The Wexford 40 x 20 winter handball league is into its fourth week of action and during the past week there was games across 19 different divisions Jerome Willoughby (Coolboy) was the winner of the only game in the premier division as he out smarted Paul Lambert (St Joseph’s) on the night.
In division one Darren O’Toole has a very impressive win as he beat Chris Doyle from Coolboy while in division 2 there was another win for Coolgraney over Coolboy as Peter McGrath beat James Gregan.
Three counties namely Laois, Carlow and Wexford had wins in division 4 as Andrew Dowling (Monavea) beat Sean Stanners (St Martin’s), Martin Clancy (Tinryland) beat John Quinn (Arklow) and Declan Hart (Horeswood) beat Jim Doyle (Barntown).
David Redmond (Templeudigan) grabbed a nice win in division 5 as beat Pat Doyle from Coolboy, while in division 7 Robert Doyle (St Joseph’s) defeated Paddy Cheevers from Horeswood, as Harry Leacy (St Joseph’s) was the winner of the sole game in Division 9 as he got the better of Stephen Murphy from Castlebridge.
Two games took place in division 10 where Sonny Sheil (Ballyhogue) defeated Declan Jordan (Coolboy) and Alan Armstrong (Davidstown) got the better of Paddy Curran from St Martin’s.
Brendan Murphy took the honours in the only game in division 11 as the Castlebridge club man was too good for Eoin Redmond from Kilmyshall. Sean Doyle from Arklow grabbed a nice win in division 12 over Tom Dempsey from Ballyhogue and he was joined in the winning grove in this division by Andrew Corish from Horeswood as he defeated Joe Stafford.
In division 13 Tom Byrne (Kilmyshall) got the better of Geoffrey Atkinson from Tinryland, Jody Shaughnessy (Coolgraney) beat Enda Buggy (St Joseph’s) and James Stanners from St Martin’s took the win over Jimmy Dunne from Kilmyshall.
Thomas Murphy (Kilmyshall) and club mate Timmy Farrell both grabbed wins in division 14 defeating Sean Sinnott (Oulart) and James Lyndon (Oulart) respectively, while in division 15 James Greene got the better of Stephen Kavanagh from St Joseph’s.
There a double of wins for St Martin’s players in division 16 as David Stanners got the better of Ronan Buggy (St Joseph’s) and Mikie Leacy won his game over Robert Menton from Coolgraney.
In division 17 there was four games played, Laurence Dunne (Kilmyshall) beat Josh Martin (Kilmyshall), Conor Nolan (Coolgraney) beat Cathal Kenny (Oulart), Darren Murphy (Kilmyshall) beat Barry Sinnott (Oulart) and Daniel Kelly from Templeudigan got the better of Laurence Dunne from Kilmyshall.
While in the only women’s game played over the week Ciara Jordan from Coolgraney beat Tara Doyle from St Martin’s.
Jimmy Goggins Memorial Tournament.
The final strikes of a 60 x 30 ball were felt and heard in St Mary’s last weekend as the Jimmy Goggins and Paddy Goggins memorial tournaments took place. This invitational tournament saw the cream of the softball come to town with legends of the game like Michael Duxie Walsh, Robbie McCarthy, Tom Sheridan and Brian Carroll all present for the event that was played out in a doubles format. The eventual winners of the Jimmy Goggins senior tournament were Tommy Hynes and Robbie McCarthy as they got the better of Brian Carroll and Barry Goff in a cracking final with a 15-21, 21-15, 21-11 score.
In the semi finals Hynes and McCarthy beat Gavin Buggy and Michael Duxie Walsh, 10-21, 21-15, 21-15, while the other semi final saw Goff and Carroll beat Tom Sheridan and Colin Keeling 21-18, 21-17.
In the Paddy Goggins memorial final it was a fine win for Paul Lambert and Paddy Haughton as they defeated Ciaran Neary and Matthew Hynes 21-10, 21-12.
All Ireland 60 x 30 Handball Finals
Tommy Hynes and Paul Carthy retained their masters A doubles All Ireland titles as they powered past Tipperary Josie O’Dwyer and Noel Murphy in the final on a 21-7, 21-4 score line to win back to back titles in this grade and prove that they are one of the best partnerships in this grade and may be for a long time to come.
Not so lucky in All Ireland finals were Stephen and Brendan Murphy from Castlebridge as they lost out in a three set contest going down 20-21, 21-15, 21-11 against Thomas and Pat Maguire from Antrim in the final of the Golden Masters B doubles, while there was a similar story of defeat for their Castlebridge club mates David Kenny and Eugene Kelly as they went down in the junior doubles losing out 21-14, 21-19 to James Brady and Patrick Clerkin from Cavan.
In the juvenile All Ireland finals played last weekend also there was disappointment all round for the purple and gold as three titles went a begging. In the boys under 16 doubles final Daniel Kavanagh and Thomas Hall went down 7-21, 21-18, 11-7 to Limerick duo Evan Murphy and Nigel O’Callaghan. In the girls under 14 singles final Tipperary’s Sinead Meagher beat Holly Hynes 15-5, 15-3, and in the girls under 15 singles final Roisin Walsh went down 21-4, 21-4 to Eilise McCrory from Tyrone.
It is hoped that the gloom can be lifted next weekend as our very strong under 12/13 team of six boys go into All Ireland semi final action on Saturday as they face Roscommon in the semi final with the six players being Glen Murphy, William Murray Byrne, Todd Hynes, Cian Keogh, Richard Browne and Michael Curran.
