Ballymac hosts feast of handball action
HANDBALL
All-Ireland winning captain and Ulster Bank employee Darran O'Sullivan, Kerry, is greeted by delighted school children from Scoil San Treasa. The Ulster Bank pair are visiting schools to celebrate their fantastic achievement and promote GAA with... Credit: PICTURE: SPORTSFILE
TWENTY-SIX players from Munster served up a feast of handball at Ballymac and Tralee over the weekend, as the Eileen Twomey 40x20 tournament which was combined with the 125 GAA anniversary served up some cracking handball fare.
The U12/13 section saw the biggest entry, which resulted in Alice Acers (Clare)/Emer Lynch (Ballymac) beat Shannon O'Brien ( Waterford)/Aisling O'Brien (Ballymac) in the Cup final, with Brid Horgan (Cork)/Brid Nic a tSaor (Ghaeltacht) taking the honours in the plate against Clodagh Nash (Clare)/Jade Crean (Ballymac).
Round robins were played in both older age groups to determine cup and plate pairings; in the U14/15 section Paula Loghnane (Clare)/Aileen Twomey took first position on 23 points; Mairead Brosnan (Cork)/Anna Prendeville came second on 23 marks, while Sadbh O'Donnell/Emer Fennell ( Waterford) came third on twelve points.
The U16/17 grouping saw Ciara Griffin/ Catriona Casey (Cork) take pole position on 24 marks; Martina Mc Mahon (Limerick)/Aoife Landers ( Waterford) took runner-up spot on 19 points, while Aisling O'Keefe (Cork)/Lisa Loughnane (Clare) finished on 17.
Following on from these games Catriona/Ciara won the Cup final at U16/17 against Martina/Aoife with Aisling/Lisa beating Martina/Aoife in the Plate final.
At U14/15 Paula/Aileen took the honours against Anna/Mairead in the cup, with Anna/Mairead making amends in the plate against Sadbh/Emer.
On the 60x30 Colleges front, Aine Casey capped off her best year to date, as the Ballymac girl, representing Presentation Tralee, won the Senior Singles title beating Aoife McCarthy ( Westmeath) in the decider. Aine heads to Croke Park next Friday, as she is the Munster nominee in the youth female category at the national handball awards banquet where she will compete for the main prize against the other provincial nominees.
A plaque honouring the memory of Jimmy McEllistrim was unveiled at Ballymac handball alley during the Eileen Twomey tournament. The unveiling of this memorial to Jimmy, was carried out by his three children Murty, Roundy and Kathleen.
This Saturday sees All Ireland winning Kerry captain Darran O'Sullivan team up with fellow Glenbeigh native Dominic Lynch in a unique tournament at Croke Park to mark the 125th anniversary of the GAA. The top GAA and handball players from around the country will team as doubles pairings, and also in singles where they will take on players from their own codes. In the doubles the Kerry pair play Robbie McCarthy/ Brendan Murtagh.
- Brendan Falvey
