Juveniles end long wait for prestigious titles

Handball

After 20 months during which there was little competitive handball played, four Cavan players finally got their reward when they eventually claimed All-Ireland juvenile titles on the weekend before last in Kingscourt.

The Cavan players – Oliver McCrystal and Adam McKenna in U16 doubles and Niall Magee and Matthew Smith in U15 doubles – won their semi-finals with ease at the time. The U16 pair had claimed the U14 All-Ireland title in 2019 and defeated a strong Kilkenny duo, a year older and the 2018 U14 national champions, at the penultimate stage but lockdown intervened.

GAA Handball later decided to cancel the outstanding finals altogether but lobbying from some counties, led by Cavan, forced them into a rethink and thankfully the finals eventually went ahead.

Magee and Smith took on Alan Gilmartin and Darragh Sweeney of Mayo and emerged 15-7, 15-10 winners. Having started well, opening a 6-1 lead, they found themselves 7-6 in arrears but rallied well to close out the game.

Magee’s court nous was exceptional as he pulled off flat kills to clinch both the first and second games while Smith’s speed and smart play on the right proved too much for the Connacht champions.

While Cavan have reached the final of this grade on several occasions, this was only the second time the county has won it, following on from Ciaran McDonnell and Philip Galligan in 1991.

The U16 final followed and the sense was that Cavan were going to be up against it, taking on Sligo’s highly-regarded Cormac Finn, who recently claimed the U16 Singles title in the 60x30 court, and his partner Eoin Reynolds.

However, the hard-hitting Breffni duo turned in an exceptional performance. McCrystal was outstanding, maintaining a high intensity throughout while McKenna pulled off numerous big shots at crucial times. Both lads showed their battling qualities to overcome a fine pairing and take the title back to Cavan.

This was the third time Cavan have won the All-Ireland U16 40x20 Doubles title, following the successes of Paul Brady and Paraic Kiernan (RIP) in 1995 and Michael Finnegan and Raymond Cunningham in 1990.

All four players are members of Kingscourt Handball Club. McCrystal and Smith lined out for the Cavan minor footballers this year and their football club Ramor United while Magee and McKenna picked up Division 3 Minor Championship medals with Cuchulainns.

Adam and Niall were introduced to the game by Fr John Gilhooly in Mullagh; Oliver and Matthew picked it up under the guidance of Peadar Quealy in Virginia. All four started off in the One Wall version of the game which is highly accessible to national school children all over Cavan.

Meanwhile, the county board have made the difficult decision to postpone the county championships due to ongoing restrictions but hopes are high that handball will continue unaffected in January.