That the future for Clare handball is very bright was highlighted at the weekend when Clare participated in twenty Munster finals, winning a massive seventeen with runners up medals in the other three.
The winners will now travel to take on Ulster opposition in the All-Ireland semi-finals on Sunday next, March 3. Tyrone dominated the Ulster finals.
The All-Ireland grades are from under 14 singles and doubles to under 17 for boys and girls.
Last weekend’s results are as follows:
U17 Girls doubles; Katie Mulcahy/Aoife Williams(Tipperary) defeated Aine Moroney(Kilkishen)/Aoife Cummins(Toonagh)
U12 Girls Singles; Anna Madden(Tuamgraney) defeated Aoife McLoughney (Tipperary)
U12 Boys Singles; Eliah Kenny (Newmarket) defeated Oran Aherne (Cork)
U14 Boys Singles; Jack Cahill (Clooney) defeated Tadgh O’Connor(Cork)
U13 Girls doubles; Molly Joyce/Lucy Ann Cleary (Tipperary) defeated Ava McInerney(Toonagh)/Tracy Tuohy(Kilkishen)
U13 Girls Singles; – Sinead Doyle(Tuamgraney) defeated Ava Carey (Tipperary)
U13 Boys Doubles; Walter Moroney(Kilkishen)/Cillian Howard(Tuamgraney) defeated Charlie Walsh/Darragh Crosse (Tipperary)
U13 Boys Singles; Daniel Madden(Tuamgraney) defeated Ben Platt (Tipperary)
U14 Girls Doubles; Juliet Moroney/Chloe Hannon(Kilkishen) defeated (Tipperary) Erin Neville/Kaitlin Ryan-Delaney (Tipperary)
U14 Girls Singles; Grace Murphy (Cork) defeated Saoirse O’Brien(Tuamgraney)
U15 Boys Doubles; Darragh Casey/Cillian Cummis(Toonagh) defeated Jack Walsh/James Delaney (Tipperary)
U15 Girls Singles; – Ellie Frost(Kilkishen) defeated Lily Parkes (Tipperary)
U16 Boys Singles; Sean Considine(Clooney) defeated David Cooke (Tipperary)
U16 Girls Singles; Claire Minogue(Tuamgraney) defeated Amy Brosnan (Cork)
U17 Boys Singles; Donnacha Crotty(Tuamgraney) defeated Jack O’Sullivan (Tipperary)
U17 Boys Doubles; Donnacha Cantwell(Clooney)/Martin Bon(Kilkishen) defeated Ryan Linehan/Jack Murphy (Cork)
U16 Girls Doubles; Isabelle McInerney/Tara Lucas(Toonagh) defeated Clodagh Shinnors/Sophie O’Meara (Tipperary)
U16 Boys Doubles; Paul Rodgers(Tuamgraney)/Liam Murphy(Kilkishen) defeated Daniel McKelvey/Conor Ryan (Tipperary)
U12 Boys Doubles; Darragh Donovan(Kilkishen)/James Hoban(Newmarket) defeated Jim Mahony/Tadhg Malone (Tipperary)
U14 Boys Doubles; Charlie Collins/Conor Littleton v Jack Hennessy/Sean Dee
Juvenile B Championships:
It is semi-final weekend in the juvenile B and all grades from U11 to U17/18 and the majority of boys games will take place on Saturday with girls on Sunday March.
Munster Singles:
In Munster adult singles championships there were wins for Clare’s Kevin O’Callaghan, Glen Murray and Darren O’Neill.
In junior B O’Callaghan defeated Ian O’Brien from Limerick in two games while
In the same grade, Glen Murray also defeated a Limerick opponent, Eoin Hegarty
O’Neill won his over 35 clash with Limerick’s Ken Burke, also in two games.
At minor level Christian Cummins lost out to Waterfzord’s Roddy Morrissey in a game that went to a tiebreak.
This Friday Clare’s Matthew Coughlan (minor) and Darragh Keogh (under 21) will face Cork opponents in Cian Dunning and Eoghan Daly.
All-Ireland Doubles semi-finals:
In the All-Ireland senior men’s doubles, Clare’s Diarmaid and Colin Crehan will take on Gary McConnell and Brian Carroll from Meath in the All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park on this Saturday, March 2.
On the same programme, Caitriona Millane and Leah Minogue will carry Clare’s hopes in the All-Ireland senior ladies championship when they take on Ciana Ni Churraoin and Niamh Heffernan from Galway.
Seamus Ryan and Michael Kenneally (Clare) will play Mayo’s Tom Malone and Martin McAndrew in the golden masters grade also at Croke Park on Saturday.
At the same venue on Sunday Glenn Murray and Kevin O’Callaghan (Clare) will also face Mayo opposition in Alan Gilmartin and Michael Gilmartin at junior B level and this programme will also feature the clash of Clare’s Leah Minogue and Amber Nolan against the Roscommon Mayo pairing of Alanna Coggeran and Laura Finn in the ladies junior grade.
Colleges championships in the USA:
In the ladies section of colleges games in Minnesota Leah Minogue reached the semi-final of the open grade, while Amber Nolan reached the quarter-final.
Minogue and Nolan paired up for the doubles and lost the semi-final in a tie break. Sean Coughlan was defeated in round 2 of the men’s open and paired with UL and Tipperary’s Rory Grace in the open doubles losing in the semi-final to Shane Dunne and Mark Doyle who won the final. Dunne/Doyle are Irish students currently on handball scholarships in the USA. Rossa Keehan and Cathal McKenna also won games in their divisions and made it as far as semi-finals.
