Courtesy of GAA Handball
There was some fantastic handball played today at the Wall Ball Championship at the very impressive Kilglass GAC Centre, Roscommon. The Open titles went the way of Limerick’s Martina McMahon and Tyrone’s Conor McElduff.
In the Ladies Open, Martina McMahon received a bye from Eimear Ní Bhiadha (Galway) in the first semi-final while Niamh Dunne (Laois) had a good win over Meave McElduff (Tyrone) 15-8, 15-6. The final was a very sporting game but McMahon fresh after her Nationals win a few weeks ago proved too strong for her Laois opponent and she comfortable won this title for the first time on a 15-2, 15-3 scoreline.
The final game of the day was the Men’s Open Final with Conor McElduff (Tyrone) claiming his second successive Wall Ball Championship title after a titanic tussle with Paudi Quish (Limerick). In the first McElduff raced into an early lead, then pushed ahead to take the first 15-5.
In the second Quish was up for the fight and went into an early lead but McElduff rallied and levelled the scores at 13 all after some great rallies. But Quish finished the stronger and took the important last two aces to win 15-13 to setup an eagerly awaited tie-break to everyone in attendance.
McElduff was in blistering form from the start of the tie-break and Quish tried his best to keep at the high octane pace that the Tyrone player was setting. But in the end the Tyrone player took the title 15-5, 13-15 and 11-2.
Earlier in the day McElduff accounted for Ben Devlin (Louth) 15-4, 15-4 while Quish had a terrific win over Martin Mulkerrins (Galway) 15-13, 15-14 in two very tight games.
At the end of the day Tyrone topped the medal table with four titles while Galway finished with three while the remaining titles were spread throughout the country with Down, Kerry, Kildare and Limerick all sharing one a piece. For full results see below.
GAA Handball would like to especially thank the Kilglass club for all their help and hospitality, thanks to all the players, referees and supporters for making the day such a success.
All Ireland Wall Ball Championships 2018 – Results
At Kilglass, Co. Roscommon.
Mens Open
- SF1 Limerick (Paudi Quish) dft Galway (Martin Mulkerrins) 15-13, 15-14
- SF2 Tyrone (Conor McElduff) dft Louth (Ben Devlin) 15-4, 15-4
- Final Tyrone (Conor McElduff) dft Limerick (Paudi Quish) 15-5, 13-15, 11-2
Ladies Open
- SF1 Limerick (Martina McMahon) W/O Galway (Eimear Ní Bhiadha) sick
- SF2 Laois (Niamh Dunne) dft Tyrone (Maeve McElduff) 15-9, 15-6
- Final Limerick (Martina McMahon) dft Laois (Niamh Dunne) 15-2, 15-3
Mens B
- SF1 Galway (Conor Noone) dft Cork (Conor Walsh) 15-4, 15-4
- SF2 Carlow (Kevin Barrett) dft Cavan (Shane Briody) 15-8, 15-11
- Final Galway (Conor Noone) dft Carlow (Kevin Barrett) 15-8, 15-11
Ladies B
- SF1 Galway (Aisling Mullin) dft Limerick (Brigid Quish) 15-9, 9-15, 11-2
- SF2 Tyrone (Caitlin Conway) W/O Kildare (Ellen O’Connor) inj.
- Final Tyrone (Caitlin Conway) dft Galway (Aisling Mullin) 15-10, 15-7
Mens C
- SF1 Galway (Jack McNeala) dft Cork (Gearoid O’Connell) 15-12, 15-13
- SF2 Down (Collie Turley) dft Wicklow (Chris Doyle) 15-14, 15-3
- Final Down (Collie Turley) dft Galway (Jack McNeala) 15-5, 6-15, 11-5
Ladies C
- SF1 Cork (Anna Dunne) dft Mayo (Mary Burke) 15-6, 15-3
- SF2 Tyrone (Claire Conway) dft Offaly (Sian Cooke) 15-1, 15-3
- Final Tyrone (Claire Conway) dft Cork (Anna Dunne) 15-8, 15-3
Masters
- SF1 Kerry (Dominick Lynch) dft Galway (Graham Cashburn) 15-2, 15-3
- SF2 Laois (Paddy Donovan) dft Tyrone (Chris Curran) 15-6, 15-8
- Final Kerry (Dominick Lynch) dft Laois (Paddy Donovan) 15-13, 15-2
Boys U17
- SF1 Cork (Cian O’Driscoll) W/O Galway (Eimhin Dillon) sick
- SF2 Tyrone (Cahir Munroe) dft Wexford (Josh Kavanagh) 11-15, 15-4, 11-6
- Final Tyrone (Cahir Munroe) dft Cork (Cian O’Driscoll) 15-11, 15-8
Girls U17
- SF1 Mayo (Claire Reynolds) dft Tipperary (Siobhan Prentice) 15-8, 15-7
- SF2 Kildare (Leah Doyle) dft Armagh (Caliosa Ni Dhuill) 15-10, 15-13
- Final Kildare (Leah Doyle) dft Mayo (Claire Reynolds) 15-7, 15-11
Boys U15
- SF1 Galway (Mikey Kelly) dft Tipperary (Rory Grace) 15-6, 15-5
- SF2 Wexford (Mark Doyle) dft Tyrone (Jack Darcy) 15-11, 15-9
- Final Galway (Mikey Kelly) dft Wexford (Mark Doyle) 15-12, 15-2
Girls U15
- SF1 Galway (Sadhbh Ni Fhlaitearta) dft Clare (Chloe Philpott) 15-5, 15-7
- SF2 Tyrone (Clodagh Munroe) dft Laois (Una Brophy) 15-2, 15-7
- Final Galway (Sadhbh Ni Fhlaitearta) dft Tyrone (Clodagh Munroe) 15-10, 13-15, 11-10