Monavea lose out in All-Ireland Final
Monavea lose out in All-Ireland Final
Having captured the Leinster Handball Junior B Club title with a hugely impressive performance over Leixlip, Monavea travelled to Moycullen in Galway hopeful of adding the All-Ireland title to their collection. Earlier in the year, Monavea were crowned All-Ireland Junior B Club 60×30 champions so victory in Galway would have achieved a remarkable double for the club.
In the All-Ireland semi-final, Monavea faced St. Gall’s of Antrim. Any nerves the team might have had soon evaporated with Michael Donovan recording a convincing win in the opening singles. The doubles partnership of Eamon and Joe Brennan stretched the Monavea lead even further before Pauric Buggy completed the rout with a masterful display to leave the final score 86-29 in favour of the Laois side.
The final was to prove a step too far for Monavea with Broadford of Limerick proving to be the better side on the day. The Laois outfit battled gallantly but the speed and skill of Broadford shone through in each of the games played and they were worthy All-Ireland champions on a score line of 105-61. Despite the loss, it was a fantastic achievement for Monavea to reach the All-Ireland final and they will be optimistic of going one step further next year.
40×20 Leinster Championships
The 2015 Leinster 40×20 championships kicked off last week with a number of Laois handballers in action.
In the Men’s Junior B preliminary round fixture, Pauric Buggy had the unenviable task of facing the in-form Kevin Barrett of Carlow. In what proved to be a thrilling contest that went down to the final ace of the tie-breaker, Pauric emerged victorious on a score line of 14-21 21-14 21-20. His reward for that breathtaking victory was to be drawn against club mate Michael Donovan in the next round.
The All-Laois encounter proved to be a gripping affair. Pauric was to make the early running building up a sizeable 13-4 lead. Michael was unfazed and impressively battled back to edge the first game 21-20. Having gained the initiative, Michael saw out the victory by claiming the second game on a 21-8 score line.
Andrew Dowling also advanced in the Men’s Junior championship with a fantastic 21-14 21-14 win over Peter Flanagan of Meath while in the Men’s Masters B championships, Ray Fogarty made a strong start to the competition with a 21-7 21-14 victory over Gavin Grace of Kildare.