Handball heroes return from LA

The last week has been a glorious one for Cavan handball with three players taking home titles from the prestigious US Nationals in Los Angeles, including Paul Brady, who shocked the handball world by demolishing eight-time champion David Chapman in the final of the Open Singles. While Brady"s victory was no surprise to handball fans - the dual star has been ranked as world number one since 2005 - the manner of it and the level of his domination was incredible. Brady"s astonishing 21-3, 21-6 final win last Friday was the second part of a historic treble for the county, with St Pat"s stalwart James Brady romping to victory in the final of the B Singles the previous morning, while Patrick Clerkin teamed up with Tipperary"s Ger Coonan to take the A Doubles on Sunday afternoon. Paul Brady"s achievement in keeping each opponent to single digits in four rounds of handball is unprecedented in the 55-year history of the event and has lead to much debate among the handball fraternity as to whether the 29-year-old Cavan man, who has now won five US Nationals in succession, is the greatest ever to play the sport. Brady defeated Abraham Montijo of Tucson in the round of 16 before blowing away local hero Marcos Chavez, a top ten player who has competed on the world stage for a decade, on a 21-9, 21-6 scoreline. In the semi-final, Brady gained revenge on the player who defeated him last October in the US Open, Luis Moreno, demolishing the American in two 21-8 games. In the decider, watched live on the internet by a global audience estimated at around 20,000, Brady turned in the greatest performance of his career to hold Chapman to just nine points over two games. The American, widely regarded as the best player of his generation before the arrival of Brady, retired at just 29 three years ago but came back to dominate the American scene over the last 12 months. Even with the assistance of a partisan home crowd, however, he had no answer to Brady"s onslaught in Sunday"s decider. 'I"m absolutely delighted to get through it,' Brady, who will link up with Tom Carr"s senior football panel on his return today (Wednesday) said immediately after his victory. 'I knew how tough it would be to retain my title but I was confident, I had prepared well. 'I"m delighted with the win; this has been my goal for the last few months and I"m just thrilled to take my fifth title,' he stated. 'It was always going to be tough against Chapman; he"s one of the best players in the world but I really wanted to win that and I think my performance showed just how hungry I was.' In the B"s, James Brady had superb wins over Californian Jerry Puga, Mexican Jair Cano and Jaime Murillo, also of California, before beating Sal Duenas of Santa Ana 21-3, 21-5 in a super final showing. Clerkin, who lost an agonising 11-10 tiebreaker to eventual champion Fergal Collins in the semi-final of the A Singles, came through three tough doubles matches, culminating in a final win over Victor Perez and Pat Jarviz of Lake Forest, Chicago. Next up for the St Patrick"s pair will be a tilt at the Ulster 60x30 championships, which begin in a fortnight"s time. Brady and Clerkin will be among the favourites for the Ulster Junior Singles, which includes five Cavan players in the field. Paul Brady"s next small-ball assignment will be the World Championships in Portland, Oregon in October. Brady will be the official Irish representative in the singles event, while he will team up with Kingscourt"s Michael Finnegan for the doubles, a title the pair last won in 2003. Having come through the Irish trials in both singles and doubles, the Cavan pair look a solid bet to take home another two titles.