IT has been a busy week in the Coughlan household, as father and son, Fergal Snr and Jnr, captured Munster titles.
On Wednesday of last week, Fergal Snr captured Clare’s first Munster title of the yea, when he defeated Cork’s Denis Quinn to take the Provincial Masters A singles title in Galbally, Limerick on a scoreline of 21-16, 21-11.
His son, Fergal Jnr, who at just 16 years-of-age, captured the Munster minor title in defiant style in Tuamgraney on Monday evening in front of a packed gallery.
This was an extra special final for County Clare handball follower,s as it was contested between two of Clare’s brightest handball talents, Colin Corbett of Tulla and Fergal Coughlan of Clooney.
Both players got off to a tentative start with serves and aces exchanging hands on numerous occasions before Coughlan won the first game by the narrowest of margins, 21-20.
In the second game Corbett started the best and maintained a strong lead even tough Coughlan made him work for the game which Corbett eventually won 21-13.
In a tie break deciding game. Coughlan came out of the blocks in blistering form delivering some superb serves and fly kill shots to race to a 12-2 lead. Momentum was now with the talented Clooney lad who didn’t relent in his quest for Munster glory and eventually closed out the game and match on a 21-6 final game win.
It truly has been an incredible few days for young Coughlan as on Saturday last, representing Rice College, he captured the Munster intermediate singles colleges title in Ballydesmond in Cork. He will now participate in the All-Ireland Colleges finals in Kingscourt this Saturday.
Also on this Saturday, Clare’s Diarmuid Nash and Niall Malone compete for the coveted Munster senior doubles title when they take on Cork’s duo of Killian Carroll and Brendan Fleming in Broadford, Limerick, with a 4pm start.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.