All Ireland title for Mary

Mary Shanley from Kilclare, achieved the ultimate glory in winning the All Ireland Ladies Junior title in Croke Park today – Sunday 5th April.

She defeated Ashling Behan from Laois 21:15 &  21:11. It is just reward for this  hardworking, talented player and a great achievement for her personally and for Leitrim Handball.

Well done Mary..a full report and profile on Marys achivement to follow later.

Meanwhile Donal Wrynne from Fenagh put in a gallant performance in the All Ireland 40×20 Boys Under 15 Singles recently.  Unfortunately his Cork opponent, Patrick Herlihy, came out on top on a scoreline of 21-19, 21-7.

 

 

05-Apr-09 by Brendan Christy – Handball

Leitrim in Croke Park

In August last a group from the Na Fianna Handball Club in Dublin, came to the Fenagh Handball court to play a friendly with a Leitrim selection. It was a very enjoyable day, so it was decided then that a return would be made to the Na Fianna club before the end of the year.

This took place on Saturday the 1st of December, as a group from Fenagh, Drumkeerin and Drumshambo Clubs made there way to the Na Fianna Handball Court, which is no other but the famous Croke Park court.

It was a great occasion for these youngsters just to be in this famous court but also to have the opportunity to play here, and play they did in both the 40×20 and the 60×30 courts. All it being a friendly occasion,there were many competitive matches on the day. The friendship that were formed on the first meeting in Fenagh were obviously not forgotten,and friendship were quickly renewed.

A trip of the great Croke Park took place, taking in the dressing rooms, Corporate areas, press rooms..etc..a very interesting tour,and everyones thought was that the place looks even bigger when it is empty!

It was a great day everyone enjoyed it,and is now penciled in as a annual event, and hopefully a overnight to go with it next year.

Many thanks to the Na Fianna Club for there hospitality and helpfullness and especially Kevin and Frank,two guys who work really hard at this level of coaching their juveline players,and have a great way with them in this regard.

 

 

15-Dec-08 by Brendan Christy – Handball

Handball – 60 x 30 Championship Final

The Leitrim 60 x 30 Championship has beenÓgoing on for the last three weeks with preliminary games been played in Fenagh and Drumkeeran Alleys. 24 Players took part. The final was Played in Fenagh on Sunday 7th Dec between Eddie Lee from Fenagh and Danny Reilly from Gortletteragh.

Two great games of Handball ended in Eddie Lee winning out the Final. This is the first time the 60×30 championship has been played for in a number of years due to work going on at both alleys

The New perpetual Shield Presented by Dessie and Seamus Doyle for the Doyle Family in Honour of their Father Tom a renowned handballer in his day.

Tom was instrumental in the construction of the 60 x 30 alley in Drumshanbo some years ago and introducing handball to the Drumshanbo area.

Leitrim Handball Board would like to thank the Doyle family for donating the Shield for this competition.

Photos now in the Gallery

 

 

10-Dec-08 by Martin Logan

Fenagh win Matthew Dolan Cup

On Sunday the 2nd Nov the 60×30 handball season came to a end with the Finale of the Matthew Dolan Memorial Cup competition taking place in Fenaghs new handball court.

The finale of this Doubles competition was between Fenagh and Drumkeerin, and is held in the memory of the late Matthew Dolan R.I.P.

All matches are Doubles and features Boys Under 14,  Boys Under 16 , Juveniles, Girls, and Senior mens.

It is played 2 games to 15 and each game won takes a point!

The Under14 match, was between Cathal McCauley and Paul Hazlette, Drumkeerin,  Sean Doonan and Cillian O Rourke, Fenagh. This ended all square with each team getting a game.

Next was the Under 16 and Fenagh was represented by Andrew Wrynn and Michael Doonan, and Drumkeerin by the McHugh brothers Patrick and Felim. The Drumkeerin lads won this game 2-0

The Juvelines were next on Court with the impressive Donal Wrynn and Enda McLoughlin (F),  and James Hazlette and Michael Gallagher (D) facing each other! The Fenagh pair were very strong in this grade and ran out comfortable winners!

The match now stood at 3 all,as the Girls took to the court with Michelle McNama and Shauna Clancy (D) taking on the Fenagh pairing of Ciara McLoughlin and Michelle Gaffney. A good entertaining game saw the teams share the points, leaving the teams level, as the heavyweights took to the court, the Seniour mens finale!

Fenagh represented by their Captain Jamie Murray and Ed Lee, facing Joel Smyth (Cap) and Junior Hazlette and what a exciting and entralling game it was with some great rallies, kills and had the crowd getting behind their team vocally and made a very exciting finale!

The Fenagh lads proved to strong in the end winning on a score of 15-11, and 15-13 but it was a lot closer that the scoreline suggests,with the Drumkeerin lads serving at 13 -11 for the game but Feneagh showed great character to get back in and take the match.

A special word for Junior Hazlette, who relatively knew nothing about handball until very recently,and really put in a great performance,and one would not figure this fact watching him on Sunday.

A great days handball was enjoyed by a large crowd of young and old and the Matthew Dolan Memorial Cup was presented to the Fenagh Captain, Jamie Murray by the Dolan family.

See pictures of the day in the Gallery.

 

 

06-Nov-08 by Brendan Christy – Handball

Young Handballers impress in New Competition

On Sunday October 19, eleven Juvenile Handballers from Leitrim took part in a newly introduced competition introduced by Connacht Council and spearheaded by Juvenile Chairman Francis McCann,and Senior Chairman Hugh McGarry.

The Boys and Girls seeded Doubles 60×30 Under 14 competition saw all five Connacht Counties represented in a unique competition where a player was drawn to partner a player from another county.

The promoting of this type of competition is the development of the young handballers game,but also to develop the

player in communicating and forming friendships,and to this end it was a huge success as players from different counties paired together could be seen chatting and laughing on the practise courts together.

The importance of this type of competition,and format was illustrated by the presence of Handball President Tony Hannon,as well as Hugh McGarry and Francis McCann.

They were rewarded with great matches on the day,with the eventual winners Conal Walsh of Roscommon and Kennan Brennan of Mayo,defeating Paul Hazlette of Leitrim and Enda Connelly of Roscommon.

The Plate finale also had Leitrim representatives with the winners,Shane Doonan of Leitrim and Gary Kelly of Mayo defeating Adrian Forde of Leitrim and Conor Forde of Galway.

The Girls competition had Leitrim success with Michelle McNama, Deirdre Davitt, and Michaelaigh Nolan all having success representing the County.

 

A big word of thanks to the sponsors of this event::  Envirogreen and Mr Hugh McGarry.

 

 

01-Nov-08 by Brendan Christy – Handball