Onewall All-Ireland Championships
In terms of hosting events it has been a very busy few months for Roscommon handball and last Saturday the final big championships of the year.
The Onewall All-Irelands were hosted in the Convent of Mercy gym in Roscommon town.
Once again the star of the Roscommon show was St. Coman's Fiona Tully. Tully was competing in the ladies open and had a hard-fought semi-final win over Tyrones's tough left-hander Eilise McCrory.
Tully will face another meeting with Cork's excellent Catriona Casey in the final.
This pair had met only one week previously in the USA where Tully showed encouraging signs of breaking Casey's dominance.
This match turned out to be one of the games of the year. From the off Tully attacked relentlessly, showing some brilliant reading to cut the ball off and finish clinically. Casey was her usual incredibly consistent and accurate self.
Casey led for most of the first game and actually served game ball nine times. Tully showed tremendous grit and coolness to finally take a thrilling first 15-14.
The second showed why Casey has been at the top for so long. Maintained her high standards and chipping away constantly. The fact that Tully had won the first in such tough circumstances kept the intrigue factor high. The sheer consistency of Casey won out in the end, taking the second 15-11 and the tie-breaker by a deceptively wide 11-1.
While the result didn't go her way, by any measure this was a very significant day for Fiona and has to be seen in a very positive light on her upward trajectory.
The latest rising star in Roscommon handball Kilglass’s Alanna Coggeran continued her impressive year, reaching the Girls U18 final.
Coggeran beat Tyrone's Cloda McNamee very impressively in their semi-final, having gone into the final as underdog to Wexford's powerful Jodie Keeling.
It didn't seem to bother Coggeran though, storming into a 10-3 lead. However, a little bit of inexperience showed when she never killed Keeling's momentum by taking timeouts and this allowed the Wexford girl to get into her rhythm and take control of a game that looked to be going away from her.
Keeling ended up taking the first 15-11. Coggeran never stopped trying Jodie won the second 15-10. Coggeran has improved dramatically throughout the year and will also be underage again for this competition next year, so the future looks very promising.
Club mate Eddie Conboy lost out in his Junior 'B' semi-final against Down's Jack Turley. Onewall specialist Turley was stongly fancied beforehand.
Although Conboy started very nervously he gradually got into the match. With heart and speed around the court he gave the Down man plenty to think about before going down 15-4, 15-6. Turley went on to win the final in decisive fashion.
Tuscon WPH Pro Stop
One week previous to the Onewalls Fiona Tully travelled to Tuscon, Arizona, USA to participate in the WPH Pro Stop Event. Number 1 of 3 for the Ladies 2022/2023 season.
Once again Tully ended up in the final against the undisputed no. 1 of Ladies handball Cork's Catriona Casey. Once again Tully took the runner's-up position, this time there were noticeable signs of improvement. The distinct impression that Tully is definitely closing the gap that has existed between the two.
The scoreline of 15-3, 15-7 may not appear overly impressive, but the longer the match went on the closer the rallies were and the harder Casey had to work to make her aces.
Tully's ever-improving fitness is helping her court coverage and as her display in the Onewalls the following week proved she is capable of taking games off Casey. The final step now is to take two games off her.
