Round two hurling ties on Wexford club scene
Doubles duo also claim All-Ireland
THE CURTAIN came down on the Juvenile handball 40 x 20 season in recent weeks, with the All-Ireland singles and doubles Finals festival weekend taking place in Kingscourt, Co. Cavan, and the Juvenile team semi-finals and finals on home soil in St. Joseph’s.
The Wexford Juveniles started their journey in the 40 x 20 season last October. Placed gently in the back of their minds was March, 2019, and the hope that they would get to play in what is dubbed ‘the ultimate weekend in the 40 x 20 handball season’.
With three state of the art courts in a superb arena, all the top Juveniles and adults want their names in the lights for the All-Ireland finals.
Wexford were represented in the All-Ireland Juvenile finals in the boys’ Under-17 singles by Dean O’Neill (Ballymitty), in the boys’ Under-17 doubles by David Doyle and Joe Devereux (Castlebridge), and in the girls’ Under-14 singles by Jodie Keeling (St. Joseph’s).
En route to the final, Dean came through two very tough games, the Leinster final and All-Ireland semi-final. The tough games Dean had played stood to him and he carried this form into the All-Ireland final against Deveidas Kaklauskas from Monaghan.
Controlling the first game with some fantastic shots and clinical finishing, Dean took the first game 21-8. Not to go down without a fight, Deveidas came back strongly to take the lead in the second game, but Dean, showing all his experience, took a couple of time-outs at vital stages, which re-energised him.
Dean slowly clawed his way back into the second game and, once he got back in front, he closed the game out on a tight 21-19 scoreline.
Dean created history as the first Juvenile from the Ballymitty club to capture an All-Ireland Juvenile singles title, a great achievement.
Similar to Dean, Joe and David had a tough Leinster Under-17 doubles final against Kilkenny, which went to a tie-break. They had an easier passage in the All-Ireland semi-final against Cork opposition.
Waiting in the All-Ireland final for the young Castlebridge lads wwere Niall McMahon and Daryl McGurren from Cavan. The Castlebridge pair have a great understanding and this showed in the first game when they took an early lead and never looked like getting caught, despite the tight 21-18 scoreline.
In the second game the Cavan pair battled hard but, with the pressure on, they made a number of unforced errors which our lads capitalised on. They were never in trouble after that and won the second game 21-16 to secure the All-Ireland title. Well done lads.
Jodie Keeling was up against Emma Kinane from Galway in the Under-14 singles final.
Jodie and Emma are very familiar with each other’s game, as they have met in three national finals over the last 18 months or so, with Emma leading the headto-head 2-1.
In the final Jodie got off to a flyer in the first game, racing into a 7-0 lead, but, similar to Dean, Emma took a time-out which seemed to disrupt Jodie’s rhythm.
Emma battled back to level at 10-10, before going on to take the first game 15-12. Jodie never recovered from this setback and Emma closed the match out in the second game. Hard luck Jodie.
It was a fantastic day’s handball and it was great to see such a large Wexford support present to cheer on the players.
Thanks to everyone who helped out in any way in preparing the players for the finals, with a special mention for Robert Doyle, county Coaching Officer, for the Trojan work and countless hours he put in over the last number of months.
Our boys’ Under-14/15 team of six and Under-16/17 team of four had home advantage in the All-Ireland semi-finals, but unfortunately it was the visitors who took home the spoils in front of a large crowd in St. Joseph’s.
Our boys’ Under-14/15 team of Bobby Doyle, Conor Horan, John Connors, Mylie Connors, Ryan Moran and Eoin Roche took on Clare. After the first two pairs had each played their two games (two 15-ace games), there was only a point between the teams going into the final two games.
In the end Clare just got over the line on an overall score of 75-68. Clare went on to comprehensively beat Galway 80-41 in the final, which just shows how small the margins can be between winning and losing.
Our boys’ Under-16/17 team of Tommy Connors, Gavin Lacey, Michael Shiel, Ben Keeling and Conor Dobbs came up against Cork in their semi-final, and the visitors proved too strong on this occasion, winning on a total score of 56-38.
Similar to Clare in the Under-14/15 final, Cork went on to beat Galway 49-39 in the final. Both Galway teams ended up with byes to the final, and obviously the competitive semi-finals that Clare and Cork had against Wexford had them well primed for the finals.
Thanks to St. Joseph’s Handball Club for providing such a fabulous spread and to everyone else who helped out in any way, too many to mention by name.
The focus in the coming weeks now shifts to the summer court for the traditional 60 x 30 season and the county wall ball championship.