Tyrone handballers in All-Ireland action…

Friday 17.08.2012

Club

A total of ten Tyrone handballers will be striving for All-Ireland glory this weekend as the 60×30 juvenile championships reach a climax.
Before the juvenile action is staged in Monaghan on Saturday, Tyrone’s Niall Kerr has the daunting task of trying to beat the great Ducksy Walsh in tonight’s (Friday) All-Ireland masters singles final.
Niall has played a huge role as a coach in many of the successes that have come Tyrone’s way in recent times but is no mean handballer and gets his own chance to shine against the Kilkenny legend in Kingscourt. There’s no doubt he faces a huge challenge but the Brackey man has the ability to compete strongly.
Niall will then head to St Macartan’s in Monaghan tomorrow morning (Saturday) where he will hope to oversee another famous day for Tyrone handball as the county’s leading juvenile players, led by his own son Sean, take on opponents from Kilkenny, Tipperary, Limerick and Kildare for All-Ireland silverware.
Sean Kerr has already done his father, club and county extremely proud with his remarkable exploits in 2012 and will be a warm order to add the 60×30 under-14 title to the many other honours he has accumulated since the beginning of the year. He will take on Kilkenny’s Roy Cullen for the big alley prize and will be expected to prevail in yet another major title decider.
Tyrone will also be strongly fancied to collect the under-16 doubles titles in both the boys and girls sections after winning the same two titles in the 40×20 court earlier in the campaign.
Johnny Woods and Ryan Mullan are an outstanding doubles team, as they showed in the 40×20 championships, and they will be determined to follow up their under-15 doubles success in the 60×30 code twelve months ago when they square up to Tipperary this weekend.
Similarly, Maeve McElduff and Aoife Kelly have proven themselves to be a brilliant combination and the Brackey / Loughmacrory pairing will be hot favourites to see off Kildare and add to their 40×20 title on Saturday.
Pol Clarke and Gabhainn McCrystall, All-Ireland finalists in the 60×30 court last year, will be hopeful of going one step further than last year when they confront Limerick in the under-17 doubles final. Pol and Gabhainn won their semi-final against Sligo on Tuesday night, performing impressively, and will be hard to stop in the decider.
Brackey’s under-15 doubles pair of Jack Campbell and Aaron Owens will meet Kilkenny. Jack has been having a magnificent season, capped by his inclusion on the official Ireland team for the world championships in October and along with Aaron he will be confident of adding to his list of achievements in this fixture.
Meanwhile, Shane O’Neill and Conor Duff were due to feature in Williamstown on Wednesday night against Galway’s Martin Mulkerrins and Ollie Conway in the All-Ireland intermediate doubles semi-final, while Elise McCrory was unlucky to lose her All-Ireland under-14 girls singles semi-final to Roscommon’s Fiona Tully last weekend.

M Donnelly GAA Handball All Ireland 60×30 Softball Championship Final

Friday 17th August 2012, in Kingscourt, Cavan, 7.15pm…
Masters A Singles: Tyrone (Niall Kerr) v Kilkenny (Michael Walsh)

GAA Handball All Ireland Juvenile 60×30 Championship Finals 2012

Saturday 18th August 2012 at St McCartans College, Monaghan, 11.30am…

BU14S: Tyrone (Sean Kerr) v Kilkenny (Roy Cullen)
BU15D: Kilkenny (Sean Carey & Dylan Caulfield) v Tyrone (Jack Campbell & Aaron Owens)
BU16D: Tyrone (Johnny Wood & Ryan Mullan) v Tipperary (Padraic O’Donoghue & Daniel Hayes)
BU17D: Tyrone (Pol Clarke & Gabhainn McCrystall) v Limerick (Shane Murphy & Denis Donegan)
GU16D: Tyrone (Aoife Kelly & Maeve McElduff) v Kildare (Áine O Keeffe & Kate Dagg)