Big alley championships underway

The 2011 adult 60×30 handball championships are now up and running with a number of Clare players in action this week. The ongoing renovation of the Tuamgraney 60×30 court has already revived local interest in the big alley game and the Banner County will have more players in championship action this summer than for some years.
After winning an All-Ireland Junior Singles title in 2010, Clarecastle man Declan Frawley moves up to the Intermediate grade and will play the Munster semi-final next Tuesday in Hospital against Cork (Pat Buckley) or Tipperary (Aidan Supple). At junior grade, Niall Malone and Darragh Kirby will be looking to emulate Frawley’s success of last year and will be gunning for both singles and doubles honours.
In the various Masters grades, Clare will be looking to the likes of Mike Hayes and Tommy Hegarty, Mike Kelly and Charlie Coughlan and John Kirby and Jimmy Walsh among others for success. On the ladies front, Anne Marie Fitzgerald will compete at Intermediate singles while Ashling Fitzgerald and Edel O’Grady have already been crowned Munster Junior doubles champions with no other entries and can look ahead to an All-Ireland semi final.
O’Neill Cup (County Junior B Singles) winner Paul Healy (Tuamgraney) gets his Munster Championship underway with a home fixture tomorrow night and will also play doubles with Kilkishen’s Jimmy Close. Shane Walsh (Junior B Singles) and Tommy Hegarty (Masters B Singles) have already seen action but both suffered first-round defeats last week while Christopher Philpott took on Tipperary’s Anthony Crotty in Ballyporeen last night
This weekend also sees the Irish One-Wall Nationals take place at Breaffy House in Castlebar. The One-Wall code is becoming more and more popular and a huge number of handballers- male and female, young and old, will head west for a feast of handball, including a number from Clare.
Munster 60×30 Championships (fixtures involving Clare players)
Friday July 1, Tuamgraney (7.30): Junior B Singles: Paul Healy v Anthony Donnelly (Limerick).
Monday July 4, Dungarvan/Broadford: Minor Singles: Jamie Lynch v Tom Aird (W’ford)/Pa Herlihy (Cork).
Tuesday July 5, Hospital (7.30): Intermediate Singles semi-final: Declan Frawley v Aidan Suple (Tipp)/Pat Buckley (Cork) and Masters B Doubles: Mike Hayes and Tommy Hegarty v Mike Russell and Denis McCarthy (Limerick).
Thursday, July 7, Tuamgraney (7.30): Junior B Doubles: Clare v Kevin Dempsey and Michael Purcell (Tipp) and Golden Masters A Singles: Mike Kelly v Tony Flaherty (Tipperary).
n Friday, July 8, Cullen (7.30): Junior Doubles: Niall Malone and Darragh Kirby v Joseph O’Keefe and Denis Quinn (Cork).