Cousins clash and then form pair
FOLLOWING ON from the roaring success of the juvenile winter league that closed out the 2019 year, the county four-wall Juvenile championship commenced the first weekend of January and was run on a knockout basis over a period of five weeks.
There was more at stake than a county title, with a place on the county Juvenile handball team also up for grabs.
The first of these county finals took place in St. Joseph’s on January 26. The opening game of the programme was the boys’ Under-13 singles final, featuring Seán Fitzharris and Jamie Moran.
Not only are both players from the Templeudigan club, these boys are also first cousins.
Seán got off to a better start with great serving and passing shots, although Jamie fought hard and showed great determination.
Seán’s shot choice and skill was too much though, and he secured the first game comfortably. Jamie settled better in the second game and produced some fine shots, but Seán upped a gear when under pressure to secure the second game and the title.
Next up was the girls’ Under-17 singles final, between April and Emily Moran. These twin sisters hailing from the Ballymitty club are no strangers on the Juvenile scene.
Whenever these two girls meet, and there has been many a battle over their Juvenile careers, their games are always a close encounter and this was no different.
Both girls started well and neither gave each other an inch, matching each other point for point. At the critical moment April secured the two aces to take the first game 21-19.
With sibling rivalry at it highest, Emily found her form, producing great handball shots and taking the second game comfortably and forcing a tie-breaker. It was April who upped her game and settled quicker in the tie-breaker, and she finished very strong to take the title on a scoreline of 11-5.
Next up was the boys’ Under-15 doubles between Bobby Doyle and Jack Murphy from Taghmon, and Shane Kehoe and Conor Creane from St. Mary’s.
In the first game the Taghmon pair proved too strong, with some hard hitting and skilful serving to close it out.
In the second game the St. Mary’s boys came out fighting, taking an early lead, but the Taghmon pair had other ideas and fought back well to take the win 2-0.
Next game on the programme was the boys’ Under-13 doubles between Seán Fitzharris and Jamie Moran, and Ryan Cardiff and Harvey O’Brien.
The Templeudigan boys started very strong and the Taghmon duo struggled to settle. Producing some excellent serves, the Templeudigan pair closed out the first game.
The second game was a carbon copy of the first as the Taghmon boys were unable to cope with the pressure of the brilliant pressure and serving of the Templeudigan cousins who closed out the match 2-0 and took a clean sweep of county boys’ Under-13 titles.
The second-last game on the programme was the boys’ Under-16 singles between Ryan Moran from Ballymitty and Johnny Goggins from St. Joseph’s.
We are delighted to see Johnny back on the court after a couple of years out of the game, and it didn’t upset his form as he proved way too strong for the hard-trying Moran.
The final game was the boys’ Under-11 singles between Barry Foley and Michael Murphy, both from Taghmon. These two boys are very familiar as they are training partners.
Barry got off to a flying start and Michael found the going tough, but he never gave up before Barry closed out the first game.
The second game was a close encounter with some great rallies and excellent handball by both players.
Michael had a good lead but Barry fought back hard to take the title by the narrowest of margins, 15-14.