Tyrone players capture 11 world championship medals, including six golds!

Wednesday 28.08.2024

Club Life

Tyrone emerged from the 2024 World Wallball championships with an impressive tally of 6 gold medals and 5 silver medals to complete a memorable week of top class handball in the University of Limerick Sports arena.
In the final hours of a spectacular festival of one wall handball, which saw almost 900 players compete for world glory, five Loughmacrory players crowned a magnificent week for their club on Friday by claiming four world titles, while Greencastle captured a richly deserved first ever gold medal on the world stage.
The championships may not have turned out the way that Tyrone and Ireland’s greatest one waller and defending world open champion Conor McElduff had hoped for, but Conor can hold his head very high after making another bold bid for honours at the highest level.

He was a worthy world champion and had worn the crown for six years with absolute distinction.
For Loughmacrory, World finals day turned out to be one of the greatest days in the club’s history as Lucy McCullagh, Laura Duff and Caitlin Conway produced outstanding gold medal winning performances to claim the 15&U, 17&U and Ladies A world titles, and their clubmates Michéal McCrystal and Damhán Meenagh joined them on the winners rostrum by capturing the 13&U boys doubles title.
Caislin Tracey then teamed up with Clare’s Claire Minogue in the 17&U girls doubles to earn an historic gold medal for Greencastle.

Michéal McCrystal came home with an incredible two medals from the world championships as he also secured the silver medal in the 13&U boys singles division which had more than 50 contenders at the outset.
Laura Duff and Lucy McCullagh had lifted the All Ireland 60×30 minor and U16 singles titles just five weeks before the world wallball championships began and they spent those five weeks training hard to adapt their games to the one wall code, and it paid off as they achieved their world goals in sensational fashion.

Laura started out as number 5 seed in the 17&U girls singles division and had to defeat three top class opponents in Claire Minogue, Katie Jordan and Carmel Kelleher to capture the world title.
Caislin Tracey came so close to making it an all Tyrone final as she lost agonisingly to Carmel Kelleher in the second semi final.

Laura delivered classy performances all week to earn her gold medal and her world final display against the Cork star was extremely polished from start to finish.
Laura showed why she’s the current holder of All Ireland minor singles titles in 40×20 and 60×30 as she added the highest honour in the one wall game to her remarkable list of accolades across the three codes.

“I was given a very tough draw”, reflected Laura, “but I took the games on one at a time and I knew that the hard games would benefit me if I kept progressing. Thankfully I kept improving and building my confidence with each game,” continued Laura.
“I think I played to my full potential in the world final and it’s a fantastic feeling when you play your best on the big stage.
“I always knew Carmel Kelleher would provide a difficult challenge as we’ve enjoyed a great rivalry but I wasn’t too worried about her game as I knew by the final day that my game was good enough to beat anybody.

“I felt a huge sense of relief when I won because I had trained hard for this title and it was a special moment in my career when I scored the winning point in the world final,” acknowledged an emotional Laura.
“I’ve won All Ireland minor singles and doubles titles this year in other codes, but this tops everything. The world singles title is the biggest honour in handball and the opportunity only comes around every three years, so to achieve this is an unbelievable feeling,” she smiled.

“Lucy’s final was right before mine on the same court and when she won the 15&U title it made me even more determined to get the 17&U title.
“It definitely made it all the sweeter when we both won world titles on the same day and for the club to lift five gold medals in total was just amazing,” concluded Laura.
Lucy was also buzzing after coming through four tough rounds to lift her gold medal in Limerick.
Lucy had to deal with the extra pressure of wearing the Team Ireland jersey throughout her world championship campaign, but she wore it with great distinction and it was her resilience and character, alongside her silky skills, which got her through the championships successfully.

“Being on Team Ireland was a great boost for my worlds experience but I still had to go out and deliver the results against strong opponents,” she explained.
“Personally I was so happy to win, and I didn’t really mind that I didn’t play to my full potential throughout the championships,” she insisted.
“During the final I wasn’t actually thinking about the world title, I was just focused on winning the game, and it only hit me that I had won a world title when the game was over,” reflected Lucy.
“The moment I realised that I had won, it was a mixture of relief and happiness.
“It means so much to win this world title because it is by far the most important and biggest one wall competition. The week of competition was like nothing I’d ever experienced before,” she stressed.

“Winning alongside Laura was also special as we both got the rewards that we had worked so hard for together.
“Loughmacrory club winning five gold medals is a testament to the hard work and training done by us all,” concluded Lucy.
Caitlin Conway’s finish to her Ladies A world singles final against Mayo’s Cuileann Bourke was even more dramatic than any of the other title deciders.
It was one game apiece in an evenly balanced contest but Caitlin stepped up her efforts superbly in the tiebreaker and was on the brink of a famous triumph when she carved out a 10-7 lead.

Suddenly the complexion of the match changed when Caitlin suffered a bad fall and had to be helped off the court for treatment. Following a 15 minute injury timeout, play resumed with Caitlin needing just one point to claim the gold medal.
Cuileann registered the first two points on the restart to set up a nerve-racking climax at 10-9 but Caitlin wasn’t going to be denied and kept the next rally going until Cuileann hit the ball too high and Caitlin was confirmed the worthy champion.
Caitlin will unfortunately be out of action for a lengthy period due to the injury she sustained but her world gold medal will help to soften the blow and she deserves huge credit for the bravery she displayed to finish off the final.
Michéal and Damhán made the occasion even more memorable for the Loughmacrory contingent when they lifted the 13&U world doubles title in the evening, adding to their All Ireland Feile and U14 doubles titles registered earlier this year.

In a gripping all Tyrone decider, the Breacach lads, Tiernan Kelly and Ciaran Corr, played their hearts out and showed why they had defeated the number 1 seeds from Wexford in the first round and had come through a tough semi final encounter to reach the final.
Michéal displayed flashes of brilliance and Damhán produced an outstanding high energy performance as the Lough lads clinched a narrow victory to put the seal on one of the finest days in Loughmacrory’s proud handball history.
Tyrone collected a sixth and final gold medal at the world championships on Friday evening when Greencastle star Caislin Tracey and Claire Minogue captured the 17&U girls doubles title, beating the formidable pairing of Carmel Kelleher and Katie Jordan in the decider.

It was just reward for Caislin’s efforts all week and puts the seal on a fantastic one wall campaign which saw her crowned as All Ireland minor wallball champion.
Niall Kerr (golden masters) and Shea Munroe (17&U boys) picked up silver medals from Friday’s doubles finals alongside partners from Offaly and Cork and neither were far away from victory.
At the very highest level, Tyrone stars Conor McElduff and Eilise McCrory bowed out at the semi final stage of the men’s and ladies open events, with American star Nazir Marston winning a spectacular all American mens decider and Limerick’s Martina McMahon taking the ladies open title.
Tyrone also enjoyed further success in some of the plate competitions, including the Kelly brothers, Oisin and Cathair, who performed superbly together in the 15&U boys doubles.
Clare Conway, who was working with GAA Handball for 18 hours a day, also reached four plate finals, winning three.
Overall the championships turned out to be a huge success story with Loughmacrory and Tyrone coming out of the six day event with flying colours.
The excitement in Tyrone will now start building for the 40×20 World Championships at the end of October!