Gregan is top dog
Michael secures Wicklow crown
LAST Friday night in Coolboy Handball Club the county singles finals were held in the Junior, Intermediate and Senior ranks with some fine handball on display in front of a healthy crowd.
First up was the Junior decider where Joe Dempsey played Michael Osborne. Deadly Dempsey proved too strong for Michael who was appearing in his first final after taking the game up in the last two years.
Joe took the game to Michael in the first where he ended up winning it convincingly by 21-10 and in the second, he took off where he left off in the first and dominated the court by taken the second game 21-12 and took home the Junior Wicklow handball title.
The second game of the night was the Intermediate final where former Minor county footballer PJ Mulhall took on Declan Jordan.
This game took a total of two hours to separate these two players with both men refusing to give up the ghost.
PJ took control of the game early while Declan was only warming up and when Declan started to take his shots, he had PJ on the back foot.
However, ace by ace was fought and it was PJ who took the first game 21-17, and it was a wellearned rest for both players at the interval.
The second game started slowly where both players served but couldn’t make any aces. It was Declan who took an early lead in the second but when Mulhall got into his stride he pegged Declan back to level the game at 10 apiece and it was from there that Mulhall took control and went on to win the game 21-18 and become Wicklow’s Intermediate handball champion for 2020.
The third game was the big one, the Senior Wicklow final where county partners Michael Gregan and Johnny Willoughby took to the stage in this big game
Michael started as favourite but Johnny wasn’t having any of this. The challenger took the early game where Michael was missing his kills and Johnny was taking advantage of this, but it wasn’t long until Michael got in his stride and started to do what he does best and wear down his opponent and it was Johnny who was the one to start making the mistakes.
Again, it was ace for ace with these two players in the first game but it was Michael who served out the first game 21-15 and two players took there few minutes to get ready for game two.
This game started as the first had where Johnny took an early lead again and went 6-1 up so it was game on. Both players tired and time outs were exchanged and it was Michael that gained more from the rest and he served out the second game 21-13 to become Wicklow’s Senior handball champion for 2020.
A great night of handball was had and the packed gallery weren’t disappointed with the handball on show.
Massive thanks goes out the organisers and the referees on the night who were Patricia Byrne, Jerome Willoughby and Pat Doyle,’ said Coolboy’s James Gregan.