Armagh handballer Charly Shanks has waited a while to land one of the 'Majors' of the game but he achieved his goal with a well-deserved success in the final of the Irish Nationals in Belfast on Sunday.
The Lurgan man, who has lost several deciders in major competitions including this year's All-Ireland Senior Singles, played some excellent handball to see off Tyrone's Darragh Daly in the semi-final and Galway's Martin Mulkerrins in the final.
But Shanks (33) was pushed all the way by the Connacht champion, 10 years his junior.
Shanks won the first game 15-4 but dropped the second 14-15 - with Mulkerrins shooting impressively - before closing out the tiebreaker 11-5 to win the prestigious title for the first time.
Meanwhile, Cork's Catriona Casey picked up another win over her great rival, Antrim's Aisling Reilly, in the Ladies Open final - and once more it took a tiebreaker to separate the two top female players in the world.
The latest installment in their engaging rivalry saw Casey lose the opening game 7-15 before bouncing back to win 15-4, 11-3.
Casey had seen off Galway dual star Ciana Ní Churaoín in the semi-final, with Reilly beating Limerick's Martina McMahon.
The pair are likely to clash again at the US Nationals in Minnesota, USA later this month.
