Handball Success Continues.

Tuesday 31.05.2011

Club

Community Games Victories

Tyrone Handball kept up its recent successful record in the All Ireland Community Games Finals when the Termonmaguirk team made up of Carrickmore and Brackey players won both the under 13 and under 15 boys titles.

In the u13 semi final against Galway team Moycullen the Tyrone lads were much the better side and they cruised to a 77-21 win without having to move out of second gear.

Their opponents in the final were from the Clare handball stronghold of Kilkeeshin / O Callaghan Mills a team that have caused great problems for Tyrone teams in the past. This time however it was the Tyrone lads who were the dominant force. Pauric Mullan got off to a slow start and trailed 9-1 before he found his rhythm and controlled the game from then on. The Clare player couldn’t handle a high lob serve and as he became more and more frustrated Mullan drew level and went on to win the first 15-12. He then consolidated his position to take the second 15-8 to give his side a 10 point lead.

Sean Kerr and Conor Loughran were on the top of their game in the doubles match and didn’t give their Kilkeeshin / O Callaghan Mills opponents the slightest hope of getting back into contention. In fact after the 3 doubles games the title was secured and 2nd singles Turlough Clarke’s match was reduced to friendly status.

The u15 team of Ryan Mullan Luke Kelly Aaron Owens and Niall Allison had an easy enough semi-final win over Croisfarrigoue [Micheal Breanachts] Galway but faced a much sterner test in the final against Kells from Co Meath whose team included the All Ireland under 15 doubles champions. Luke Kelly got his team off to a wonderful start beating Robert Fox 15-1 in a faultless opening game. Fox however recovered very well in the second to reduce the deficit to just 5 points with a 15-6 result. The outlook for Termon appeared bleak when Kells’ All Ireland Champions Evan and Dylan Sheridan led Ryan Mullan and Aaron Owens by 9 points to 0 after a whirlwind start. To their credit Mullan and Owens didn’t crumble they played their way back into the game and as Mullan began to get his killshot working they got themselves back into the match and limited the damage to just 3 points at 12-15. The second game was also closely contested but Mullan and Owens had come through their sticky patch and were now playing with great confidence. At 8 points all they broke away and raced to a 15-9 win and then consolidated their position with a comprehensive 15-5 3rd game to give Niall Allison a healthy 15 point lead against Kevin O Reilly going into the final match. From the very beginning it was apparent that Allison was not going to let this lead slip and he blasted his way to a 15-2 victory to seal the championship and cap a great weekend for the Termon squad.

                                     Girls can’t complete the treble

The girls under13 team were also in action in Roscommon at the weekend but were unfortunately unable to add to the list of winners. However when you consider that the team of Micharla McCartan, Emer Kerr, Elizabeth McGarvey and Ciara Mullan contains two under 10s and two under 11s their displays were very encouraging for the future. Although well beaten by Connacht champions Croisfarrogue in the semi-final they went on to have a well contested third place playoff against the Leinster champions Leixlip from Co Kildare narrowly losing by just twelve points 85-73 in a game where all four girls played their part.

Congratulations to all and especially the players coaches Michelle Warren Martin Mullan and Niall Kerr who worked so hard to get them prepared for the weekend.