At the Basque International Tournament in Pamplona, Spain, Ireland’s top One-Wall handballers were taught a lesson by a strong USA outfit over the weekend.
Roscommon’s Leona Doolin and Marianna Rushe finished best of the Irish, losing out to Sarah Au and Danielle Daskalakis (USA) in junior women’s doubles final, with a tie-breaker deciding the champions.
The Irish pair were defeated in the opening game 15-13, but forced a decider by taking the second 15-13.
In the tie-breaker, the Roscommon pairing fought bravely, but Au and Daskalakis held on to take a 7-4 victory.
This was to make it a clean sweep for the USA in the junior women’s section with Daskalakis accounting for Doolin, and Au defeating Rushe, in the semi-finals of the singles event.
Doolin pushed the American to a third game but the Irish girl lost out 7-3, with Rushe going down 15-5, 15-7 as the USA impressed their one-Wall expertise on their European counterparts.
Irish hopes of glory in other categories were also shattered by the in-form Americans as the senior men, Armagh’s Charly Shanks and James Doyle, both went out at the group stages of the singles.
The pair provided a tough opposition for the US in the doubles, making the semi-finals only to do go out to American’s James Wright and Andy Calle on a 15-5, 15-5 scoreline.
The Armagh players finished fourth overall.
In the senior women’s category, Kerry’s Ashley Prendeville finished in third place, and paired up with Roscommon’s Katie Costello, to take third in the doubles.
In the junior men’s grade, there was no joy for Clare’s Diarmaid Nash and Niall Malone, both from the Tuamgraney club, who failed to make it past the group stages.
Nash and Leona Doolin will now begin preparations for their assault on the USHA juniors in Tuscon, Arizona in three weeks time.
Meanwhile, on home soil, Ballaghaderreen are in contention to make it three-in-a-row of 40x20 All-Ireland Open club titles after defeating Coolboy (Wicklow) in the semi-final of the club championships.
In a tight affair, the Ballaghaderreen side of Dessie Keegan, Vincent Moran, Paul Flynn and Joe McCann defeated the Garden County on a 104-87 scoreline.
In the second Open semi-final, Belfast club Gortnamona, led by Ricky McCann, defeated Cashel of Tipperary, 88-59, to set up a rematch of last year’s 40x20 Open club final.
The junior final will now be contested by Tyrone’s Brackey and Coolboy, following their semi-final wins over Cork’s Ballydesmond and Newport of Mayo.
In the junior B All-Ireland semi-finals, there were wins for Cavan Gaels and Curraghboy (Roscommon).
