McElduff and McMahon take top honours at Wallball Nationals:
By Paul Fitzpatrick
The Irish Wallball Nationals moved to a new venue in Co Tyrone but there was an air of familiarity about the winners as Conor McElduff and Martina McMahon stormed to victory in the Open Singles grades.
In winning his seventh title in front of his home crowd, Breacach clubman McElduff saw off Conor McClean from Armagh (31-9) and Cahir Munroe from Tyrone (28-10) to reach the last four.
On Sunday, McElduff was a 31-9 winner over his friend and sparring partner from Tyrone Paul Donnelly in the semi-final.
The other side of the draw was a minefield, with a number of players in contention.
Cavan’s Ben Devlin, a Louth native who has transferred to the Kingscourt club this year, beat Antrim’s Owen McKenna, Cork native and Armagh player Cian O’Driscoll and Armagh young gun Fiachra Ó Dúill in an 18-15 thriller to reach the final.
There wasn’t much between them in the decider but McElduff eventually pulled away to win 21-14.
“Thanks everyone for coming down, the Wallball Nationals is a special tournament, it gets the whole handball community together and it’s great to kind of have everyone in the same venue, to watch a bit of ball and support each other,” McElduff said afterwards.
Limerick’s McMahon, meanwhile, continued her extraordinary run in female handball across three different codes. The Broadford left-hander has won every event she has entered in the last 12 months, a remarkable record considering she plays 4-wall, softball and wallball.
McMahon defeated up-and-comer Leah Minogue from Clare, who had won the Inis Mor tournament a week earlier, and Cailiosa Ní Dhúill from Armagh in the semi.
In the top half of the draw, home favourite Eilise McCrory fell to Galway’s 4-Wall world champion Ciana Ní Churraoin in the semi-final to set up a clash of the superstars in the decider – but McMahon wasn’t troubled as she ran out an impressive 30-13 victor, extending her phenomenal record.
Elsewhere, the 19&U title went to Cork’s Cian Dunning, with Longford’s Thomas Finn and Bertie Donohue winning the 17s and 15s respectively and Tyrone’s Ciaran Corr claiming the 13&U gold.
Tyrone won on the double in the girls 19s and 17s, with Caislin Treacy and Laura Duff taking the honours. Dublin’s Ciara O’Reilly won the 15&U and Antrim’s Nina McBride was the 13&U champion.
Adam Doris (Armagh) won the Men’s B, Caolán McCartan (Tyrone) won the Men’s C and rounding off a great tournament for the Ulster counties, James Doyle, Niall Kerr and Paul Cassidy won the 40s, 50s and 60s, representing Armagh, Tyrone and Monaghan respectively.
The ladies B was won by Aisling Shanahan from Limerick, with Tyrone’s Sharon Wilson the C champion.