All Ireland GAA Handball Championships

Tuesday 25.03.2025

Handball

Tyrone lift four All Ireland doubles titles from seven finals…

Tyrone captured four titles at the All Ireland 40×20 doubles championships last weekend as the national handball centre played host to a packed programme of adult doubles finals from the under 18 grade through to over 70.

And two of the most prestigious prizes were lifted by Tyrone players in the Croke Park showcourt as Carrickmore’s Ryan Mullan and Caolan Daly secured the All Ireland intermediate doubles title with a thrilling tiebreaker win over Kildare on Sunday, while Loughmacrory pair Laura Duff and Lucy McCullagh secured the ladies minor doubles title with an equally exciting triumph over Clare.

Tyrone added the All Ireland junior b doubles titles in both the mens and ladies sections and once again those matches produced nailbiting finishes as Eamon McCrory and Shane Hazlett saw off Dublin in the men’s final and Sarah Devlin and Erin Connolly edged out Meath in the ladies decider. Both fixtures incredibly produced 11-9 tiebreaker wins for the Tyrone teams.

Tyrone were involved in two other finals and the Kerr brothers, Conor and Niall, were unlucky to lose out in yet another tight tiebreaker to Meath in the Emerald Masters doubles final.

Aoife Kelly and Clare Conway also picked up silver medals following their junior doubles final loss to the Brophy sisters from Laois and it was a tough result for Aoife as she had stepped up to play in the All Ireland senior doubles showpiece a week earlier alongside Eilise McCrory.

The senior final was historic in that Aoife and Eilise became the first female players from Tyrone to contest an All Ireland 40×20 senior championship final, but Galway’s Ciana Ni Churraoin and Niamh Heffernan were too strong on the day as they retained their crown with a classy display.

But the latest weekend action brought plenty of joy Tyrone’s way with four All Ireland doubles titles secured.

Ryan Mullan and Caolan Daly were always guaranteed a tough battle with Kildare’s Kevin Diggins and Paul Moran in the intermediate final and the final scoreline of 21-20, 16-21, 11-8 tells the story of how exciting the contest was.
There was loads of quality handball on display from both pairings and Ryan and Caolan got their deserved reward with an outstanding victory which officially propels them to senior status after years of trying.

The intermediate grade is renowned for being one of the hardest to conquer and the Carrickmore duo pulled it off superbly.
Ryan and Caolan are of course both former All Ireland minor winners and have linked up superbly this year, and it’s brilliant to see them both getting their hands on an intermediate gold medal at this stage.
The fact that Ryan has only returned this season from a cruciate ligament injury makes Sunday’s result all the sweeter for him, while Caolan has always possessed the quality to reach the top level and it’s fitting that he has teamed up with his clubmate to achieve this goal.

Two of the most successful underage players that Tyrone has ever produced are Laura Duff and Lucy McCullagh and the Loughmacrory duo took another step forward in their glittering handball careers with a terrific success in the All Ireland minor ladies doubles final.

The Clare girls, Isabelle McInerney and Claire Minogue, had shown their quality throughout the championship and proved a tough nut to crack on Sunday and it took a massive effort for Laura and Lucy to get over the line in a gripping encounter which lasted an hour and a half.
The Tyrone girls took the first game on a scoreline of 21-16 following some eyecatching passages of play but the Munster champions raised their efforts in the second game to force the tiebreaker on a scoreline of 21-14.

It was all to play for in the tiebreaker but Laura and Lucy seemed to have regained control when they raced impressively into a 7-1 lead, but the Clare duo were far from finished and worked their way back menacingly to 7-9.
At this stage there were some tense rallies as both sets of girls gave it everything they had but thankfully it was the Tyrone girls who dug deepest and registered the last two points to deliver a famous win for their club and county.
Laura, following up on her success story last year, has now won all four All Ireland minor singles and doubles titles in 40×20 and 60×30 which is an extremely rare achievement, while Lucy has an All Ireland minor gold medal from her very first attempt after coming up from under 16. There will certainly be a lot more to come from these two talented girls in the future.

The double success for Tyrone in the Junior B grades was the icing on the cake for the county on Sunday.
Eamon McCrory and Shane Hazlett have really hit it off together this season and the Breacach combination were rewarded in the best possible way with a fantastic comeback victory over Dublin in the All Ireland decider.
After losing the opener 21-5, the Tyrone lads produced a dominant performance to win the second 21-5 and they finished the job off with a tense two point win in the tiebreaker. This win meant a lot to them and it was well deserved.

Another Breacach player Sarah Devlin has been making great strides in recent years and produced an excellent performance alongside Erin Connolly to bring the ladies junior b doubles title to Tyrone on a scoreline of 21-17, 19-21, 11-9.
This was the first season for these two girls to team up together and it has certainly paid off with their gold medals. The Meath girls made it very difficult throughout the match but the Tyrone duo showed great resolve to emerge with the spoils.
Overall it was a successful couple of weeks for the Tyrone adult doubles teams with four All Ireland titles acquired from seven final appearances, including a first ever senior doubles final appearance for the county.

The Tyrone players will now turn their attentions to the forthcoming Ulster and All Ireland singles championships with some huge prizes up for grabs in the coming weeks.