Plenty of Fun at the Leitrim Community Games Handball Finals

Fenagh Alley was busy on Saturday morning last as the 2025 Leitrim Community Games Handball finals took place. Building on the success of last year’s rejuvenated event, this year’s competition was even bigger, with more areas of the county taking part.

Spectators had the chance to watch some very entertaining and exciting handball matches, with players in the U13 and U16 categories showing off their one-wall skills in the hope of winning medals and securing a spot in the national finals.

Well done to everyone who participated, and congratulations to the medal winners. The gold and silver medallists will represent Leitrim at the national finals, which will be held in Drumlish, County Longford, on May 24th-25th.

A sincere thanks to everyone who helped organize and referee matches in their local areas as well as the county finals. Thank you to JP Kane and Fenagh club for hosting the county finals.
Best of luck to everyone heading to the national finals.

Full list of winners ( – see pics below):

U13 Girls:

• Gold – Abbie Kane (Ballinamore)
• Silver – Eimer Ni Thiarnan (Drumshanbo)
• Bronze – Muireann Cox (Mohill)

 

U13 Boys:

• Gold – Ruairi McKiernan (Drumshanbo)
• Silver – Conor Cox (Mohill)
• Bronze – Vinnie Ferguson (Manorhamilton)

U16 Boys:

• Gold – Maxim Gilmartin (Mohill)
• Silver – Eoin Mahon (Carrick on Shannon)
• Bronze – Arro O’Reilly (Manorhamilton)

U16 Girls:

• Gold – Sophie Kane (Ballinamore)

Connacht Juvenile B Doubles Championship Finals

The rescheduled Connacht Juvenile B Doubles Championship will be played next weekend, April 12/13th in Roscommon venues. Best of luck to all the young U11 – U13 boys and girls who are representing Leitrim. Keep an eye out on the Leitrim Handball Facebook page for further details of times and venues. (https://www.facebook.com/LeitrimHandball).

Connacht Adult 4-Wall Singles Championship Roundup

The Connacht 4-Wall Singles Championship continues next weekend with two Leitrim competitors entering the alley at quarter final stage. Drumshanbo’s Leo Logan waits either a Roscommon or Mayo opponent in his Over 35’s quarter final match. Meanwhile Manorhamilton’s Joel Smith will play Roscommon’s Darragh O’Gara in their Silver Master B quarter final. Best of Luck Leo and Joel.

 

Collage – U13 medallists : Muireann Cox Mohill (Bronze U13 Girls), Abbie Kane Ballinamore (Gold U13 Girls), Eimer McKiernan Drumshanbo (Silver U13 Girls).
Vinnie Ferguson Manorhamilton (Bronze U13 Boys), Ruairi McKiernan Drumshanbo (Gold U13 Boys), Conor Cox Mohill (Silver U13 Boys).

Collage – U16 medallists : Sophie Kane Ballinamore (Gold – U16 girls),
Arro O’Reilly Manorhamilton ( Bronze – U16 Boys) with JP Kane,
Maxim Gilmartin Mohill (Gold u16 boys) and Eoin Mahon Carrick (Silver u16 boys)

Collage – Selection of photos from the Leitrim Community Games Handball Finals

David Mahon
OCP Liathroid Láimhe Liatroma
https://www.facebook.com/LeitrimHandball

GAA Handball – Coach & Teacher Training in Annaduff

A significant milestone was reached by Annaduff GAA Handball Club on Thursday evening last when 14 coaches and parents from Annaduff and surrounding clubs graduated from the GAA Handball Foundational Coaching course. The course, delivered by GAA Handball’s Regional Development Officer Clare Conway, took place in the Leitrim GAA Centre of Excellence.
Earlier that day, teaching staff from Annaduff Primary School, and other local primary and secondary schools, participated in a GAA Handball Teacher Training workshop. This initiative ensures that schools in the area are now equipped to teach and promote handball as part of their PE classes, utilizing both indoor and outdoor spaces.
Together, these efforts provide a strong foundation for the young Annaduff Handball Club to build upon and will undoubtedly help foster greater interest in the sport within the local community.
A special thank you to Clare Conway and the GAA Handball staff, Clare Caslin and her team at Annaduff NS, Leitrim GAA CoE staff, and to all the parents, coaches, and executive members of Annaduff GAA Handball and Leitrim Handball, who generously gave their time and support to make this event a reality.

Coaches and parents from Annaduff and surrounding Handball clubs who completed the GAA Handball Foundation Coaching course.
Staff of Annaduff NS and surrounding schools who competed the Teacher Training workshop delivered by GAA Handball regional development officer – Clare Conway.

Connacht 4-Wall 2nd Level Colleges Finals

Congratulations to all those who represented Leitrim schools in the Connacht 2nd Level Colleges Finals in Galway on Saturday. This A-grade provincial competition, which had been on hiatus since Covid-enforced cancellation, was revived this year. Unfortunately, the original finals scheduled for January, were postponed due to Storm Eowyn.
Six players from St. Clare’s Community College Manorhamilton, Mohill Community School, and Ballinamore Community School represented Leitrim in last week’s matches. Although several players reached provincial final matches, no Connacht titles came to Leitrim this time. Nevertheless, the experience gained, and the friendships formed along the way were invaluable.
Well done to all involved, and better luck next time!

Peter Cox and Maxim Gilmartin who competed for Mohill Community College in the Connacht 4-wall Second Level Colleges Finals in Moycullen
Sophie Kane ( Ballinamore CS) in the 1st year girls singles Connacht colleges final in Moycullen
Eoghan Kelly & Adam Neary (Mohill Community College) in the 1st year boys doubles Connacht colleges semi-final in Claregalway on Saturday last.

Connacht Adult 4-Wall Singles Championship Roundup

The Connacht 4-Wall Singles Championship got underway last weekend with 30 matches across various adult grades, scheduled at 10 different venues over the next couple of weeks.
Manorhamilton’s Peter Boyle, competing in the Junior B grade, was the first of Leitrim’s seven competitors to take to the court. Peter faced Galway’s Padraic McNeela in Abbeyknockmoy on Saturday evening last. Unfortunately, Peter came out second best this time, with the Galway player advancing to the next round.
Next up for Leitrim is Fenagh’s Peter McDwyer, who will play Keith Donnellan from Galway in the Golden Masters B grade in Roscommon on Saturday evening. Best of luck, Peter!

 

David Mahon
OCP Liathroid Láimhe Liatroma
https://www.facebook.com/LeitrimHandball

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