Brady gilds his legend with two more major titles

The Anglo-Celt Community & Sports Awards, in partnership with Mannok and Kingspan, will take place this evening in the Cavan Crystal Hotel. Handballer Paul Brady is a finalist for Outstanding Achievement of the Year...

Not much can be said or written about Paul Brady’s accomplishments in the sport of handball than have been so far. Had he retired after the pandemic, the Mullahoran native, Virginia resident and Kingscourt HC clubman would have gone down as the greatest handball player of all time but his subsequent return and annexation of two of the biggest titles in the sport has really gilded his legend.

Last year, Brady came back after a hiatus and reached the All-Ireland Senior Singles final; well in control of the match and seemingly just minutes from glory, he sustained an injury and was forced to forfeit.

Brady knuckled down after that and, in November, claimed his sixth Open Singles title at the World Championships in Croke Park.

Having beaten number one seed Martin Mulkerrins in straight games in the semi-final, Brady was many people’s favourite heading into the final but Clare’s Diarmaid Nash hadn’t read the script. The Tuamgraney man came out shooting and was brilliant in winning the first game 15-7.

Brady opened an 8-0 lead in game two only for Nash to come roaring back but, finding his range on kills, the former Cavan footballer closed it out 15-8.

In the tiebreaker, Brady led 2-0, Nash scored five points in succession but the Breffni hero was not to be denied as he went on a hot streak, winning 11-8.

“I feel relieved and obviously elated. It’s been a long week, the body came through it and I’m obviously delighted,” said Brady at the time.

“I played with the same principles I always play with, don’t give up and fight to the bitter end. I kind of knew he was going to bring something different, coming down off a big performance yesterday can be difficult and people were very emotional yesterday, that’s why I got out of the centre, I didn’t want to get sucked into that.

“You’ve got to get up again, that’s the nature of a World Championships obviously. You have to get up again and again and again and consistently play well and you’ll get punished for any error, as happened today.

“I didn’t execute my game plan in the first game but thankfully I got it going after that.”

Asked about what motivated him, Brady gave an insight into his mindset.

“When people didn’t think it was possible that I could do it, obviously that was a motivator as well. The first one was good because you’re trying to make it, this one you’re a bit more relaxed, obviously you’ve cemented your status in the sport.

“I still believe that on any given day I can beat anyone in the sport and I wanted to prove that to myself and let’s just say a few other people as well.”

Asked would he hang up the gloves or continue to compete, Brady said: “I enjoy playing but it takes a huge effort. It takes a couple of hours of rehab work just to be able to play – gone is the day where I could just go in and do a 45-minute weights session and you’re done, your gym is done. This is every day, trying to get the body right to do that, so I have to see have I got the motivation again.”

As it turned out, he had. Two weeks ago, Paul claimed the All-Ireland title again in dramatic circumstances as he overcame injury to defeat Cork’s David Walsh. This week, he is in Missouri, USA as he attempts to win an 11th US Nationals title.

With special thanks to our partners and sponsors in these awards - Mannok, Kingspan, Sherry FitzGerald Declan Woods, Cavan Crystal Hotel, Dovida, Kyte Powertech, CICS Silo Clean and Joe Rowley Windows