Loughmacrory will have two teams among the 78 under-14 teams participating at the annual All Ireland Feile handball festival which will be staged in Cork and Limerick this weekend.

A 25 strong group will leave Loughmacrory on Friday and will be based in Ferrmoy and they will have an action packed day on Saturday across two venues.

The Loughmacrory division one team, led by All Ireland under 14 singles champion Gary McAleer, will play all their games in Fermoy and they will meet Tuamgraney (Clare), Kells (Kilkenny), Kingscourt (Cavan) and reigning champions Abbeyknockmoy (Galway) in their group matches throughout the day.

Team captain Gary will have three very talented young players alongside him in his quest for All Ireland feile glory, Eoin McElholm, Ruairi McCullagh and Dearbhail Fox. Unsurprisingly Loughmacrory are regarded as one of the fancied teams for division one honours.

Loughmacrory are very fortunate to also have a strong second team participating in feile this year and that team will play all their division three fixtures in Conna throughout Saturday.

The team of Thomas Duff, Eoin Donaghy, Padraig McDonald, Padraig Fox and Enda Donaghy will face Moycullen (Galway), Galmoy (Kilkenny), Ballydesmond (Cork), Friary/Abbeyside/Ballinacourty (Waterford)  and the host club Conna (Cork).

Team managers Kenny Curran, Barry Fox and Conor Duff have prepared the two teams well for their big weekend. The club staged a very successful coffee morning last Sunday to raise funds for the trip with the players being presented with their new gear. There was also a special presentation made to Gary McAleer in recognition of his outstanding achievement recently in being crowned the best under 14 handball player in Ireland.

Loughmacrory club is currently celebrating 50 years since the first official handball club committee was formed to build the 60×30 handball court and community hall.

There is also a book being published later in the year, ‘150 Years of GAA Handball and Counting’, which will be launched at the gala celebration night in November.

Loughmacrory has enjoyed plenty of success in feile over the years and this coming weekend promises to be another memorable chapter in the club’s proud and rich history.