The Leinster adult handball championships are reaching the business end of the 60 x 30 season and there is plenty of Wexford involvement in the coming weeks in Leinster finals. We have had some more fantastic semi final wins during the past week.
Gavin Buggy crashed out of the Senior singles last week. However, the Leinster senior singles is a separate competition to the All Ireland championships so Buggy can regroup ahead of that championship after he suffered a 21-7, 8-21, 21-19 defeat at the hands of Brian Carroll from Meath in the past week.
Paul Lambert had a very good win in the junior singles as he defeated a never say die Conor O’Brien from Offaly. Lambert burst out of the traps to take the opening set 21-5. However, he lost the second set 21-20, but recovered and won a fascinating third set 21-17 to advance to the next round of a very competitive Leinster junior singles.
In the junior doubles competition an all- Wexford semi final was played during the past week and it was last year’s Leinster champions Jason Murphy and Eugene Kelly who took the local bragging rights by defeating David Redmond and Darren O’Toole on a 21-13, 18-21, 21-6 score line.
David Kenny is hoping to continue his fine form in the Junior B singles right into the final after he secured a spot in decider last week by beating pre tournament favourite Eugene O’Reilly from Meath on a 21-15, 21-4 score line. David is on course for a junior B double as he is in the doubles decider also after he and partner Diarmuid Smyth beat Meath opposition also in the shape of Mark Gaynor and Mark Farrell the Castlebridge duo winning on a 21-13, 21-11 score line.
Dean Corrigan is back in the big time again as he secured a spot in the final of the minor singles with a terrific display to out gun Keith Kavanagh from Wicklow on a 21-13, 21-11 score line, a win that shows a marked improvement in a run of results against Kavanagh as the pair have become great rivals over the years.
Indeed Corrigan is also in the Minor doubles decider as he joined up with Castlebridge club mate Cory Murphy to scalp the chances of Michael Conlon and Mason Clifford from Kilkenny 21-2, 21-5.
Shane Rossiter continued a remarkable run of results for the model county with a very impressive 21-18, 10-21, 4-0 win over Christy Donnelly from Dublin, although the Dublin player had to retire injured, the performance from the Ballymitty man was out of the top drawer in the Masters B singles.
Ricky Barron and Tom Connors advanced to the final of the Masters B doubles after a tough battle to opt point John Quinn and Drew Kehoe from Wicklow 21-20, 21-18.
Frank Maddock put in a fine performance to capture a berth in the Silver Masters B singles with a 21-7 ,21-0 hammering of Michael McKenna from Dublin.
Aidan Sinnott from Ballymitty was not able to feel the winning touch last week as he was out powered by Paul Ruane from Kildare on a 21-3, 21-4 score line.
Brendan Murphy was a man on a mission last week in the Emerald Masters B singles and he let his handball do the talking with a 21-8, 21-10 win over Paul Kelly from Wicklow.
Tom Donohue and Tommy Rossiter were unlucky to be beaten in the semi final of the Diamond Masters A doubles as they lost out 21-16, 21-15 to Alan Campbell and Dermot Howard from Kildare.
Leinster Juvenile Handball 60 x 30 championships.
A very strong Wexford 60 x 30 squad has been assembled and has been playing some fantastic handball in the opening two rounds of the Leinster championships with some great wins and narrow defeats during the past week for the Slaney side team.
Jamie Hall and Oisín Foley from Castlebridge are hot favourites to succeed in the Under 14 doubles and they showed just why last week by handing out a drubbing to Carlow’s Paddy Shannon and Alan Hosey with the purple and gold outfit winning 15-0, 15-3.
Wexford’s under 15 combination of Aaron Wright Power and James Kelly lost out in the semi finals going down 21-9,21-19 against Joey Curtis and David Nolan from Carlow. Pádraig Foley and Galeon Riordan put in a flawless display to beat Jim O’Leary and Mickie Connors from Carlow on a 21-8,21-9 score line. However, Brian Busher was not so lucky in the Under 17 singles as he lost out 21-18,21-19 to Daniel O’Leary from Carlow.
The under 17 doubles pairing of James Maddock and Richard Martin did the business however when they got through to the next round with a convincing 21-13, 21-12 win over Tyman Ruane and Simon O’Donnell from Kildare.
