Onewall Nationals
On July second and third 25-years after Roscommon hosted the very first Onewall Nationals. The biggest event in Irish handball returned to Roscommon and was a resounding success.
Back in 1997 even the most optimistic handball people could never have envisioned how big this weekend would become.
For over a decade; Breaffy House in Castlebar was the very popular venue. Unfortunately this year after late notification of a double-booking, the disastrous possibility of the event not going ahead loomed large.
Thankfully, both Kilglass and St. Coman's stepped in and despite the short notice and limited preparation, both clubs ran things with superb efficiency and showed the organisational ability of Roscommon handball in a great light.
On the competitive front there was success for Roscommon also. The Ladies 'B' final was an all-Roscommon affair with Siobhan Treacy getting the better of her training partner Carragh Kennedy by a score-line of 20-11 in the 15 minute game.
This young duo have been operating near the top level in all codes for the last few years, hence this final pairing was no surprise.
Siobhan's excellent concentration and ball placement proved the difference on the day.
Strokestown's Oisin Cusack had a brilliant win in the Men's 'C' event. The standard in this event was exceptionally high and at one stage it looked like it was going to be an all-Cusack final. After Oisin's brother Fionn had a superb quarter-final win over hot-favourite Waterford’s Kavan O'Keefe.
However; Oisin was outfoxed in his semi-final by Galway's Jack McNeela. Learning from Fionn's mistakes Oisin restored family pride with a thrilling and very popular 16-12 final win.
St. Coman's Fiona Tully had an easy win in her Ladies Open quarter-final against Armagh's Caliosa Ni Dhuill, before running into Cork's Catriona Casey once again. Despite a very competitive showing Fiona still has ground to make up on the Ladies supremo, going down 15-29.
Boyle native and long-time Dublin resident; Eugene Kennedy father of the great Eoin, looked remarkably sprightly for a man over 70-years of age when he took the 65+ event with a nail-biting 13-12 win over Down's Brian Havoren.
Kilglass's Thomas Mahady won out the men's challenger grade, beating opponents from Meath and Monaghan on the way to the final. Where he had a fine win over Leixlip's Ciaran Gallogly. Thomas's sister Natasha also made it to the final of the Ladies Challenger grade, but lost narrowly to Cork’s Nuala Dunning.
In the men's masters grade Kilglass's John Coggeran had one of the games of the day when his match with Kerry's John Joe Quirke ended in a 16-16 tie.
Unfortunately, John lost out 4-5 in the extra-time. John's brother David lost out to eventual winner James Doyle in the same competition.
John's daughter Alannah narrowly lost out in the Girls 17&under event to Wexford's Jodie Keeling in their semi-final.
St. Coman's Eoghan Carthy lost out 18-19 in the Boys 15&under to his old rival Anthony Clifford from Kilkenny in another humdinger, while younger brother Seamie lost out to eventual winner Oisin O' Neachtain in their first round match of the Boys 13&under grade.
