Nash wins second provincial senior title

SCARIFF native and Tuamgraney club member Diarmuid Nash added to his handball success last weekend when he captured his second Munster senior singles title.

At Cappagh in Limerick on Sunday, the Clare hurler defeated Dominic Lynch from Kerry in straight sets to take the title for the second time in three years. He won the crown for the first time in 2011.

The championships were played over the weekend, having got underway on Wednesday night at Cappagh when Nash’s doubles partner, Niall Malone, went out to Ger Coonan from Ballina in Tipperary.

In Friday’s quarter-final game, Nash was up against Fergal Collins from Tipperary and the game took place at Broadford in Limerick. The Clare man won the first game 21-12 but Collins bounced back and levelled the match when he scored a 21-12 win in the second. In the tiebreaker, Nash was always in control and won comfortably, 21-3. This sent him through to the semi-finals, where he came up against Killian Carroll from Cork, who had knocked Ger Coonan out of the championship in the quarter-finals. Nash also had to go to a tiebreak game in this match.

Lynch came through the other side of the draw with wins over Colm Jordan and Brendan Fleming from Cork.
Nash dominated the final, winning in straight sets, 21-9 and 21-12 and repeating his success of 2011 over the same opponent in that final.

Nash will now turn his attention to the All-Ireland Championship, a target he set when he won world honours last October. He will be busy in the coming weeks as he will challenge for doubles honours, when he will again join forces with Niall Malone.