ALLEY CHAT with Antóin Ó Braoin
St. Josephs Juvenile Handballers Take UK Open Titles
The decision by the St. Josephs Handball to embark on a trip to the UK Open Handball tournament at Watford, London last weekend proved to be an inspired decision by the Club Committee and a resounding success for its players.
The event was staged on 250 acres of ground at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire from where Merchant Taylor’s School played host to the 2014 UK Wallball Open. The school is a British independent day school for boys only. It is listed as one of nine original ‘great schools of England’ and it is easy to see why as the red brick buildings which housed the impressive facilities seemed to stretch out for miles and miles over the idyllic landscape. The WPH Tournament went ahead against this backdrop over the weekend with adult competitions on Saturday and the Juvenile section taking place on Sunday. It featured players from the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands as well as players from many parts of Ireland and represented a huge challenge to the young Wexford players who have limited experience of the comparatively new 1-Wall game. As the group departed Wexford on Monday last, Club Children’s Officer, Gavin Buggy described the level of expectation as cautiously optimistic but what followed was simply breathtaking as the young players of St. Josephs totally dominated the juvenile events winning the boys under 10, boys under 13, boys under 16 and the girls under 13 titles.
Mark Doyle added to his growing reputation by dominating the Boys under 10 event and after he had safely come through his side of the draw he had to overcome his St. Josephs club mate Robbie Hillis in the final. The achievement of having both finalists at this entry level age group in an Open final is particularly noteworthy and bears testament to the strength of St. Josephs and Wexford handball at the moment. The black and white was back in the winner’s enclosure again at boys under 13 when Cian Kehoe showed huge improvement on anything he had achieved previously to take the title. In the final he had an emphatic 15-2 win over Rian Hennessy, Tipperary. The hat trick was brought up by Daniel Kavanagh who decimated a strong under 16 field before accounting for James Prentice, Tipperary 15-12 in a difficult enough final while Cora Doyle kept the girls in the limelight by taking the under 13 title from club mate Emma Sweeney.
In the Men’s Open Plate competition for players beaten in the earlier rounds of the main event the aforementioned Daniel Kavanagh produced a series of terrific performances to take the title at the expense of the much older and experienced PVD Schoot (Netherlands).
15 year old Daniel Kavanagh on right, with Tournament Organiser and Men’s Open semi-finalists Daniel Grant, England.
County Juvenile Finals
The full extent of the talent emerging in Wexford will be evident to all on Sunday next, February 17th when the county 40×20 boys and girls singles finals take place at St. Josephs Handball Centre in Wexford town.
The enormous work done by everyone connected with juvenile handball in the county over the past few years has raised the standards appreciably in all the age groups and with a plethora of brilliant players emerging from around the county, several terrific matchups are on the cards at the Bishopswater venue.
A glance at those taking part will again show tradition being maintained, as the sons of handballing parents are once again to the fore, but perhaps significantly in view of the huge growth in numbers taking up the game in recent years, it also heralds the arrival of several new names at this stage of the competition. Additionally and for the first time in the history of handball in the county, the girls are close to achieving numerical parity with the boys as all age groups except under 17 had sufficient entries to run a championship.
The line-up will be as follows;
Boys under 10 Rory Dobbs (St. Josephs) v Johnny Goggins (St. Josephs)
Boys under 11 Mark Doyle (St. Josephs) v Robbie Hillis (St. Josephs)
Boys under 12 Richard Lawlor (St. Josephs) v Diarmuid Moore (St. Josephs)
Boys under 13 Glen Murphy (St. Mary’s) v Cian Kehoe (St. Josephs)
Boys under 14 Todd Hynes (St. Mary’s) v Colm Parnell (Ballyhogue)
Boys under 15 Anthony Butler (Ballyhogue) v Patrick Boland (Templeudigan)
Boys under 16 Thomas Hall (Castlebridge) v Liam Rossiter (Ballyhogue)
Boys under 17 Darren Murphy (Kilmyshall) v Stevie Lawlor (Bridgetown)
Girls under 10 Jody Keeling (St. Josephs) v Ellie Murphy-O’Gorman (St. Josephs)
Girls under 11 Aoife O Connor (St Martins) v Shauna Owley (Coolgreany)
Girls under 12 Alibeth Curran (St. Josephs) v Niamh Miller (Ballymitty)
Girls under 13 Cliodhna O’Connell (Coolgreany) v Ciara O Connor (St. Martins)
Girls under 14 Cora Doyle (St. Josephs) v Emma Sweeney (St. Josephs)
Girls under 15 Holly Hynes (St. Mary’s) v Tara Doyle (St. Martins)
Girls under 16 Roisin Walsh (St. Josephs) v Sarah O’Connor (St. Martins)
Girls under 17 Courtney Browne (Coolgreany) champion
