The Wexford winter handball league is up and running again with over 200 hundred players taking part from five counties including Wexford, Carlow, Laois, Kilkenny and Wicklow, with numerous clubs involved from these five counties.
There was only one game in the premier division last week, and it was a clash of Coolboy club mates Jerome Willoughby and Michael Gregan with Gregan winning the contest two games to zero.
Division one looks like a very tasty division with numerous good players involved and last weeks two games both finished on two games to one score lines. Daniel Fenlon (Garryhill) got the better of Peter Hughes from Ballyhogue who recently returned from Chicago, while Malachy Whelan from Castlebridge took the win against Micky Berry from Barntown.
Three players sit joint top in Division two after the opening round of fixtures after opening round wins. James Bergin from St Martin’s won 2-0 against Eugene Kelly from Castlebridge, Brendan Burke from Kells Co.Kilkenny was a two love winner over James Gregan (Coolboy), while Barry McWilliams won on the same score line over Michael Busher from Bridgetown, while in the same division Pat Quaile (Coolboy) beat Ollie Ryan (Garryhill) by two games to one.
Templeudigan duo Noel Holohan and Tony Breen have full points in Division 3 after the opening round of fixtures, as Holohan defeated Ned Kealy from Arklow, and Breen accounted for Mick Armstrong, both winning by two games to nil. Hot on their heels are Pechelli English from Davidstown who beat Tomas Lennon (Monavea) 2-1 and Anthony Martin (Kells) who beat Johnny Brennan (Mothel) on a similar score line.
In division 4 Paddy Haughton (St Mary’s) and David Redmond from Templeudigan got off to the perfect start , Haughton beat Diarmuid Burke from Kells 2-0, and Redmond followed suit in beating former World Men’s C singles champion Tom Connors on the same score line.
Division five is very tight at the top after one week off action with four players winning their opening round of matches on 2-0 score lines. Andrew Dowling (Monavea) beat Jim Doyle (Barntown), Damien Kelly (Coolgraney) beat Michael O’Neill (Templeudigan) , Martin Clancy (Tinryland) beat Sean Stanners (St Martin’s), while John Roche from Castlebridge was the fourth winner beating Pat Doyle from Coolboy .
Division six looks like being one of the closest divisions if the opening round of results are anything to go by as all four games were split on 2-1 score lines as Frank Maddock (St Martin’s) beat Peter McGrath (Coolgraney), Fergal McWilliams (Horeswood) beat Ricky Barron (Barntown), Donal Doyle (St Martin’s) defeated Dinny Lyndon (Oulart) and Dan Breen from Kells beat Drew Keogh from Arklow.
Eoin Leacy (St Joseph’s) is the only man on full points in Division seven after the opening week, as he defeated Windgap player Eammon Purcell 2-0, also in division seven Eammon Rice (Arklow) was a 2-1 winner over Ned Connors (Coolgraney), with Robert Byrne (Bridgetown) pulling off the same result in beating Eugene English from Ballyhogue.
Sean Flood, Kevin Doyle and Kevin Barrett all have full points in division eight from the opening week; Sean Flood (St Joseph’s) beat Dom Stafford (Davidstown), Kevin Doyle (Davidstown) beat Kevin Cowman from Templeudigan, and Kevin Barrett from Tinryland beat Sonny Sheils from Ballyhogue, with all those wins by two games to zero, one point off the top in division eight is Tommy Armstrong from the recently reformed Kilmyshall club, after he beat Mick Donovan (Barntown) by two games to one.
In division nine Jimmy Neary from Talbot’s Inch opened with a two zero win over Ian Curran from St Martin’s, Ronan Greene (Barntown) had a similar win over Billy Rossiter from Ballyhogue, while Aaron Geoghan from Tinryland is also joint on the top of the table with a two nil win over Harry Leacy (St Joseph’s) last week.
There is a cluster of players at the top in division ten also after four players took clean 2-0 wins in the opening rounds with the following results showing, Dermot Flynn (Templeudigan) beating Bryan Kehoe (Castlebridge), Kevin Rossiter (Garryhill) beat Tommy Hardy (St Mary’s), Tom O’Shea (Davidstown) beat Mick Delaney (Tinryland) and Eammon Codd (Bridgetown) beat Alan Armstrong (Davidstown).
In the ladies division one this week there was three games played as Amanda Kelly, Marguerite Gore and Chloe cash all got off to winning starts. Chloe Cash (St Joseph’s) won a Wexford town derby defeating Holly Hynes (St Mary’s) 2-0, Marguerite Gore (St Mary’s) made a winning return to action beating Ann Boland (Templeudigan) 2-0, while Amanda Kelly (Templeudigan) is joint on the top also after her 2-0 win over Courtney Browne from Coolgraney). In Ladies division 2 Olivia Sweeny from St Joseph’s got off to the winning start beating Emma Browne from St Joseph’s by two games to zero.
Wexford Winter Handball League
Results Division 11 – Division 20
Division 11
Richie Flynn (Templeudigan) beat Noel Sinnott (St Martin’s) 2-0
John Murphy (Kilmyshall) beat Pat Leacy (St Joseph’) 2-0
Division 12
PJ Leacy (St Joseph’s) beat Brendan Murphy (Castlebridge) 2-0
Padraig Roberts (Kilmyshall) beat Eammon Bowe (Davidstown) 2-0
Robbie Codd (Templeudigan) beat Declan Jordan (Coolboy) 2-1
Division 13
Niall Leacy (St Joseph’s) beat Andrew Corish (Horeswood) 2-0
James Maddock (ST Martin’s) beat Sean Doyle (Arklow) 2-1
Richard Martin (Bridgetown) beat James Kelly (Templeudigan) 2-0
Division 14
Seamus Sinnott (St Martin’s) beat Tom Dempsey (Ballyhogue) 2-0
Enda Buggy (St Joseph’s) beat Jason Byrne (Ballymitty) 2-0
Keith Armstrong (Bridgetown) beat Liam Shannon (Bridgetown) 2-0
Division 15
Tommy Cummins (Horeswood) beat Mickey Joe O’Connor (Templeudigan) 2-0
Paul Tracey (Arklow) beat Tom Byrne (Kilmyshall) 2-0
Division 16
Jody Shaughnessy (Coolgraney) beat Francis Fortune (Oulart) 2-0
Gavin Goggins (St Mary’s) beat Stephen Greene (Bridgetown) 2-0
Division 17
Jason Kehoe (St Joseph’s) beat James Greene (Ballyhogue) 2-0
Colm Browne (Coolgraney) beat Stephen Roche (St Martin’s) 2-0
Division 18
Charlie Carty (St Mary’s) beat Graham Moore (St Martin’s) 2-0
Noel Butler (St Joseph’s) beat Tommy Haughton (St Joseph’s) 2-1
Barry Herbert (Castlebridge) beat Martin Whelan (St Martin’s) 2-1
Division 19
Steven Kavanagh (St Joseph’s) beat Seamie Callan Lyons (Castlebridge) 2-1
Dermot Butler (St Joseph’s) beat Stephen Elms (Templeudigan) 2-0
Division 20
Martin Crowley (St Joseph’s) beat Darren Murphy (Kilmyshall) 2-0
James Flood (St Mary’s) beat Trevor Nolan (St Joseph’s) 2-0
