The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
AGM to hear of Handball success
THE Kerry Handball Board will look back on a year of success and continued promotion of the sport in Kerry when they hold their Annual General Meeting in Glenbeigh this weekend.
This year the AGM takes place on Saturday night at 8pm in the Glenbeigh Handball Complex located in the heart of the village close to the Towers Hotel.
In his annual report chairman of the Board, Christy Moriarty (Glenbeigh) will outline the success of players at Provincial and National level.
“The 60x30 competitions are the most difficult in the handball calendar. Dominick Lynch from Glenbeigh brought the season to a fruitful conclusion in September when he flew the Kerry flag with pride winning the All Ireland 60x30 Masters A Singles final. He added the Kerry title to his list of medals in October defeating Jack O’Shea in the final played in Ballymacelligott. One of the most promising new players in Kerry is Pat Lacey from Asdee. He reached the All Ireland 60x30 Emerald Masters semi final this season. Another Masters star, Dermot Casey (Ballymacelligott), reached the All Ireland Diamond Master B All Ireland semi final.”
The promising Glenbeigh duo of Darragh Lynch and Sean Quirke reached the Munster Under 16 Doubles final and were very unlucky to be defeated in a pulsating final.
“Another exciting prospect is Jack O’Shea (Glenbeigh). He reached the Munster Intermediate final in Cullen. O’Shea also reached the quarter finals of the All Ireland 60x40 Open Singles. In a pulsating All Ireland Men’s B Doubles quarter final played in Wexford, Daire Keane (Ballymacelligott) and John Joe Quirke (Glenbeigh) were defeated by Seamus Connelly and Gordon Nobel (Galway).”
Kerry Board P.R.O., Jack O’Shea (Glenbeigh) will inform delegates of Kerry success in the 40x20 competitions.
“In March Kerry handball were celebrating three All Ireland titles in Cavan when Dominic Lynch won the All Ireland Master A title, Daire Keane from Ballymacelligott was an impressive winner of the All Ireland Junior B championship and Darragh Lynch and Sean Quirke teamed up to win the All
Ireland Under 16 Doubles title. In the All Ireland Masters Doubles final in Cavan John Joe Quirke and Dominic Lynch were unlucky not to retain the title they won in 2018.”
In the 60x30 Hardball competitions which commenced in May, Jack O’Shea won the All Ireland Junior championship played in Ballymacelligott and added the All Ireland One Wall Plate to his list of victories in July.
At the Munster One Wall championships in Killarney there was success for Darragh Lynch and Sean Quirke (Glenbeigh) in the Under 16 Doubles, Brendan O’Donoghue (Killarney) in the Master A final, Tommy Quirke (Glenbeigh) Men’s C final, John Joe Quirke (Glenbeigh) Men’s B final and Jack O’Shea (Glenbeigh) Open Men’s title
with other Kerry players reaching various finals. These included Aoife Walsh (Currow) and Tadgh O’Sullivan (Killarney).
In October Tommy Quirke (Glenbeigh and IT Tralee) won the All Ireland Collegiate 60x30 Grade C title in Wexford.
Juveniles
Juvenile handball in Kerry continues to make progress. Maggie and Clodagh Quirke (Glenbeigh) won the Under 12 Munster Doubles title, the All Ireland Under 11 Cumann na mBunscoil title and the Kerry Under 12 title.
Roisin King and Sara Mason (Glenbeigh) were impressive winners of the Kerry Under 14 title.
In the Kerry Boys championships held in the Spa GAA Complex in Killarney, there were impressive victories for Jamie Lynch and Liam Sheehy (Lispole), Darragh O’Connor and Rhys Murphy (Glenbeigh), Adrian Sheehan and Matthew O’Connor (Glenbeigh) and in the Under 13 section the Glenbeigh duo of Liam O’Connor and Lucas Riordan were highly impressive.
The current Kerry Handball Board is President, Paddy Downey (Tralee); Chairman, Christy Moriarty (Glenbeigh); Vice Chairman, Pat Keane (Ballymacelligott); Secretary, Danny Riordan (Ballymacelligott); PRO, Jack O’Shea (Glenbeigh); Delegates to Kerry GAA Board, Eddie Riordan (Ballymacelligott) and Danny Riordan (Ballymacelligott); Children’s Officer, Bernie Reen (Rathmore); Development Officer, Ashley Prendeville (Ballymacelligott).