Doubles joy on the double Mayo handballers captured an historic national title last weekend John McLoughlin DESSIE Keegan and Joe McCann bridged a 29-year gap for Mayo to claim a well-earned men’s senior 40x20 doubles title at the expense of hot favourites, Paul Brady and Michael Finnegan from Cavan. To add to Mayo’s celebration, Stephen Cooney and Ian McLoughlin bagged the minor doubles title in the opening match at the expense of a relatively inexperienced Kilkenny pair.
The senior final was a contest to savour, as both sides served up a thriller of a battle, which was probably the best senior doubles final in the last ten years.
The first game began at a vigorous pace, and the sides were level on four occasions. The Cavanmen, who were bidding for their fourth consecutive title, went into an 18-14 lead. Then it was the turn of the Mayomen to display their full armoury of lethal kill shots and silken passing shots allied to some explosive serving, as they clawed their way back to game point at 20-19 and then pointed once more to close out, on a narrow scoreline of 21-19.
The second game was a very different story, as Brady moved into top gear. The Ballaghaderreen men struggled with his low power serve, and Joe McCann’s injury severely hampered their efforts as they lost 21-9.
But the Mayo pair showed great belief in the deciding third game, and opened up a 6-1 lead. Then, after being pegged back to 6-9, they hit a glorious purple patch. Playing the best handball of their lives – thanks to Keegan’s outstanding killing of the ball and well-placed passing shots from Joe McCann – they opened up a great 18-9 lead. With the winning post in sight for Mayo, the Cavan pair mounted an unlikely comeback, and when they went ahead 19-18, another hard luck story looked the likely outcome. Then, in one final burst, Mayo’s paring regained serve and reached game-ball. A long and nerve-racking rally followed, but a spectacular diving kill from Keegan gave them the magic 21st ace they needed, and it was all over for Brady and Finnegan.
And so after so many false dawns, Dessie and Joe had finally achieved the greatness that they and their hungry supporters craved for so long. Indeed the victory was greeted with almost universal delight outside of the Cavan camp, and they will now have to get used to even greater expectations in the contests ahead. Reflecting on this historic triumph, one can never forget the influence that their long time coach, John Gaffney, had on their careers. There is little doubt that he was observing with great admiration and no little pride, from his place in heaven.
Although the earlier minor final wasn’t quite as exciting, the result was no less significant, as Stephen Cooney and Ian McLoughlin underlined the depth of top quality handball talent in Mayo at the moment. Never really pushed, they played with a class and understanding of the doubles game that their Kilkenny opponents, Patrick Funchion and Keith Bourke, could only aspire to. Cooney controlled the court throughout, with McLoughlin finishing off numerous rallies. Though the Kilkenny duo tried hard to frustrate Mayo – keeping them at close quarters, sometimes verging on blocking – they could do little to quell the awesome form shown by the Mayo partnership. The first game fell to the Mayo pair 21-13, and while the Kilkenny duo never stopped playing, Cooney and McLoughlin finished the contest off by winning the second 2-6. A richly deserved win for the Ballaghaderreen-Newport duo, who had laid much of the groundwork for this victory the weekend before in the win against a much better Tyrone pair.
Elsewhere last weekend, Mayo handballers suffered a number of disappointments. In Moycullen on Saturday, minor ladies doubles duo Amy Corrigan and Leon Ryder suffered a bitter defeat at the hands of Cork youngsters, Aisling O’Keeffe and Catriona Casey. The Mayo duo won the first game comprehensively 21-10, but lost the second game by a solitary ace and the deciding third by the same margin. It was a particularly hard defeat to swallow for a fine duo, but one must give some credit to Cork, who simply never gave up. At the same venue, Newport’s Ciaran Burke was outplayed by Limerick’s CJ Fitzpatrick in a one-sided under-21 singles final.
However, it was not all bad news for the Burke handball family, as father Liam teamed up successfully with Aughagower’s Michael Heraty to clinch a memorable victory in the golden masters B doubles final at the expense of Limerick duo, Donal O’Connor and Seamus Donovan. The Mayo duo recovered brilliantly from the loss of the first game to secure the second and the third, 21-6 in both.
Kevin Geraghty and Martin Cronin narrowly lost the golden masters A doubles final to Kilkenny duo, Johnny Brennan and Joe Hennessy, on a 21-20, 21-17 scoreline at Mullingar on Sunday. Geraghty lost three of the four All-Ireland final games played over the past two weeks by two aces or less. Mayo were also defeated in the emerald masters final as Tim Hughes and Vincent Hennelly just found Offaly duo, Billy Mullins and Jim Guilfoyle, a little too hot to handle.
There is a host of Irish Nationals matches all around the country next weekend. Mayo’s Vincent Moran takes on Wicklow’s Johnny Willoughby in a preliminary round men’s open match at Abbeylara on Sunday.
Stephen Cooney and Ian McLoughlin head up a host of Mayo handballers in action in the four boys and girls singles events this Saturday and Sunday.
