Leinster GAA Handball 40 x 20 Championship’s .
Gavin Buggy captured the Leinster senior singles championships this weekend in St Joseph’s as he won three tough games all in tie breakers to capture the title. The Leinster senior championships is a separate tournament to the All Ireland singles but still it is a great start to the season for Buggy who was somewhat struggling with his early season form up to this weekend.
In the opening two rounds Buggy defeated Niall O’Connor from Kildare and Brian Carroll from Meath before winning an east coast derby by defeating Johnny Willoughby from Wicklow . In a very good final it was Willoughby who set the early pace winning the opening set 21-11, however as in the previous games Gavin was much better in the second and third sets and prevailed 21-7, 21-5 in front of a big Wexford crowd to take the honours.
Peter Hughes and Paul Lambert both bowed out of the Leinster championships last week , just a week after their defeat in the Intermediate doubles both player hoped for better luck in the singles. Peter Hughes was left to think what might have been as he went down to David Hope from Offaly in a terrific game of handball. The Offaly man was the winner but after he received a huge fright from Hughes with the Ballyhogue native winning the opening set 21-17, the Offaly man recovered however and won through 21-14, 21-16 in the end.
Paul Lambert was comprehensively beaten also in the intermediate singles as he went down 21-7, 21-9 to Carl Browne from Meath.
Darren O’Toole is still on track in the Junior B singles but he was made to sweat a little more than expected last week as he needed three games to see off the challenge of Michael Donovan from Laois. The man from the midlands took the opening set 21-19, but was unable to withstand the power of O’Toole who prevailed in the end on a 21-4, 21-9 score line.
Justin Heffernan and Dinny Lyndon saw their run in the Junior B doubles come to an abrupt end last week as they were defeated 21-7, 21-7 by Andrew Dowling and Peter Whelan from Laois.
Galeon Riordan and Padraig Foley had an impressive win in the Minor Doubles championships last week as they defeated Fergal Lawlor and Enda O’Donohue from Kilkenny on a 21-7, 21-7 score line to advance to the next round.
Christy Donnelly from Dublin put paid to the chances of Ricky Barron in the Masters B singles grade with a one sided 21-4, 21-5 win for the man for the capital. PJ Leacy and Shane Rossiter lost out in the masters B doubles also going down 21-10, 21-11 to Colm Love and Ollie Falsey from Kilkenny however there was a much better result for John Roche and Damien Kelly as the Castlebridge-Coolgraney partnership won 21-16, 21-14 against Sean Ryan and John Mullins from Offaly.
Ritchie Culleton and John Bail put in a good evenings work in the Golden Masters A doubles as they were impressive 21-17, 21-10 winners over Pat Funchion and Paddy Fennelly from Kilkenny.
There was a double of wins for the model county in the Golden Masters A singles as Pechelli English eventually saw off the stubborn challenge of Martin Lowlor from Kilkenny on a 21-17, 14-21, 21-13 score while Benny Doyle was at ease in his 21-7, 21-6 win over Eammon Rice from Wicklow.
Jim Doyle rounded up a fine week for Wexford in Leinster by winning in the Ruby Masters Singles as he defeated Eammon Flynn from Dublin on a 21-10, 20-21, 21-5 score.
Leinster Colleges 40 x 20 GAA Handball Championship’s
ST Peters Colleges celebrated two wins and one defeat in the past week in the Leinster college 40 x 20 championships .In the junior doubles Oisin Foley and Ben O’Shea, had a somewhat Jekyll and Hyde performance with a 15-0 whitewash in the opening set, then a 14-15 reversal in the second before hammering their Castlecomer opponents Padraig and Ciaran Cooney 15-2 in the deciding set.
Galeon Riordan had a fantastic win in the Intermediate singles powering his way through on a 15-6, 15-4 score line over Martin Mullins from Bagnelstown C.S. ,however defeat was felt by Padraig Foley and Brian Kehoe as they went down to a 15-10,9-15, 15-10 defeat to Dylan Walsh and Brian Mahon from St Kieran’s College in Kilkenny.
Boys Under 11 singles
Gavin Lawlor (Barntown) defeated Eoin Murphy (Ballyhogue)
Dara Hayes (St Joseph’s) defeated Eoin Murphy (Ballyhogue)
Ian Donohue (Ballyhogue) defeated Conor Kehoe (St Joseph’s)
Boys Under 12 Singles
Ciaran Connolly (Templeudigan) defeated Patrick Dobbs (St Joseph’s)
Girls Under 12 Sinlges
Andrea Carley (St Joseph’s) defeated Lettie Whelan (St Martin’s)
Emer Phelan (St Joseph’s) defeated Elle O’Connor (St Martin’s)
Boys Under 13 Singles
Patrick Boland (Templeudigan) defeated Darren Maddock (St Martin’s)
Adam Hanrahan (Castlebridge) defeated Max Barnes (St Mary’s)
