Mallow & Liscarroll Co. Cork, IRE, WPH Press, 10/31/26
The Mallow & Liscarroll Handball Club were proud to present the 2026 GAA Southern Classic, featuring 24 players competing for the for the Michael Jordan Cup in the Elite Men’s Singles.
Robbie McCarthy entered the 2026 GAA Southern Classic as the top seed and advanced to the final in the upper bracket with wins against Jack Doyle, Brendan Fleming, and Gavin Coyle. 2025 Southern Classic champion David Walsh entered the 2026 Southern Classic as the second seed and advanced to the final in the bottom bracket with wins against Oran Kiernan, Kyle Jordan, and Daniel Relihan.
Walsh trailed 1-6 in the first game of the final before finding his range, outscoring McCarthy 14-3 to take a one-game lead.
After being tied at ten in the second, Walsh served for the match at 14-all but could not close out the Buzzsaw, as McCarthy fought off elimination to force a third. “The second game could have gone either way,” Walsh would later tell the WPH. “We both had chances to finish it. But Robbie, as Robbie does, battled away and managed to force a third game.”
Just as he had done in the first game, McCarthy raced to a big lead, serving at 8-4 in the race to eleven for the title. “Robbie was playing really well in the tiebreaker,” Walsh would later say. “I was definitely up against it at that stage, but thankfully I managed to get a few good serves and kills, along with a nice bit of luck, and won seven points in a row to finish it out 11–8.”
Walsh’s comeback earned him his second GAA Southern Classic title and put him in the pole position in the 2026/27 GAA 4-Wall season. “I was delighted to come out on the right side of it,” added Walsh. “The final was a tough one, to be fair. It’s a great feeling to win the first ranking event of the season, and hopefully I can build on that heading into the Golden Gloves in two weeks.”
Semifinals
McCarthy def G. Coyle 15-4, 15-4
Walsh def D. Relihan 15-12, 15-8
Final: Walsh def McCarthy 15-9, 14-15, 11-8
Thank you to 2026 GAA Southern Classic champion and WPH correspondent David Walsh for the updates from the 2026 GAA Southern Classic. Thank you to the Mallow & Liscarroll Handball Club for an outstanding event. Thank you to the Jordan family for their support and for the Michael Jordan Cup.
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The second event of the 2026/27 GAA 4-Wall season will be the fonaCab Golden Gloves November 13-15, 2026
Pictures from the Southern Classic courtesy of GAA Handball
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer