Mayo handballer Cuileann Bourke wins world title with ‘best friend’ at World Wallball Championships

ONE of Mayo’s top handballers has landed a world title at the 2024 World Wallball Championships in Limerick. 

Belcarra Handball Club’s Cuileann Bourke and Armagh’s Cailíosa Ní Dhúill celebrated after they were crowned Ladies A Doubles champions. This victory came just after Bourke fell just short against Tyrone’s Caitlin Conway in the Ladies A Singles final. 

It was a ‘really emotional’ victory for Bourke, who told The Mayo News that she has known Ní Dhúill for many years and competed against each other before partnering up for the world championships.

“Me and Cailíosa have grown up together. We are best friends, we have grown up with handball,” Bourke explained.

“We’ve known each other coming up the ranks, we’ve played each other in so many competitions. She’s won a few games off me, I’ve taken a few off her, to be able to win a world title with your best friend, it’s really special.”

Bourke said that her friendship with Ní Dhúill stood the test when they defeated Shena Brown and Samantha Torres (USA) 21-7, 20-21, 11-10 in the final. 

“The pair of us love one-wall, we’ve been best friends, we’ve grown up together so we know each other’s styles, we know each other’s play,” she said. 

“We said that after the game, that if we weren’t as good as friends and if we didn’t know each other the way we do then playing that doubles game really would have been tough. There is that extra bit of trust when you are paying with one of your good friends.”

It was a good weekend overall for Mayo handballers at the World Wallball Championships, who contested three Cup finals and four Plate finals, coming home with one gold, three silver and four bronze medals.