Handball News: Connacht Silver Medals | Rescheduled Connacht Colleges 4-wall Finals | Connacht GAA Handball 4-Wall Singles Championship
Connacht Silver Medals for Manorhamilton’s Sadhbh and Ronan.
Two Connacht silver medals were the reward for Leitrim’s juvenile handballers who competed in the 40×20 B championships on Saturday last in Roscommon, Lisacul and Claremorris. Manorhamilton’s Sadhbh Smith and Ronan Sieber both competed brilliantly in the U13 girls and U11 boy’s singles finals, each bringing silver medals back to the north Leitrim club. Sadhbh and Ronan were part of a nine-strong group of young players who represented Leitrim with pride on the day.
Sadhbh began her journey to the U13 girl’s final against Mayo’s Mia Reid. It was the Mayo player who got off to the better start, but Sadhbh dug deep to score 7 to Mia’s 15. While Mia took the first game, Sadhbh had found a probing serve and when combined with her excellent volleying and calm demeanor, gave her victory in the second game 15-9. Mia had the all-important serve to start the third game by virtue of most points scored and while she made a few points Sadhbh managed to meet the ball and indeed hit a few nice roof shots to take service back. Both players were improving all the time, but it was Sadhbh who battled through to the final on a scoreline of 15-9.
Waiting in the final was Róise Leonard from Galway! Sadhbh battled hard in the first game but lost 15-3 while in the second she dug in and scored 6 against Róise. The Galway player was a worthy champion, but Sadhbh learned a lot from the experience and collected her silver medal for club and county.
Ronan Siebert started his U11 championship positively by beating both his Mayo and Sligo quarter final and semi-final opposition in two straight games. The final started with Ronan serving first against Roscommon’s Eoin McDermott. It was a tit for tat game with most points being won in rallies and not player error which is a credit to both players. Ronan took some difficult shots off the backwall successfully and making some very impressive pass shots. The game was tied at six apiece before the Roscommon player pulled away finishing the first game 11-6 to Roscommon.
The second game had some notable long rallies, but once again the Roscommon player pulled away to win 11-4. It was an impressive match, and the referee complimented both players on their level of play in an U11s final, with Ronan really showed he can and will be an A player of the future.
Elsewhere, Rhys Glancy came agonizingly close to reaching the U12 boys final when he lost out to his Mayo opponent by the bare minimum in a tiebreak game. Caoimhe Glancy, Muireann Cox, Eoghan Kelly, Senan Prior, Niall Loughlin & Sam Conroy all but in great performances in their respective matches but found themselves up against tough opposition. For most, this was their very first time playing in a Connacht Championship environment and they will have learned a huge amount from the experience, and will no doubt be ones to watch for Leitrim and their clubs in the future.
Well done one and all!
Top L- R:
Aengus Cunningham from Roscommon Handball presents the Connacht B U11 Boys finalists with their medals – Ronan Sieber (Leitrim), Eoin McDermott (Roscommon)
Róise Leonard (Galway) & Sadhbh Smith (Leitrim) – Connacht B U13 Girls Final
Bottom L-R:
Caoimhe Glancy (Leitrim) – Connacht B U11 Girls Quarter-final
Senan Prior (Leitrim) – Connacht B U11 Boys Quarter-final.
Muireann Cox (Leitrim) – Connacht B U11 Girls Semi-final
Eoghan Kelly (Leitrim) – Connacht B U13 Boys Semi-final
Rescheduled Connacht Colleges 4-wall Finals go ahead on Saturday next.
The re-scheduled Connacht colleges 4-wall championship finals take place in Claregalway and Moycullen Co. Galway on Saturday next, March 29th. This provincial 2nd level competition which was revived for the first time this year since Covid fell victim to storm Eowyn back in January.
Mohill Community College leads the way with four Annaduff club players in the finals. Peter Cox will compete in the Junior (u15) boys singles grade, while recent All Ireland u15 doubles finalist Maxim Gilmartin will take part in the 1st year boys singles event. Additionally, clubmates Adam Neary and Eoghan Kelly will team up for the 1st year boys doubles competition.
Ballinamore Community School will have Sophie Kane in the 1st year girl’s singles, and she will also be joined by Ella Crinnigan who will compete in the junior (u15) girl’s singles. St Clare’s Comprehensive School Manorhamilton will be represented by Cormac Scarff in the Intermediate (U17) boys single competition.
Best of luck to all the players next weekend. Beir Bua!
Connacht GAA Handball 4-Wall Singles Championship 2025
Adult handball springs back into action next weekend with several Connacht 4-wall singles championship Junior B and Junior C grade matches up for decision. First out for Leitrim will be Manorhamilton’s Peter Boyle who plays Galway’s Padraic McNeela in their Junior B preliminary round match on Saturday evening next, March 29th in Abbeyknockmoy. The very best of luck Peter in his championship match.
David Mahon
OCP Liathroid Láimhe Liatroma
https://www.facebook.com/LeitrimHandball
