County Juvenile Handball Finals down for decision this weekend

AS the start of 2018 40x20 Provincial championship draws closer, the activity in all counties will continue to build. In Cork the next big step is Mallow Credit Union sponsored County Juvenile Finals which are scheduled for Mallow on Saturday and Sunday next with an interesting programme of games down for decision on both days. Finals kick off on Saturday with a 4pm start with six finals to be decided.

The programme will be played off as follows, U-14 Doubles: Ballydesmond (John Cronin/Eoin Daly) v Mallow (Eanna McInerney/Joshua Harkin), U-15 Singles: Boherbue (Cathal Ducey) v Liscarroll (Gearoid Healy), U-15 Doubles; Boherbue (Dan Sheahan/Evan Enright) v Mallow (Cormac Conroy/Darragh Bowen), U-16 Singles: Boherbue (Darragh Ducey) v Mallow (Calvin Conroy), U-17 Singles; Boherbue (Aidan Lenihan) v Liscarroll (Michael O’Callaghan), U-17 Doubles: Liscarroll (Colin Healy/Luke Barrett) v Mallow (Anthony O’Connell/Cian O’Driscoll).

On Sunday’s schedule play is due to commence at 10am with nine finals down for decision order of play as follows, U-13 Doubles: Ballydesmond (Colin Brosnan/ Declan Murray) v Fermoy (Ben Sullivan/Cian Cronin O’Neill), U-13 singles; Ballydesmond (Darragh Murphy) v Conna (Cathal Sheehan), U-12 Singles: Conna (Cian Dunning) v Fermoy (Cameron O’Sullivan), U-11 Singles: Ballydesmond (Ryan Linehan) v Conna (John Temple), U-11 Doubles: Boherbue (Carmel Kelliher/Sean Og Sheehan) v Mallow (Cillian Flaherty/Wesley Delany), U-10 Singles; Conna (Julian Pietropaolo) v Fermoy (Matthew O’Sullivan), U-10 Doubles: Ballydesmond ( Jack Murphy/ Eoin Riordan) v Conna (Billy Aherne/ Tristan Clancy), U-9 Doubles; Ballydesmond (Bobby Vaughan/Amy Brosnan) v Conna (Alan Cotter/Owen O’Mahony), U-8 Doubles; Boherbue (Tadhg O’Connor/Cian O’Connor) v Conna (David Temple/Thomas/ Morrison).

While in the Singles & Doubles Finals players will be striving to win their county medal the overall prize for clubs is to win Mallow Credit Union Perpetual Shield which is presented annually to the club that will win most county titles. This year the destination of the Shield looks wide open. Based on the number of finals a club has qualified for Conna lead the way with seven, Ballydesmond and Boherbue are a close second with six each, Mallow are in five, with Liscarroll and Fermoy each contesting three. All depends on how things work out for the different players so it makes for an interesting weekend.

Liscarroll club had a busy six days with the Tim Healy Memorial Munster Open U-13 and U-15 Boys and Girls Tournament. Action commenced on Wednesday December 27 and continued right through to Monday, January 1 with a big entry in all four grades. Players came from all over Ireland and many games produced a very high standard.

In Boys U-13 semi-finals Mike Kelly, Galway, defeated Tony Leydon, Clare. The second semi-final was an all Cork affair with Hayden Supple,Fermoy defeating Eoin Daly, Ballydesmond, the spoils went to Galway as Mike Kelly overcame Hayden Supple in the Final. In Boys U-15 semi-finals Billy Drennan, Kilkenny, defeated Darragh Ducey, Boherbue, and Cathal Munroe, Tyrone, defeated Sean Doyle, Clare. In a fantastic final Billy Drennan defeated Cathal Munroe 7-3 in a tie-break.

In the Girls U-13 Final Amy Brennan, Kilkenny, defeated Clodagh Munroe, Tyrone, while in Girls U-15 which produced another excellent contest Amber Nolan, Clare, took the spoils defeating Noelle Dowling, Kilkenny, 7-4 in a tie-break.

There was good news over the weekend for Mallow and Cork Handball from US Junior Nationals which were played in Chicago with Michael O’Malley winning Boys 17 & Under US Junior Nationals title defeating Canadian Alex Carew in the final 19-21, 21-8, 11-2. In Boys 19 & Under in an all Irish Final Sean Kerr,Tyrone defeated Tadhg O’Neill, Mallow, 21-11, 16-21, 11-5.

On the domestic adult scene most of the County championship grades are now complete. At the time of writing Intermediate Doubles final was down for decision last night Wednesday in Liscarroll at 8pm with Michael Hedigan/Daniel Relihan to play Shane Hedigan and Donnacha O’Dea. In Junior B Doubles a play is necessary to decide Cork 2. that play off takes place in Kilworth this Friday at 7.30 with Conna pair Hugh Carolan and Ian Heffernan to play Mallow’s Michael O’Malley and Niall Delany. There are just a few other games to be fixed and played to complete the programme.