Croke Park, IRE, WPH Press, 3/20/26
The fifth and final ranking event of the 2025/26 GAA Handball season was the biggest, as the best players in Ireland competed in the (All-Ireland) Championships throughout February and March. The final eight met at Ireland’s famed Croke Park over three weekends, with the men’s crowning a familiar champion and the women’s crowning a new star.
Men’s All Ireland Championship
Robbie McCarthy seized another GAA All-Ireland 40×20 Championship at Croake Park, defeating 2025 GAA #1 David Walsh in two games in the semifinals and holding off Diarmaid Nash in two games in the final. McCarthy edged Nash in a close first game in the final, then seized the momentum and control of the match early in the second.
“I’m just going to play and enjoy myself and if I feel like I’m able to compete and stick with the younger lads, I’m happy,” McCarthy told the Irish Independent HERE. “Just enjoying myself and still being around the game is really nice.”
“Robbie is playing really well,” Walsh would later say. “I’d say he is picking his spots now and peaking for the big one.”
Semifinals
McCarthy def Walsh
Nash def Pet. Funchion
Final: McCarthy def Nash 21-19, 21-7
Women’s All Ireland Championship
Fiona Tully’s breakout season ended with her biggest career win in the 2026 Championships, as Tully added her first All-Ireland Singles Championship to the Irish Nationals she won earlier in the season.
After defeating Mollie Dagg in the semifinals, Tully faced her nemesis, Ciana Ni Churraoin in the final. CNC had defeated Tully twice in tiebreakers during the season, but a determined Tully overcame CNC on Ireland’s biggest stage with a sensational two-game victory.
“I don’t know if I thought it was ever going to happen. I’m delighted, finally getting over the line in a big final,” Tully told the Irish Independent HERE. “If you had told me last October that I would win two of the big events this year, the Nationals and the All-Ireland, I really don’t think that I would have believed you.
Semifinals
Ni Churraoin def Heffernan
Tully def Dagg
Final: Tully def Ni Churraoin 21-17, 21-14
2026 GAA Southern Classic and 2026 She’s Ace
GAA homepage HERE
GAA on Facebook HERE
2025/26 GAA Ranking Event #1 Golden Gloves WPH recap HERE
2025/26 GAA Ranking Event #2 Irish Nationals WPH recap HERE
2025/26 GAA Ranking Event #3 Mick Kerr HERE
2025/26 GAA Ranking Event #4 Southern Classic and She’s Ace HERE
Watch the matches on the GAA YouTube channel HERE
Picture of Fiona Tully courtesy of the Irish Independent. Thank you to the Irish Independent for quotes from Tully and McCarthy.
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer