Local Handball Notes (week ending 27th October 2019)

Clare Open 2019 Winner - Niall Bolton, Clare Handball Chairperson - Eoghan Hynes, Runner-up - Fergal Coughlan Jnr

Bolton Clare Open Champion 2019

Last weekend saw the hosting of the inaugural Clare Handball Open. 12 of Clare’s top players went head to head in Newmarket on Fergus and Clooney Quin on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th of October. The group stages, consisting of four groups, were played on Saturday with three players in each group.

The groups were played in a Round Robin format with the top two players in each group qualifying for the Quarter Finals and the third player qualifying for the Plate Championship. After 18 games of handball over two days, the two players who qualified for the final were the tournament’s top two seeds, Fergal Coughlan Junior (Clooney Quin) and Niall Bolton (Tulla).

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Clare Handball Open 2019

Fergal defeated Darren O’Neill and Glenn Murray in the group stages, Shane Hayes in the quarter final 15-4, 15-4 and Pat Nolan in the semi-final 15-3, 15-14.

Niall qualified through the other half of the draw with wins over Seán Coughlan and Darragh Burke in the group stages, Tiarnan Slattery in the quarter final 15-3, 15-3 and Glenn Murray in the semi-final 9-15, 15-10, 11-3.

Fergal Coughlan Junior would have been in the fancied position starting the final, as Niall Bolton had been really pushed in his semi-final battle with Glenn Murray only an hour earlier. However it was Bolton who came out of the traps at speed. He was serving clinically and Fergal had no answer and was unable to recover.

Niall Bolton closed out the first game with a commanding 15-6 win. The second game started in a similar vein to the first and Fergal Junior seemed to be struggling to find his game with Bolton racing in to a 6-1 lead. Coughlan however hit a purple patch and reeled off some truly outstanding kill shots to put himself back in to the game and a 9-6 lead.

However, the experienced Bolton called a timeout to halt Coughlan’s momentum and it worked. Upon returning to the alley Bolton won back serve and closed out the game from there with a showcase of accurate serving. The match finished on a score line of 15-6, 15-9 with the Tulla man taking the Clare Open Trophy for 2019.

In the plate final a star for the future, Tiarnan Slattery (Tuam

Plate Winner - Tiarnan Slattery, Clare Handball Chairperson - Eoghan Hynes
Plate Winner – Tiarnan Slattery, Clare Handball Chairperson – Eoghan Hynes

graney), shone through defeating Darren O’Neill (Clooney Quin) on a score line of 15-4, 15-14.

 

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All Ireland success for Clare in Team of 6 Final

There was All Ireland success for Clare’s Leah Minogue (Tuamgraney) and Chloe Philpott (Kilkishen) as part of the Munster team in the All Ireland 60×30 Interprovincial Team of 6 Championships on Sunday October 27th in Broadford, Co. Limerick.

Leah and Chloe were joined on the team by Christine Percy and Hannah Grace from Tipperary and Cliona Dunning, Sarah Walsh, Leah O Riordan and Carmel Kelleher from Cork. The Munster girls defeated a very strong Leinster team in the final on an overall score of 84-61.

Leah Minogue, GAA Handball President - Joe Masterson, Chloe Philpott
Leah Minogue, GAA Handball President – Joe Masterson, Chloe Philpott

Congratulations must also be extended to Chloe’s father, Christy Philpott Senior, who was part of the coaching team. Leah and Chloe can now add this title to their All Ireland 40×20 Interprovincial Team of 6 title which they won earlier this year.

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Under 11 Blitzes Begin

In an effort to develop the game of handball within the county, Clare Handball will be making some innovative changes to juvenile handball in Co. Clare. Clare Handball will be running a number of juvenile leagues and blitzes, aimed at players ranging from Under 11 up to Under 18, during the months of October, November and December.

These leagues and blitzes will be run independently of any county championships. The leagues and blitzes are aimed at encouraging participation and playing the sport for fun. This coming weekend sees the start of the Under 11 blitzes on Sunday November 3rd.

Sun November 3 from 10:00am to 12:00pm

In Tulla: Tulla 1, Clooney 1, Tuamgraney 1

In Clooney: Clooney 2, Kilkishen 1, Toonagh 1

Sunday November 3rd from 12:00pm to 2:00pm

In Tulla: Tulla 2, Kilkishen 2, Clooney 3, Toonagh 2

In Toonagh: Toonagh 3, Kilkishen 3, Tuamgraney 2

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Toonagh bow out of Munster Junior B Inter Club

Toonagh travelled to Broadford, Co. Limerick, on Saturday October 26th to face a much fancied Mallow side in the Munster 40×20 Inter Club Championships. The Inter Club Championship is a team event, with teams compromising four players.
Matches are broken down into three ties; tie 1 – singles, tie 2 – doubles and tie 3 – singles. Each tie has 2 games to 15 points in each. The total aggregate score from all games will decide the winner.

