kilmyshall.

Official Alan O’Neill with the women’s Junior ‘C’ doubles finalists which was an all-Ballymitty encounter, with Danielle Kinsella and Becky O’Neill (left) losing to Niamh Millar and April Moran (right).