ALLEY CHAT with Antóin Ó Braoin
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN FOR WEXFORD JUVENILE HANDBALLERS
Any lingering doubts about the ability of the young handballers of Wexford to rise above the hype and preform under pressure were removed in emphatic style last weekend when the boys and girls provincial finals were played at three venues across Leinster on Friday evening and Saturday morning.
With Wexford having qualified for an unprecedented seventeen of the twenty four finals, it was not only biggest team numerically we have ever had at this stage of the competition, it was also the strongest with quality spread throughout the age groups in both singles and doubles. The only question remaining to be answered is how our top players would fare against the best the other counties had to offer and after a terrific programme of events played at Borris, Tinryland and Leixlip, that question was answered in fantastic style by the magnificent boys and girls of Wexford as they came home with a record seven titles.
There were many heroes in purple and gold last weekend but for shear quality of performance it would be hard to surpass the achievement of Richard Lawlor from St. Josephs as he just got the better of Kyle Dunne, Kilkenny in one of the great Leinster juvenile finals of this or any age group. This under 12 singles decider had to be seen to be believed as two fantastic players produced handball from a different stratosphere to serve up a classic at Borris. Many shrewd observers ranked the standard on display in this tie this as one of the highest ever seen in this tender age division and from this writers perspective you will find no argument with that opinion. Quite simply this was a case of two 11 year olds playing handball like 14 year olds! The Wexford youngster trailed 2-6 in the early stages before forging into a hard earned 13-7 lead but then a rare miss from up close was to cost him as Dunne recovered his composure to reduce the deficit to 14-13 after a series of wonderful rallies. At that stage all the momentum was with the Kilkenny starlet but Richard Lawlor simply refused to yield up the set and in a welter of excitement he edged home 15-13 to take a vital early lead. That reverse seemed to rattle the young Kilkenny champion considerably as Lawlor totally dominated the early stages of the second game to run up what looked a winning 10-0 lead, only for Dunne to regain his composure once again and reduce the deficit to 10-5. Play continued to ebb and flow throughout this contest and Lawlor again took command to rattle off another four points to stand a single score from victory when he led 14-7. Dunne was far from finished though and Wexford nerves were jangling as he pulled it back point by point and when he served at 13-14 behind it appeared as if he would bring this final into a deciding set, but Richard Lawlor had other ideas. He won the next rally in terrific fashion to regain the serve and when he hit the winner in the following rally the Wexford cheers lifted the roof at the Carlow venue.
Up at Leixlip Wexford were attempting to bring off a rare double by adding the under 12 doubles to the singles won by Richard Lawlor at Borris and when Diarmuid Moore and Josh Kavanagh took the court against Tiernach Doheny and Conor Delaney, Laois they did so with high expectations. Such has been the progress of these two players when measured against Richard Lawlor that it seemed certain that Wexford had unearthed another two gems at this age group.
The opening game was all Wexford as both boys totally dominated the opposition and played like veterans as they strolled to a facile 15-4 win, but after they had done all the best work in the second to build up a 14-9 lead they simply lost their concentration and then the game by 15-14. It was now a searching test for Moore and Kavanagh and time to see if they were as good as many believed. It was also a test they passed with flying colours as they quickly regained the initiative to run out impressive 15-4 winners in that third game and complete a fantastic boys under 12 double for the county.
Richard Browne became the first Wexford casualty when he lost out to the favourite Jack Holden, Kilkenny in a well contested under 13 singles final. Richard played as well as he could but found the strong Kilkenny just too good on this occasion.
Josh McMahon and Cian Kehoe put Wexford back in the winners enclosure in under 13 doubles when they produced a powerful performance to defeat Kilkenny’s Billy O’Neill and Jack Buggy 15-4, 15-7. It was only on rare occasions that they in any danger of defeat and when the Noresiders did threaten the Wexford boys always had more to offer.
Todd Hynes put in a terrific finish in his under 14 singles decider against Ciaran Cooney, Kilkenny but it was not enough as he lost out by 15-11 in the deciding third game. Hynes had recovered from a 15-3 defeat in the first game to level matters by taking the second by an impressive 15-7 but he left himself with far too much to do in the third and was left to rue his poor start. The Wexford youngster struggled to come to terms with the glass back wall for a long time in this game and it cost him dear.
The boys under 14 doubles paring of Colm Parnell and Ciaran Power travelled to Leixlip to take on Laois champions Eoghan Doheny and Padraig Dunne but found the midlanders too hot to handle as they went down in straight sets 15-8, 15-10. No such problems for Patrick Boland and Anthony Butler at Tinryland though as they lived up to expectations with an impressive 15-7, 15-5 win over Eoin Regan and Cathal Barry, Kilkenny in the under 15 doubles final.
The impressive and progressive Daniel Kavanagh made it a family double when he decimated Kevin Diggins, Kildare 21-5, 21-10 in the boys under 16 singles decider. The Kildare player had knocked out a fancied Kilkenny opponent in the semi-final the previous week but he was no match for Kavanagh in any facet of this game.
After Maxine Byrne at girls under 12 singles and Alibeth Curran and Niamh Miller at girls under 12 doubles had performed well without success against Kilkenny opposition at Borris, Cliodhna O’Connell got Wexford back on track with a resounding 15-1, 15-8 success against Sian Cooke, Offaly in the girls under 13 singles final at Tinryland. Ciara O’Connor and Leanne Boland just lost out to Molly Connor and Lauren McGuigan, Laois in a closely contested under 13 doubles final before Cora Doyle was somewhat surprisingly beaten by Leah Doyle, Kildare in a tough under 14 singles decider. Emma Sweeney and Eva Creane then went down to Molly Dagg and Niamh Spence, also from Kildare in the under 14 doubles while Lauren Flanagan and Siobhan Elms played well in the girls under 15 doubles but lost out in a tiebreaker to Margaret Purcell and Kym Ryan, Kilkenny.
Holly Hynes and Roisin Walsh produced a classy display to win the under 16 doubles with a fine 21-5 21-14 victory over Caoimhe O’Shea and Aine Dunne, Kilkenny at Tinryland.
All in all then a very satisfactory weekend for the young players of Wexford and while those who were winners will understandably steal the limelight on this occasion, the performances of those who got runners-up medals was very encouraging for the future. Their day will undoubtedly come.