By Paul Fitzpatrick

The first ‘major’ of the 60×30 season took place in Wexford last weekend with another successful staging of the Irish Softball Nationals, with top honours going to Gary McConnell and Martina McMahon in the Men’s and Ladies Opens respectively.

Kells, Co Meath clubman McConnell was in mercurial form as he tore through the field with a series of superb performances. McConnell defeated local favourite Gavin Buggy (15-4, 15-6) in the semi-final before earning a very impressive 15-1, 15-5 victory over Offaly left-hander David Hope in the decider.

Showcasing a variety of serves and consistently over-powering opponents, McConnell looks to be in good fettle ahead of the All-Ireland Senior Championships in singles and doubles.

“I’m absolutely delighted, the plan coming down here this weekend was to win this and give myself a good boost going into the championship,” McConnell said.

“We have inter-club next week, we plan to hopefully win that for the club, that would be our 13th title so that’s my next goal, next weekend.

“We’ll have tough games next weekend and then hopefully the doubles but the one I’m really looking forward to is the Senior Singles this year.”

Westmeath’s Robbie McCarthy has dominated the 60×30 game for a long number of years but McConnell said he is determined to dethrone the Mullingar ace.

“That’s the start there today so please God I can just keep going and the performances will stay there.

“I was hoping Robbie would be here this weekend, we all want to play Robbie, all want to take him. It is what it is, you can only beat what’s in front of you, if he’s not here, he’s not here, that’s not my problem. I’m here.

“It was a great tournament, I really enjoyed it but I was making a statement this weekend against the lads. I just wanted to see where my performance was and look, I was comfortable in there.

“I just wanted to come down here and start off the season on a high and thankfully today I did.”

Meanwhile, the Ladies Open went to Limerick again as the brilliant McMahon wowed the crowds with her trademark aggressive style.

After a close battle with Kilkenny’s Ciara Mahon in the semi-final, McMahon found a higher gear in the final as she defeated Kildare’s Mollie Dagg 15-9, 15-4 to take yet another major title.

“I was delighted to come down here to Wexford and take the Nationals again. I’ve been supporting this tournament as long as it’s running and it’s always nice to come back down to Castlebridge and St Mary’s where basically we’re treated like royalty – and I suppose it’s the home of ‘big alley’,” Martina commented.

“Look, I think the big alley is thriving at the moment across all grades. I saw a few results which were kind of shocks in one way but it’s good to see.

“For me, the ladies championship and the nationals are among the deepest draws we’ve had in a good while and I was just happy to come out on top today.

“I think I played a lot better than I did in the semi-final, the execution of shots was a bit better today.”

RESULTS

Ladies Open semi-finals:

Mollie Dagg (Kildare) dft. Aoife McCarthy (Westmeath) 15-13, 15-9

Martina McMahon (Limerick) dft. Ciara Mahon (Kilkenny) 15-11, 15-11

Ladies Open Final:

Martina McMahon (Limerick) dft. Mollie Dagg (Kildare) 15-9, 15-4

Men’s Open semi-finals:

Gary McConnell (Meath) dft. Gavin Buggy (Wexford) 15-4, 15-6

David Hope (Offaly) dft. Tommy Hynes (Wexford) 15-12, 15-10

Men’s Open Final:

Gary McConnell (Meath) dft. David Hope (Offaly) 15-1, 15-5

Men’s A Doubles – Ben Devlin & Gavin Coyle (Cavan & Monaghan)

Men’s B Doubles – Aiden & Hayden Supple (Cork)

Men’s C Doubles – Thomas Berry & Jim P Berry (Wexford)

Men’s Masters Doubles – Joe McCann & Ollie Cassidy (Mayo)

Men’s Emerald Masters Doubles – James Reilly & John Leahy (Meath)