All-Ireland minor singles title for Crehan

Kilkishen’s Colin Crehan overcame the challenge of Wexford’s Galen Riordan to take the minor singles crown, which was played in Abbeylara over the weekend. Having trailed 11-5 in the first, Riordan showed great skill and composure to bring the scores level at 11-11.

Both players traded points before Crehan took control of the game and ended up taking the first game 21-13, scoring points with some excellent side-arm fly kills. In the second game, Crehan raced into a 9-2 lead and this momentum continued as he took a 13-5 lead over his Wexford counterpart.

Riordan fought back however and made a real game of it but despite getting Crehan out of service a number of times, he was not able to convert his chances into scores. Crehan then missed a few chances to increase his lead as both players battled bravely to try to secure precious points. Riordan, to his credit, pulled it back to 16-10 before Crehan again took control and ended up running out a 21-13, 21-11 winner to take his first minor singles title. Crehan adds the minor singles title to an impressively growing list that includes a world 17 and under title and last year’s minor doubles title.

Clarecastle hosts semi-finals

Clarecastle was the venue for All-Ireland handball semi-final action at the weekend when there was lots of entertainment for the big attendance. 

The first game of the bill saw Kilkishen’s Alana Ryan take on Tyrone’s Eilise McCrory in the girls’ U-15 singles. Alana fought hard in both games but lost out to the Ulster native on a score of 5-15, 3-15.

In the girls’ U-14 singles, Kilkishen’s Ella Donnellan faced the challenge of Armagh’s Megan McCann. Ella, who is no stranger to high-pressure games, displayed the skill and power of the world champion she is to win on a score of 15-5, 15-3.

The girls’ U-15 doubles saw Clare’s Evelyn Duggan and Aoife Tuohy face another strong challenge from Tyrone, this time in the form of Sinéad Donnelly and Aoibhean McAnespie. The Clare girls got off to a flying start, winning the first game 15-5.

The girls from the Red Hand County fought back hard in the second game but the Clare girls ran out eventual winners, with the second game ending 15-10.

The girls’ U-16 doubles saw Clare’s Doireann Murphy and Clodagh Nash team up against Armagh’s Aoife McConville and Alana Doran. In one of the most thrilling encounters of the day, Clare took the first game, which was nip and tuck from the first ace, to win 21-18. However, Armagh blasted their way through the second game, winning 21-8, setting up a nail-biting tie-breaker, which saw Armagh narrowly take the honours, 11-8.

The boys’ U-16 singles saw Clooney’s Fergal Coughlan take on another Armagh contender in Brian McAnenly. Fergal took the first comfortably with a score of 21-9. However, McAnenly showed great determination to fight back and win the second game 21-17 to set up a tie-breaker. After going down 8-6, Fergal showed great composure to inch back ace by ace to win 11-8.

The final game of the day was the boys U-17 doubles, which saw Clare’s Sean Donnellan and Ciarán Cooney come up against Monaghan’s Gary McElroy and Conal McKenna. The Banner boys settled into the game well and once they hit their stride there was no stopping them, winning the first game 21-7.

They went from strength to strength and captured the second game 21-8 to progress to the All-Ireland final.