Action continues at Munster Championships

The Munster adult 60×30 handball championships are in full flow and a number of Clare players will be in championship action over the coming week.
Thursday night, in particular, will be a busy night with Mike Baker playing Cork’s Rory O’Sullivan in Cullen in an over 35 B singles quarter-final and a double-header in Ballina as Clare pairs take on Tipperary in junior B doubles (Paul Healy and John Kirby) and silver masters B doubles (John Nihill and Tom Stack). Already this week, Mike Kelly and Pat Donellan (golden masters A doubles) received a walkover from Limerick and Ciarán Walsh was defeated by Patrick Frawley (Limerick) in junior B singles.
Last weekend saw the completion of two big alley tournaments run by Tuamgraney handball club. The Michael O’Neill Memorial Cup and Teach Ui Bhriain Cup tournaments were both 60×30 doubles events and featured players from right across the county.
Early rounds were played off over the last three weeks and both finals were played before a sizeable crowd at the Tuamgraney venue on Sunday.
In the O’Neill Cup final, Shane and Ciarán Walsh defeated Mike Hayes and Tommy Hegarty over three games 21-14, 7-21, 21-8.
In the Teach Ui Bhriain Cup final, Shannon duo Jody Kirby and Fergal McCarthy came out on top against Anne Marie and Ashling Fitzgerald, winning 21-14, 21-12 in a very entertaining match which saw some brilliant handball.
Tuamgraney and Ballina jointly hosted the All-Ireland senior club championship on Saturday week last where Kells of Meath took the honours, defeating Ballaghadereen (Mayo) 84-61 in the final. The winning team was Tom Sheridan, Brian Carroll, Carl Browne and Christy McGovern. Ballina themselves took the bronze medals on the day, winning the third place playoff against Hospital (Limerick) by 81 points to 60.
This weekend sees the 60×30 Irish Nationals take place in Kilkenny, Waterford and Tipperary venues.
As the build-up to this October’s World championships continues, the official website for the championships has now gone live at www.worldhandball2012.com. This year’s worlds are being billed as the biggest ever, with players from 33 different countries competing in 40×20 and one-wall handball events. The championships will be centred around a number of specially-constructed handball courts at the Citywest event centre in Dublin.

Munster adult 60×30
championships (Clare fixtures)
Tuesday, June 19, Hospital (7.30pm): O35B Singles q-final – Tom Kirby v John Corbett (Tipp).
Thursday, June 21, Cullen (7.30pm): O35B Singles q-final – Mike Baker v Rory O’Sullivan (Cork).
Thursday, June 21, Ballina (7.30pm): Junior B Doubles q-final – John Kirby and Paul Healy v Tipperary and Silver Masters B Doubles s-final – John Nihill and Tom Stack v. Tipperary.
Sunday, June 24, Cashel (2pm): Emerald Masters A Singles s-final – Stephen McInerney v Billy Mullins (Tipp).
Monday June 24, Tuamgraney (7.30pm): U-21 Singles q-final – Chris Philpott v Eamon Davern (Limerick).
Wednesday June 26, Hospital (7.30pm): Silver Masters A Singles s-final – John Nihill v Brendan Ryan (Tipp).