This weekend sees plenty of court action across the country with the DALKIA Senior Men’s Championship round of 16 taking place, in addition with the opening stages of the DALKIA Senior Ladies Championship. The Girls Team of Ten Inter-provincials will also take place in Clooney (Clare) where some of the top female juveniles will fight it out for All-Ireland honours.

In the DALKIA Senior Men’s Championship, Cavan’s Paul Brady returns to competitive handball action on Saturday where he faces Antrim’s Owen McKenna in Kingscourt.
Brady, the current World and US champion, also featured for the Breffni County in last year’s football campaign but has ruled himself out of the fold this season to concentrate on his handball exploits.

Also at the Cavan venue, underage prodigy, Robbie McCarthy (Westmeath) faces Antrim’s Seamus O’Tuama in what should be an entertaining affair. McCarthy is certainly one to watch and having dominated the underage circuit, the 21-year-old is set to take down one of the big names in handball very soon.

The Cavan venue also hosts some other top names in the game as Antrim’s Sean Devine renews rivalries with Charly Shanks (Armagh), and fellow Belfast man, Ricky McCann takes on Mayo’s Vinny Moran. The two games are sure to provide some close exchanges with both McCann and Shanks pushed to the brink in the recent Envirogreen Resource Nationals Qualifiers.

The current Irish number one seed, Tony Healy is also in action this weekend and faces a tough outing against Moran’s Ballaghaderreen clubmate, Joe McCann. Both players eased through their DALKIA Senior Singles first round games and this meeting looks set be a well-fought encounter.

The DALKIA Ladies Senior Singles Championship also gets underway this weekend, with five exciting games in store in what has been the largest entry in the competition to date. Mayo's Pauline Gallagher takes on Limerick's Bernie Hennessy in Clooney (Clare) on Saturday, while Sunday sees plenty more action. Kerry's Maria Daly faces Fidelma O'Reilly from Limerick, while Ashley Prendeville will meet Roscommon's Katie Costello in Cappagh.

On Sunday, Limerick's Sarah Flavin faces a tough opening outing against Roscommon's Marianna Rushe, who recently returned from the National Collegiates with the Open Doubles crown and the Runner-Up Open Singles title. This meeting takes place in Roscommon on Sunday.

Meanwhile, 65 Irish handballers returned from Springfield, Missouri earlier this week with National Collegiate Ladies Open champion, UCD’s Eimear Fallon (Kildare) and Men’s Open Runner-Up, DIT’s Brian Carroll (Meath) among the group. Irish students competed in an incredible 12 National Collegiate finals, returning to Ireland with seven titles.

FIXTURES

DALKIA ALL-IRELAND 40X20 CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Kingscourt, Saturday 1 March, 4.00pm
Senior Singles Round of 16
Séamus Ó Tuama (Antrim) v Robert McCarthy (Westmeath)
Charly Shanks (Armagh) v Sean Devine (Antrim)
Vinny Moran (Mayo) v Ricky McCann (Antrim)
Owen McKenna (Antrim) v Paul Brady (Cavan)
Senior Doubles Round of 16
Ciarán Curran, Darragh Daly (Tyrone) v
Michael Gregan, Johnny Willoughby (Wicklow)

At Crinkle, Sunday 2 March, 2.00pm
Senior Singles Round of 16
Brian Carroll (Meath) v Seamus O’Carroll (Lmerick)
Eoin Kennedy (Dublin) v Dominick Lynch (Kerry)
Joe McCann (Mayo) v Tony Healy (Cork)

At Abbeylara, Sunday 2 March, 2.00pm
Senior Singles Round of 16
Michael Finnegan (Cavan) v Dessie Keegan (Mayo)

At Clooney, Saturday 1 March
Girls Team of Ten Interprovincial
Semi-final
Munster v Connacht (Ceana Ní Churraoin, Róisín Ní Chonghaile, Jennifer Fahy, Maeve Coleman, Lauren O’Riordan, Aoife McDonagh, Amy Corrigan, Clodagh McManamon, Stephanie Coleman, Mary Duffy, Sinead Hanley, Sara Coleman)
DALKIA Ladies Senior Singles Preliminary Round
Pauline Gallagher (Mayo) v Bernie Hennessy (Limerick)

Girls Team of Ten Final
Munster OR Connacht v Leinster (Catríona Foley, Serena Doyle, Elaine Egan, Laura Moore, Louise Walsh, Aoife McCarthy, Shauna Hilley, Ciara Mahon, Mary Phelan, Sandra Kelly, Claire Mulholland, Rachel Hogan)

At Cappagh, Sunday 2 March, 2.00pm
Ladies Senior Singles Preliminary Round
Ashley Prendiville (Kerry) v Katie Costello (Roscommon)
Maria Daly (Kerry) v Fidelma O’Reily (Limerick)

At St Coman’s, Roscommon, Sunday 2 March, 2.00 pm
Ladies Senior Singles Preliminary Round
Sarah Flavin (Limerick) v Marianna Rushe (Roscommon)

At Mullingar, Sunday 2 March, 12.30pm
Ladies Senior Singles Preliminary Round
Anna Spence (Kildare) v Deirdre Donohoe (Roscommon)