Brady bids for the double Cavan’s Paul Brady has had a busy few weeks of Gaelic games action. A fortnight ago, he claimed his seventh All-Ireland Senior Singles crown when he defeated Armagh’s Charly Shanks in emphatic style.
Less than 24 hours after retaining his title, he appeared in Cavan’s NFL clash with Fermanagh, and on Saturday, along with partner Michael Finnegan he will contest the All-Ireland Senior Doubles final against Mayo.
The talented dual-star said: ‘It’s been a hectic few weeks, but I suppose this is always the busiest part of the year for me.
‘Right now I’m concentrating winning this doubles final; up until last year, we had dominated the Championship and having lost the title, we’re hungry for success again.’
Mayo and Cavan have created an intense rivalry in recent times, one that has been missing in handball circles for some years, and the perfect game followers have embraced it with open arms as today’s sell-out crown suggests.
Last year, Mayo’s Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann prevented the Cavan pairing from achieving their four-in-a-row ambitions and today they return to defend their crown at the St Coman’s Club in Roscommon, while the Breffni men bid to return to the top of the senior doubles stakes.
Keegan said: ‘I suppose it’s the type of game that handball needs; one with a bit of hype and rivalry.
‘In many ways, the pressure is on them because whenever Paul Brady steps into a court, he’s the automatic favourite, but we want to prove that last year was not a once off and hopefully retain the title we worked so hard for.’
In the Ladies Senior Singles final, Antrim’s Aisling Reilly and Kerry’s Maria Daly go head-to-head, and while Daly took the crown in 2004 and 2005, Reilly will go into the final as favourite having reached the final of the World Championships last October.
The Minor Boy’s final, which will serve as a curtain raiser to the senior games, will be contested by Galway and Limerick, as Treaty handballers Padraig O’Carroll and Eamon Davern take on the Tribesmen of Seamus Ó Conghaile and Martin Mulkerrins. Action gets underway at 4pm in the Roscommon venue.
