Provincial honours secured
Wexford’s finest in final action at Co. Kilkenny venues
OVER THE last five months, Juveniles from across County Wexford have been playing in the winter league and the county championship with the objective to bring home a county title, but also the honour of representing the county at inter-county handball level.
After months of competitive county tournaments and weeks of high-intensity county training, the remaining cream of the crop players that had come through the Leinster quarter-final and semi-final stages went to battle in Kilkenny venues over the weekend in the Leinster Juvenile four-wall championship finals.
For Wexford players, all roads led to either O’Loughlin Gaels in the city or the newly-opened state of the art alley at Kilfane. With Wexford represented in 13 of 24 finals, a busy nail-biting day lay ahead for the large travelling supporters in both courts.
It is worth noting that the scoring is different in certain age groups (Under-12 to Under-15 is three 15-ace games, while Under-16 and Under-17 are two 21 and one eleven-ace games), while the All-Ireland series only involves provincial winners from the age of Under-14 onwards.
Taghmon’s singles and double county champion, Ellie Murphy, went into her first Leinster final (Under-12 girls’ singles) in confident form and, with the experience of playing in national tournaments on her side, she settled the better against Kilkenny’s Orla Duggan.
Producing some excellent serving and returning, the Wexford girl found herself 8-3 up and looking comfortable and relaxed. Playing good handball, Ellie stretched her lead to 11-3.
What followed was an exchange of serving and rallies with neither player making any headway. Orla placed a fantastic kill shot and with it the highly-rated Kilkenny girl found her form, slowly bringing the scoreline closer until eventually the girls stood at eleven all.
Ellie fired back, taking the next two scores, however Orla wasn’t ready to concede and took the next two to level it up to 13. Ellie got herself back in after a great rally and she seized her chance, finishing the game 15-13.
The second game showed excellent handball from both young girls, matching each other ace for ace up to 8-8 in a hard-fought contest. Ellie displayed fine composure along with well-placed serving in front of a large gallery, pulling ahead 13-8 and looking like the title was hers.
In response, Orla never gave up pushing and testing Ellie but failed to close the lead. Having missed her first opportunity on serving match ball, Ellie didn’t miss her next chance, taking the second game 15-9 and the Leinster title to cap off a super four-wall season for the Taghmon girl.
The boys’ Under-14 singles final featured Wexford’s Rory Gilbert against Kilkenny’s Connor Doyle. The St. Joseph’s player has been in simply outstanding form of late and needed to find that form again against the very talented ‘lefty’ from Kilkenny.
Connor has a vast amount of experience and controlled the opening of the game superbly, not allowing Rory to find any rhythm or form. Connor was putting aces on the board every time he went in between the red lines with hard-hitting serves and kill shots, while Rory had to work hard for his chance to serve and found himself down 12-5.
On his next serving opportunity, Connor had the first game in his grasp and didn’t need a second bite of the cherry, closing it out 15-5.
Connor started the second game where he left off in the first, executing every handball shot going and with it a 9-2 lead. Although Rory did respond, providing the crowd with skilful play during long energy-draining rallies, he couldn’t put the scores on the board when it mattered.
With the score standing at 132, the Kilkenny boy could see the All-Irelands in his sights and he produced two precision serves to take the blue riband Under-14 singles title.
In the boys’ Under-12 singles final, Conor Doyle from Taghmon made his debut in inter-county handball when he faced the very talented Andrew Brennan from the famous Talbot’s Inch club in Kilkenny.
With home advantage on his side, the Kilkenny hotshot got off to the better start, however it didn’t take long for Conor to settle and, calling on all his experience, the Wexford boy found his own form.
The game was shaping up to be a very close encounter with some great rallies. Neither player was allowing the other to get too far ahead, matching each other shot for shot, kill for kill, ace for ace, with both entertaining the crowd with their skill levels.
With the score on 10-9, the Kilkenny boy found an excellent serve to put Conor under pressure, and he found it difficult to return. Andrew eventually took the first game 15-9.
The second game saw the Kilkenny player get off to a fast start, producing the same excellent serve that closed out the first game, and Conor quickly found himself down 9-2.
It’s not in his DNA to not try hard or give up, and this is exactly what Conor did, battling and digging deep during long all around the court rallies, characteristics that are fantastic to see in the young, talented Taghmon boy.
The Kilkenny boy showed great class and shot choice when the questions were asked of him, taking the second game 15-4 and the title back to the famous Kilkenny city ball alley.
Up next was the girls’ Under-12 doubles final featuring the pairing of Amber Cronin-Kenny from Coolgreany and Boo Murphy from Taghmon against Emily Phelan and Sinéad Jones from Kilkenny.
Kilkenny got the first score on the board, however this was to be their only ace of the game and when Amber and Boo went in to serve, the Kilkenny girls just couldn’t handle the strong, accurate serving from the Wexford girls who took the first game on a scoreline of 15-1.
The Kilkenny girls didn’t want to leave without showing some of the handballing skills that had got them to the final, and the second game saw a few good rallies with strong retrieving shown by both sets of girls.
Even though the Marble city girls fought hard, it never looked like the Slaneysiders were in trouble. With the strong serving from Amber and the fast footwork from Boo, the Coolgreany and Taghmon pairing were way too strong, taking the second game and the Leinster title 15-1.
Wexford’s boys’ Under-12 doubles pair of Eoin Kinsella from Coolgreany and Barntown’s Nathan Lawlor met Kilkenny’s Timmy Carr and Mathew Murphy.
In the first game Eoin and Nathan got off to a great start with some fantastic shots and clinical serving, taking an early lead of 8-3.
Not to be outdone, and with the support from the large crowd on the back wall, Kilkenny fought back hard.
The Wexford pairing know each other’s game inside out and this stood to them as their workrate was outstanding. That along with their brilliant handballing ability took the first game on a scoreline of 15-6.
The Wexford boys went confidently into the second game, producing the same super handball as the first, and took a convincing lead of 10-2.
With an air of determination in the Wexford boys’ shot execution, and no mistakes from either player much to the delight of the travelling congregation, Eoin and Nathan finished the game off and brought the title back to the Slaneyside on a score of 15-3.
Nathan is the grandson of Wexford handballer, County Vice-Chairman and Leinster Juvenile Chairman Ricky Barron, and this first Leinster title will take pride of place in Barntown.
In the boys’ Under-13 doubles final, Wexford’s pairing of cousins Seán Fitzharris and Jamie Moran from Templeudigan came up against Kilkenny’s Tim Doherty and Fionn Mahony.
This game started at a very intense high tempo and there was nothing between the sides , with any mistakes made capitalised on by the other.
Having seen that determination pays off, the Templeudigan cousins upped a level and, finding that extra bit of skill and exquisite shot selection, pushed on and never looked back to take the first game 15-11.
The second game was a carbon copy of the first, with the Wexford pairing growing more confident with every excellent serve, passing shot and kill shot they hit.
With the pressure on them, Kilkenny tried to battle back, however this led to a number of unforced errors which Wexford hopped on, adding to the pressure as well as aces on the scoreboard.
The audience sensed it was going to be Wexford’s title and that it was, taking the second game 15-5.
The four-wall season so far has been brilliant for the cousins from Templeudigan, with this Leinster title added to the county doubles crown they won a number of weeks back, and Seán winning the county singles, making their handball grandad, County Development Officer Tony Breen, the proudest.
Next week we will cover the remaining Leinster finals featuring Wexford players.