Golden generation delivers
Five titles out of possible six claimed in Castlebridge
IT WAS a momentous day for Castlebridge Handball Club and its officials as they hosted the GAA Handball 60 x 30 All-Ireland Juvenile finals, and an equally special one for Wexford Juvenile handball as they swept the boards, clocking up five of the six titles on offer at the famous Over The Water venue.
Months of preparations bore fruit in spectacular fashion as the carefully scheduled county championships laid the foundations for All-Ireland glory for what must be said is a golden generation of younger talent within the county.
The next step on the ladder won’t be as easily achieved but for now the performances and memories from All-Ireland finals day should go a long way towards giving those players every chance of standing the test of time.
Castlebridge excelled in staging a wonderful programme of matches and the court remained dry throughout the day, having battled hard with the weather in the days leading up to the finals.
Diarmuid Moore (St. Joseph’s) and Dean O’Neill (Ballymitty), after a disastrous start in their opening game of the boys’ Under-15 doubles (and a very stern exchange of views in the dressing-room) came out a completely different pair for the remainder of the match.
They put Brian McAleer and Jack Darcy (Tyrone) to the sword in no uncertain terms thereafter and ultimately ,despite a wobble in the third, ran out convincing 8-15, 15-5, 15-6 victors.
This was Diarmuid’s second All-Ireland after his 2016 40 x 20 Under-14 doubles gold, while Dean was winning the very first Juvenile All-Ireland for Ballymitty in any court.
Mark Doyle (Taghmon) and Ben Keeling (St. Joseph’s) looked ‘nailed on’ before a ball was struck against Gearóid Healy and Keelan Murphy (Cork) in boys’ Under-14 doubles, and so it proved as they completely outclassed the Munster boys, winning two straight. This was All-Ireland number two for Mark while Ben was the recipient of his first gold.
Ciarán Power and Robert Cogley, the Coolgreany/Ballymitty partnership, strolled to the title at boys’ Under-17 doubles, defeating Niall Delaney and Brooklyn Hickey (Cork) 21-6, 21-8, thus ensuring an unprecedented clean sweep of boys’ doubles honours - Under-14 through to Under-17 - for Wexford.
Robert claimed Ballymitty’s second Juvenile title of the day. The club waited years for one and they got two in the space of hours.
Not to be outdone, the girls made a healthy contribution to the medal haul as Clodagh White (St. Joseph’s) and Lucia Merrigan (Coolgreany) posted a terrific performance at Under-17 doubles against the more fancied Keri Murphy and Ciara McCarthy (Limerick).
When it came down to it, Clodagh and Lucia had all the answers, playing skilful handball, producing fine shots and going on to win with plenty to spare (21-7, 21-7).
Cora Doyle, like the Under-14 boys, was a very strong favourite and she justified her status with a very impressive 21-2, 21-8 defeat of Ashling Shanahan (Limerick).
Cora made every post a winning one and found the bottom of the wall with a radar-like consistency to clock up her debut All-Ireland after knocking on the door for a little while.
The only championship singles defeat locally or nationally Cora suffered all year was to the very highly regarded Megan McCann (Armagh) in the 40 x 20 All-Ireland Minor singles final. Cora has plenty of talent and skills to compete at the top level moving forward into Minor.
After five straight victories, Colm Parnell (Ballyhogue) went to post in boys’ Under-17 singles against Conor Owens (Cavan), and hopes had been high beforehand that he was well placed to give it a right good rattle.
However, it soon became apparent that the expectation of a sixth Wexford win was weighing heavily on his shoulders, and allied to that was an opponent who was way above average.
Colm tried valiantly but Owens was simply too strong and he won the All-Ireland on a 21-7, 21-10 scoreline. It was a tough end for the Ballyhogue youngster but he went down fighting.
The previous Saturday Josh Kavanagh and Cian Kehoe (Wexford) played their Under-16 doubles final where they faced Cian O’Driscoll and Anthony O’Connell (Cork). The Wexford boys had to travel to the Cork boys’ home court but this certainly don’t stop them winning the first game 21-13.
The Cork boys came out fighting in the second game, and the four boys produced eye-catching handball played at the highest level of skill. Cork took the second game 15-21.
With shot for shot matched, the large crowd were given a display of handball at its best. The Wexford boys pushed hard and with a bit of help from the travelling support won the tie-breaker 11-7.
Seven All-Ireland Juvenile finals bore six titles for Wexford, an achievement to match anything the county has previously recorded. Wexford finished top of the medal count across the country but it’s how we build on it now that’s the key issue.
That’s a topic for another day as this was a fabulous day of success for our Juveniles and one that many other counties could only dream of. A huge amount of credit goes to the players themselves for their application in training and their resolve to stick to the task night in, night out over the last four months, so many congratulations to them all.
Thanks to their parents or guardians for their unstinting support over the course of the championship, and to Juvenile Secretary Marguerite Gore who went way beyond the call of duty on the players’ behalf.
Special thank you to Virginia Rossiter who was ever present to help out and who live streamed county finals, Leinster finals, and the All-Ireland finals. Castlebridge have been a revelation in terms of helping out with courts and personne,l and thanks to Mick Flood and Fintan Furlong in St. Mary’s for their time and advice to all the Juveniles.
A special word of thanks to county coach Gavin Buggy whose hard work with all the Juveniles bore fruit. Gavin’s dedication to Wexford handball is unprecedented bearing in mind the time he gives with the planning of training, the endless texts and phone calls that goes with organising courts, players and parents which is appreciated greatly.
Wexford Juvenile handball players’ attention now turns to the county 40 x 20 championship 2018. The qualifying group games have started and with 102 competing across all grades, there will be no rest around the alleys of Wexford.