The Toonagh team lined up with Micheál Callinan in the first singles, Declan Vaughan and Brian Reilly in the doubles and Alan Cummins in the second singles. Unfortunately the Toonagh team were under pressure from the off and Mallow ran out victors on a comprehensive overall score line of 75-15.

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Clare Handball League Division 1

Division 1 blown wide open after Round 4

Newmarket on Fergus (Glenn Murray, Blake Sheedy, Mike Kelly, Darragh Burke) sent shockwaves through Division 1 on Tuesday night October 22nd when they defeated a much fancied Kilishen B (John Cooney, Sean Murphy, Barry McMahon, Kevin O’Callaghan) side. Newmarket took full advantage of playing at home and took victory on an overall score of 72-58.

Tuamgraney (Fionn Slattery, Gearóid Sheedy, Tiarnan Slattery, Patrick Crotty) also added to Kilkishen’s woes when they defeated Kilkishen A (Christy Philpott Jnr, Brendan Hannon, Mark Crehan, Henry McGrath) on an overall score of 76-68 in Kilkishen.

The match of Round 5 will be the clash of Tuamgraney v Newmarket on Fergus

Tues Oct 29th at 8pm – Clare Handball League – Division 1, Round 5

Venue: Clooney – Match: Clooney Quin v Kilkishen A

Venue: Tuamgraney – Match: Tuamgraney v Newmarket on Fergus

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Clare Handball League Division 2

Tuamgraney Looking Unstoppable

Tuamgraney (Conor Downes, Thomas Minogue, Gearóid Sheedy, Cathal McKenna) carried on their winning ways in Round 5 with yet another impressive victory, this time against Kilkishen (Niall Crehan, Mark Donovan, Greg Shanahan, Jacob Loughnane).

In what had to be the tie of the week, across all divisions, Newmarket on Fergus (Mike Hogan, Colin O’Halloran, Blake Sheedy, Darragh Burke) pipped Toonagh (Kevin Hassett, Shane Griffin, Alan Cummins, Brian Reilly) to the winning post on a score of 60-56.

Clarecastle (Jamie Coughlan, Patrick Casey, Finbarr Sheridan, Darragh Healy) claimed victory away against Clooney Quin B (Cian Keogh, Kevin Keogh, Dara Keogh, Kevin O’Brien) on an overall score of 78-61. Newmarket on Fergus conceded a walkover to Clarecastle.

Tie of Round 6 will be, Clooney Quin A v Tuamgraney.

Wed Oct 30th at 8pm – Clare Handball League – Division 2, Round 6

Venue: Clooney – Match: Clooney Quin A v Tuamgraney

Venue: Kilkishen – Match: Kilkishen v Newmarket on Fergus

Venue: Toonagh – Match: Toonagh v Clooney Quin B

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Clare Handball League Division 3

Toonagh A in Ruthless Form

Toonagh A (Michael Callinan, Brian Reilly, Noel Barry, Philip Lucas) held back no punches when they defeated their club mates Toonagh B (Declan Vaughan, Pat Lynch, Barry Farrell, Brian Griffin) on an overall score of 84-36.

In Clooney the home side (Cian Keogh, David Sheehy, Rory Corbett, Brian Clune) defeated Newmarket on Fergus (Barry O’Driscoll, Cian Fawl, Liam Gleeson, Colin O’Halloran) on a score of 83-60.

Tuamgraney (Keith Hogan, Oisín Molloy, Jason McCarthy, Emmett Ryan) took full advantage of playing at home when they defeated Kilkishen (Alan O’Dea, Keith Crehan, Ciaran Agnew, Fergal Kennedy) on a score line of 67-48.

Next week’s match of Round 4 is Toonagh A v Tuamgraney.

Mon Oct 28th at 8pm – Clare Handball League – Division 3, Round 4

Venue: Toonagh – Match: Toonagh A v Tuamgraney

Venue: Kilkishen – Match: Kilkishen v Clooney Quin

Venue: Newmarket – Match: Newmarket on Fergus v Toonagh B

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