Nash chases final spot

Tuamgraney is recognised as a leading handball nursery, which is not surprising given that the East Clare club continues to produce some of the game’s leading players.

Currently, Diarmaid Nash, a native of nearby Scariff, is in the limelight and this weekend he will attempt to qualify for the national senior singles final for the first time.
A student at UCD, he has been blazing a trail of glory at singles level and also in the doubles game with Niall Malone. They won an All-Ireland 40×20 minor doubles title in 2008, adding to a 2006 world U-15 doubles title.
Their challenge for the All-Ireland senior doubles title came to an end on Friday last in Crinkle, when they were comprehensively beaten by the experienced Meath pairing of Tom Sheridan and Brian Carroll, last year’s All-Ireland finalists.
For Nash, the focus is now on this weekend’s semi-final date with Robbie McCarthy from Mullingar, currently Ireland’s number two and the All-Ireland 60 x 30 titleholder.
The Clare man goes into this tie on the back of a superb 2011 season where he won the Munster senior singles, All-Ireland intermediate singles and doubles (with Malone) and All-Ireland intervarsity singles (with NUIG) titles.
On his way to this weekend’s semi-final, Nash received a walkover in round one while the withdrawal of Dominic Lynch midway through round two, when Nash was leading in the second game having won the first, cleared the way for his place in the quarter-finals. Here, he scored a  21-18, 21-14 win over Mayo man Joe McCann, who was ranked at number three in Ireland (Nash is at number 12 on the most recent rankings).
The venue this Saturday is St Coman’s in Roscommon, where the UCD student and Fitzgibbon Cup hurler will hope to progress a step further.
The Mullingar man will be hot favourite but in their only competitive meeting so far, McCarthy was pushed right to the limit by Nash in last year’s Irish nationals men’s open final in Wexford, which McCarthy eventually won in the third game.
Should Nash pull of a shock win, an All-Ireland senior final against Irish and world number one and seven-time champion, Paul Brady, would be on the cards. The Cavan man plays Brian Carroll (Meath) in the other semi-final on Saturday and it would be a major surprise if he didn’t progress.
There were a number of All-Ireland adult singles semi-finals played over the weekend and Clare have two players through to All-Ireland deciders. Cathal Hannon faced a stiff test in the junior singles semi-final against Pat O’Donnell (Wicklow) in Wexford on Saturday but came through on a 21-19, 21-14 scoreline. The Tulla clubman will face either Ciaran Burke (Mayo) or Terry Kiernan (Monaghan) in the final.
In Shannon on Saturday, John Cawley won his Golden Masters B semi-final against Eamon Purcell (Kilkenny) 21-8, 21-14. The Shannon clubman, originally from Sligo, was 6-0 down in the second but recovered and went on to dominate and set up an All-Ireland final against Galway’s Denis Phelan or Conor McDonnell of Monaghan.
Also in Shannon, Stephen McInerney was defeated in the Emerald Masters B semi-final by Louth man John Kelly (21-5, 21-12).
Meanwhile, in O’Loughlin’s, Kilkenny, Ashling Fitzgerald tasted defeat in the ladies’ junior B singles semi-final against Kilkenny’s Rachel Hogan in a match that went the full distance (20-21, 21-8, 10-21).
This weekend, Clare will be well represented in minor (Colin Crehan and Niall Bolton); U-21 (Trevor Vaughan and Chris Philpott); golden masters B (John Cawley and Teddy O’Hanlon) and ladies junior B (Ashling Fitzgerald and Edel O’Grady).
The Munster 40×20 juvenile finals take place on Saturday in Broadford, Limerick and on Sunday in Galbally. Clare will hoping for success in girls U-12 singles (Bridin Dinan); U-13 doubles (Evelyn Duggan, Laura Philpott; U-14 doubles (Clodagh Nash, Doireann Murphy); U-15 singles (Maeve Clune); U-16 doubles (Natasha Coughlan, Michelle Nihill); U-17 doubles (Aislish Cullinan, Lourda Healy); boys’ U-12 singles (Tiernan Agnew); U-14 doubles (Shane Hunt, Jack Hayes); U-15 doubles (Cathair Agnew, Jake Kearney) and U-17 doubles (Paul Gleeson, Mark Lynch).
Colin Corbett’s U-16 singles final goes ahead in Galbally this Thursday at 7pm against Ciaran O’Neill (Waterford).

County leagues
In the county league, the Division 1 final takes place this Thursday. Tulla and O’Callaghan’s Mills clash in what should be a very entertaining night’s handball in Tuamgraney. Bidding to win Clare’s blue riband title will be players of the calibre of John and Conor Cooney, Jim Close and Chris Philpott (O’Callaghan’s Mills) and Cathal Hannon, Aidan Lynch and Trevor Vaughan (Tulla).
The Division 4 final is fixed for this Friday night in Tulla when Clooney face Tuamgraney. Both sides beat each other in the league during the year so a tight contest is expected, even if Clooney will be favourites by virtue of topping the league table.
Tulla (Paul Lynch, Danny O’Halloran, Trevor Vaughan, Colm Halpin, Niall Bolton and Mark Lynch) are Division 2 champions after a hard-fought 90-85 aggregate win over O’Callaghan’s Mills in the final last Monday.

Results
March 2, Crinkle: All-Ireland senior doubles round two, Meath (Tom Sheridan, Brian Carroll) defeated Clare (Diarmaid Nash, Niall Malone) 21-5, 21-3.
March 3, Shannon: All-Ireland GMBS semi-final, John Cawley defeated Eamon Purcell (Kilkenny) 21-8, 21-14; EMBS semi-final, John Kelly (Louth) defeated Stephen McInerney 21-5, 21-12.
St Joseph’s, Wexford: All-Ireland JS semi-final, Cathal Hannon defeated Pat O’Donnell (Wickow) 21-19, 21-14.
O’Loughlin’s, Kilkenny: All-Ireland LJBS semi-final, Rachel Hogan (Kilkenny) defeated Ashling Fitzgerald 21-20, 8-21, 21-10.

Fixtures
March 8, Tuamgraney (8pm): Clare League Division 1 final: Tulla v O’Callaghan’s Mills.
March 9, Tulla (8pm): Clare League Division 4 final,Clooney v Tuamgraney.
March 10, (to be confirmed) St Coman’s Roscommon: All-Ireland senior open singles semi-finals, 2pm; Paul Brady (Cavan) v Brian Carroll (Meath) 3.15pm; Diarmaid Nash (Clare) v Robbie McCarthy (Westmeath).