GAA Handball All Ireland semi Finals and Finals
The end of the big alley handball season is looming large and that means loads of action across the country in the national finals and semi finals.
Next Saturday afternoon is a huge day for Wexford handball with two giants of the game taking to the courts in the senior ranks while four stars of the future also take to the courts in All Ireland Juvenile handball finals.
Williamstown County Galway next Saturday is make or break day for Colin Keeling and Gavin Buggy in the M. Donnelly GAA Handball All Ireland senior doubles as they face the huge task of playing Michael Duxie Walsh and Michael Clifford in a mouth watering south east derby in the 60 x 30 semi final .
A huge crowd is expected to travel from county Wexford to the Galway venue with a bus load of supporters expected to travel to support the Wexford duo. Barry Goff narrowly lost out to Robbie McCarthy in the semi final of the senior singles but he and Keeling have been in super form in as a partnership winning two national tournaments already this season and they will hope to progress to meet Paul Brady/Michael Finnegan (Cavan) or Dessie Keegan/Joe McCann (Mayo) in the All Ireland final the night before the All Ireland senior football final.
In Cashel the programme of All Ireland juvenile finals gets underway at 11.30 am with Oisín Foley and Tomás Hall first in action for the model county in the Under 14 doubles All Ireland final. The Castlebridge duo had an amazing win last weekend as they travelled to Tyrone to take on and beat Seán Kerr and Aaron Owens from Tyrone on a 5-15, 15-4, 15 -14 score line. In the All Ireland final the boys will meet Tiernan O’Brien and John Ryan from Tipperary in what should be a fantastic final.
Oisín Foley’s brother Pádraig will hope to make it a double weekend of success for the Foley household as he joins forces with Galeon Riordan for the under 16 All Ireland Doubles final in which the Wexford pair will face off against Pádraig O’Donohue and Daniel Hayes from Tipperary.
On Sunday afternoon there are four more Wexford players with All Ireland glory in their sights in finals that will be played at two different venues.
In Dungarvan on Sunday the action gets underway at 1pm as Brendan Murphy get into action in the Emerald Masters B singles final when he plays Jim Quinn from Tipperary and that final will be followed by part three of the Gavin Buggy Wexford, Paul Mullins trilogy in the Over 35 singles All Ireland final.
In the Na Fianna GAA club grounds in Dublin Eugene Kelly is the first man into action at 1pm in the Over 35 B singles All Ireland final as he meets Billy Kelly from Roscommon. Following that game Shane Rossiter from Wexford will go head to head with Jason Judge from Mayo in the Masters B singles final. Shane qualified last weekend for the final with a terrific win over Jimmy McKeon from Cavan in the semi final as the Ballymitty man progressed on a 21-18, 21-7 score line over the Cavan man.
The Boys Under 12/13 team of Six are in action in the Leinster final in Garryhill next Friday night as they play Kilkenny or Offaly in the final with a team of model county men including Anthony Butler, Patrick Boland, Adam Walsh, Alan Browne, Ciarán Busher and Daniel Kavanagh.
Wexford Farmers Co-op 60 x 30 senior singles Final
Barry Goff continued his recent dominance of the 60 x 30 handball court in Wexford with another fine performance to beat Gavin Buggy in last week’s well attended Wexford Farmers Co-op 60 x 30 senior singles final in St Mary’s handball club in Wexford town.
Barry and Gavin gave the crowd a fantastic first game with the players deadlocked at 15-15 all in the opening set, before Barry Goff pushed home for a 21-15 win in the opening set. The second game Barry Goff blasted on and powered his way to back to back titles with a 21-4 win in the second set.
