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

Handball News : Connacht B Championships (U14 – U17) roundup.

Hard Luck to Gary Cox (Annaduff – U16), Dashiel Wilson (Manorhamilton – U14) and Peter Cox (Annaduff – U15) who despite giving their all, came up short against their opponents in the Connacht B championship played in St Coman’s Handball Club, Roscommon on Saturday morning last.

Peter Cox started strongly in his U15 semifinal against Roscommon’s Mark Farrell, taking their first game 15 to 14. However, Mark who was playing in his home alley, rallied to take the second game 12 to 15 sending this tight, tense match to a tiebreaker game. However, the young Roscommon man prevailed in the tiebreak game winning it on a 7 to 15 score.

In the U16 semi-final Annaduff’s Gary Cox came up against strong opponent in Roscommon’s Aron Lenord. Gary worked hard to get a foothold in the match, however playing on his home turf, Aron showed his slightly greater experience to win both games and match. Manorhamilton’s Dashiel Wilson gave it his best against the Galway’s Cillian Kirk in the U14 singles B Connacht Final, however with his greater 4-wall experience, the Abbeyknockmoy man always had the upper hand in the match.

Although disappointed with this weekend’s results, Peter, Gary and Dashiel will have learned a lot from their experiences in the 4-wall A & B championships this year and will come back stronger for it next year. 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘥𝘩𝘭𝘢́ 𝘦𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘣𝘗𝘢𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘩!

Attention now turns to the Connacht B U11 – U13 boys and girl’s categories which will take place in Roscommon venues next weekend. Leitrim has an unprecedented 19 entries from across the county competing for titles!

The very Best of Luck to all our young competitors from Annaduff, Drumshanbo, Fenagh and Manorhamilton who are taking part.

L-R:
Aron Lenord (St Coman’s, Roscommon) & Peter Cox (Annaduff, Leitrim) – Connacht B U16 singles semi-final
Cillian Kirk (Abbeyknockmoy, Galway) & Dashiel Wilson (Manorhamilton, Leitrim) – Connacht B U14 singles final.
Mark Farrell (St Coman’s, Roscommon) & Peter Cox (Annaduff, Leitrim) – Connacht B U15 singles semi-final.

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