40x20 Connacht Championships
It was a very busy weekend for Roscommon handball but unfortunately not a very successful one.
In general the performance quality was very high, only Lisacul's Shauna Corrigan came out on top.
Corrigan beat Galway's Ava Sweeney in the Girls U16 singles Connacht final played at St. Coman's on Sunday. These two had met in the U14 equivalent two years ago when Corrigan won a very tight affair.
The West Roscommon girl has added a considerable skillset to her excellent athleticism. The result, a very comprehensive 21-3, 21-9 win.
On the same bill the third Carthy brother, Seamie, lost a very well-contested U13 singles match against Galway's impressive Jack O'Conghaile 5-15, 15-3, 4-15.
If he is anything like his older brothers this defeat will galvanise the St. Coman's youngster to even higher levels of performance.
Kilglass's Allanah Coggeran ran into a well-prepared Karly Cooney from Castleconnor in Sligo, in the Girls U17 singles. The Yeats county girl showed some fine touches during a comfortable 21-3, 21-7 win.
St. Coman's classy Eoghan Carthy had to withdraw from his U16 decider due to a football injury.
Minor Singles
The match of the weekend was undoubtedly Rory Carthy's minor singles matchup with one of Ireland's rising handball stars, Sligo's Cormac Finn. Both have won All-Ireland 60x30 titles and after their display in Ballaghadereen it looks only a matter of time before 40x20 honours follow.
Their first game will go down by all those watching as one of the best underage games ever played. The drama was only matched by the incredible quality, with every facet of the game on display. Both showed such desire to win the crowd gave them an ovation at their timeout at 20-20. Unfortunately, from Roscommon's point of view, Finn finally managed to nick the first after saving three gameballs.
The second was again fought with tremendous intensity and not an inch was given. However, the score-line doesn't quite tell the story that it did in the first with Finn winning out 21-10.
Carthy can take huge heart from this performance, he is underage again next year and hopefully better results lie ahead.
Ladies Junior 'B' Singles
On the same bill the full house was treated to another very entertaining game when Cormac's sister Laura Finn defeated Roscommon's Siobhan Treacy in a nail-biting encounter.
This match was expected to be close and didn't disappoint with the girls on court for over one and a half hours. Treacy will surely rue her slow start to all three games, allowing Finn take a big lead in each before clawing her way back in her inimitable cool style. Finn won out 21-16, 18-21, 11-5.
Junior 'B' Singles
In a weekend of close matches, Dylan Hanley's Junior 'B' Connacht final against Moycullen's Darragh Mulkerrins ended closest of all. Both players were promising juveniles but left handball for a number of years and while their rustiness showed at times they still served up a thriller.
Darragh kept a very cool head throughout and played a solid game while Dylan hit all the best shots in the match but made a lot more mistakes. The Galway man took a marathon match 21-9, 17-21, 11-9.
Junior 'C' County final
Lisacul's Ross Melvin is the new Junior 'C' county champion after beating St. Coman's Enda Kelly 21-3, 21-17 in their county final.
Melvin showed a very solid, mobile style that caught Enda unawares in the first, but the second could have gone either way. Enda reached the final with two good wins, the victory over Mount Talbot's Liam O'Ceallaigh being a popular.
