Triple joy for handballers in successful weekend
One All Ireland junior title, one Ulster juvenile team championship and a place in yet another national senior final - last weekend surely ranks as one of the most productive Cavan handball has enjoyed in quite a while. While Paul Brady and Michael Finnegan qualified for their eighth All Ireland 40x20 Senior Doubles final (more of which later) and the county Under 16/17 team defeated Monaghan in the provincial decider, pride of place went to James Brady and Patrick Clerkin, who took gold in the All Ireland 40x20 Junior Doubles final against Roscommon in Abbeylara. Brady and Clerkin have been knocking on the door at junior level for a number of seasons but finally made the breakthrough to Intermediate ranks with a hard-fought 9-21, 21-16, 21-11 victory over Cormac O'Brien and Philip O'Connor. While both players have been rock solid all year and their victory was an especially popular one among the local handball fraternity, in truth, the final was far from a classic. Looking unusually nervous, Cavan began sluggishly and their opponents easily took the opener 21-9. The second game was close but Cavan slowly began to find their rhythm, with Clerkin killing and Brady picking well on the right side. Without hitting top gear, the St Pat's pair closed out the second 21-16 before finally playing to their potential in the deciding set. A fired-up Brady's speed and reactions around the front were excellent while Clerkin consistently finished rallies with flat kills in the right corner. Cavan led 12-4 but while Roscommon fought back well, Clerkin found a clever spin serve to the left to finish off the contest in fine style with three straight aces. "I'm absolutely delighted," said an emotional Brady after the match. "We've worked very hard for a few years and it's great to finally get our reward here." Cavan's win is the county's first in 40x20 Junior Doubles. Senior stars Brady and Finnegan took to the court immediately after the Clerkin-Brady curtain-raiser and turned in a sensational performance to rout a strong Meath pair in Tom Sheridan and Brian Carroll. Finnegan in particular was magnificent on the right side, picking any ball that wasn't a flat roll-out and even re-killing several of Carroll's shots. Brady, for his part, missed a couple of kills in the first game but his speed, balance and ability to kill the ball from any angle were amazing as usual, while the evergreen Sheridan showed that his left underhand is still a laser-guided missile launcher from anywhere on the court. Cavan were 12-5 up in the first but Meath came storming back to level before Cavan finished it out to book their place in their eighth Senior Doubles final. Cavan will face Mayo's Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann in the final this Saturday at 6pm in St Coman's, Roscommon. Keegan and McCann stunned the Breffni pair with a 21-19 third game win in last year's All Ireland final in Kilkenny. This should be another cracker. Finnegan showed enough last weekend to suggest that he has lost none of the skills which made him the top right-side doubles player on the planet over the past decade, and Brady is in imperious form. Finally, there was further success last Monday evening in Connons when the Cavan Under 16/17 squad of Ciaran Jones, Eoghan Martin, Cathal Sheridan and James Galligan had an impressive 80-48 victory over Monaghan. "The lads really performed and I'm hopeful of reaching the All Ireland final," said coach Eddie Halligan.