Triple Glory for Wexford in Leinster
Wexford collected a magnificent three Leinster handball titles during the past week with the first coming from Galeon Riordan who retained his Leinster Minor singles title after a fantastic final against Meath man Evan Sheridan. It was an almighty battle in the opening two sets as each player won a set 21-18 to Riordan in the first before he lost the second set 21-20. However the man from Ballyhogue had the experience to pull out the win in the third set and beat Sheridan 21-13 in the final set.
Tony Breen has been close in recent seasons to bringing home Leinster glory without quiet finishing the job. One of the main men who have thwarted Breen has been Johnny Brennan so when the Wexford and Kilkenny men clashed last week another interesting clash was in prospect. Once again Breen looked to be in trouble as he was unable to find his range and lost 21-12 in the opening set. This time rather than fade away in the second set Tony stood up to the battle and hit Brennan with everything in his arsenal and powered to a second set 21-12 win. The limits of handball were taken to the maximum in the final set as the tie switched one way then the next before Breen eventually got over the line for a famous win 21-20 and the Emerald Master A singles crown.
Ned Buggy a world champion in 2012 picked up his first title of 2013 last week as he was crowned the champion in the Ruby Masters singles in what was another humdinger of a Wexford- Kilkenny clash. Buggy just about had the better of a gallant runner up Paddy Reilly from Kilkenny on a 21-17, 21-18 score line.
Shane Rossiter could not follow the winning trend in the Masters B singles final as he found the going tough against Sean Ryan from Offaly. The first set saw the Faithful County man romp to a 21-4 win, however Rossiter battled with all his might in the second set before succumbing 21-18 in the end.
Brendan Murphy also saw his campaign come to an end in the Emerald Masters B singles as he was just turned over by Louth man Mick Turley on a 15-21, 21-15, 21-15 score line.
