The match of the weekend saw Lisacul's Denis Creaton to a humdinger masters singles over Williamstown's Ollie Conway.
Played in Conway's home court, Creaton was faster out of the blocks and always slightly ahead, nicking the first 21-18. All seemed to be going his way in the second as he held a 10 point lead.
However Conway suddenly went reeled off a long sequence of kills that Creaton could only admire. This brought the Galway man right back into the fray, taking the second 21-17.
The tie-breaker was nip and tuck with Creaton holding his nerve to win by the tightest of margins 11-10. Creaton had beaten Ballaghadereen's Campbell Brennan comfortably in their semi-final the previous weekend.
Junior B semi-final
St. Coman's Colm Walshe won his Junior 'B' semi-final against Mayo's Chris Gavigan quite handily in Collooney, Co. Sligo. The skilful left-hander was never in any real trouble and exhibited some lovely plays on his way to a 21-5, 21-13 win. Walshe’s final opponent and date has not been finalised at the time of going to press.
St. Coman's Carragh Kennedy was in top form on Friday last taking the minor ladies Connacht title with an easy victory over Galway's Emma Kinane. On paper this would have looked a potential banana skin. Kinane is a very accomplished 40x20 player who beat Carragh widely in their small alley Connacht final.
However, Kinane is not as familiar with the big alley and Carragh's hard-hitting saw a comfortable two straight games victory.
St. Coman's Rory Carthy lost out to Sligo's outstanding Cormac Finn in the minor boy’s singles final. Which was a repeat of their superb 40x20 encounter last February.
Unlike the previous match, Carthy had extremely limited preparation, due to his county minor football commitments. Nonetheless Carthy put in a very impressive display against one of the rising stars in Irish handball before sucumbing 21-8, 21-9.
Connacht finals
In the Connacht finals played in St. Coman's two former Roscommon players now sporting Galway colours had mixed results.
Ballymoe's Prionsias Maughan had a titanic struggle with Mayo's super-fit Michael Ginley in their golden master’s singles match, before Prionsias emerged victorious on a 21-17, 16-21, 11-5 score-line.
Brendan McDonagh returned to play in his hometown but couldn't repel Mayo's Jonathon Conroy in their over-35 'B' singles match. Fitness played a big part in Conroy's 21-10, 21-11 win.
