Ballaghaderreen consolidated their position as the top senior handball team in the country, when they captured their third consecutive title in the All-Ireland 40x20 Open Club Championships on Sunday.
“It’s fantastic to have won another title; we all love this competition,” said Ballaghaderreen’s Joe McCann. “It was a tough contest but we put in a great team performance and that’s what saw us home.”
The men from the West defeated Antrim club, Gortnamona, in a hard-fought final at Kingscourt, Co. Cavan to take their third title in succession. The Mayo supremos have dominated the national club scene for the last four years, claiming four consecutive All-Ireland Softball Open Club titles and they now have the distinction of adding a third All-Ireland 40x20 Open Club crown in-a-row.
The first game of yesterday's match proved to be a thriller between Mayo’s Dessie Keegan and Antrim’s Ricky McCann. In the opening game, Keegan and McCann both hit purple patches with the Antrim handballer taking an early 7-0 lead. The Mayo hardhitter lifted his game to go 15-7 up, but McCann returned to his stride and when the he opened a 20-15 lead, the result looked ominous.
But the Balla man stuck to his task and in dramatic fashion pulled back the deficit and eventually went on to take the game 21-20 to set the team on their way to victory. However, the Antrim man proved to be much more consistent in the second game, which he went on to win on a scoreline of 13-21.
In the doubles match, Ballaghaderreen captain, Paul Flynn and regular doubles partner, Vinnie Moran, defeated Gortnamona duo, John McGarry and Eddie Mallon.
Mayo looked in control throughout and took the first game on a scoreline of 21-10, as Moran displayed the strength of his powerful left. The second game was a closer affair but Flynn and Moran prevailed, taking it on a 21-13 scoreline. This left the score 76-55 going into the last singles game, where Joe McCann faced Gortnamona's dynamic left-hander, Paddy Crothers.
McCann proved to be too strong for the Ulsterman as he won the first and only game on a scoreline of 21-12. Gortnamona conceded the last game as they needed to win 21-0 to draw the game. And so, as the 2007 handball season draws to a close, Ballaghaderreen celebrate another All-Ireland team title but Keegan, Moran, Flynn and McCann will now turn their attentions to the All-Ireland Singles Championship which gets underway in January.
The winning Ballaghaderreen team of - Campbell Brennan (sub), Vinnie Moran, Dessie Keegan, Paul Flynn (captain) and Joe McCann.
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