The
Annual Tom O Connor Tournament which took place on Sunday last at Ballymac
Handball Alley, saw fourteen entrants from three Counties-Kerry, Cork and
Waterford battle it out for supremacy in two grades. The competition was
divided into two sections-Cup and Plate. The honours in the Cup competition
went to the all Waterford pairing of Philip Butler/Darragh O Connell; while
the plate section saw the Cork duo of Shane Hedigan/Paul Kerins take top
spot. This tournament which
is now in its twentieth year saw Grades paired off in an Open Doubles format.
Two sections of three teams each played off a round robin format to arrive
at the cup semi finals, with the third placed team and the beaten semi
finalists dropping to the plate competition.
The
pick of the first round games was the Donnacha O Dea [Cork]/Cian Counihan
[Kerry] clash with the eventual winners Philip Butler/Daragh O Connell-the
latter just edged proceedings 19-18. The cup semi finals saw an all Waterford
clash with Butler/O Connell finishing all square with David Walsh/Colm
Kindregan after normal time, a tie break to five aces saw Butler/Walsh
take it by three marks. The second semi turned up a brother v brother-father
v son showdown, with Cian Counihan/Donnacha O Dea coming out on top against
Clive Counihan/Mick O Dea. The Cup Final was an absolute cracker; the Butler/O
Connell v Counihan/O Dea clash took three games to separate the pairs,
with the Decie boys taking the tie break 11-4
The
Plate semi finals saw Danny Riordan/Dennis Buckley [Ballymac] and Clive
Coiunihan/Donnacha O Dea lose out, to leave the Cork pair of Shane Hedigan/Paul
Kerins battle it out with David Walsh/Colm Kindregan. The Waterford pair
threatened to do the double here, but Hedigan and Kerins took the Plate
title over two very tight games. It turned out to be a great day’s handball
for all concerned-the mix of young and experienced players, will certainly
stand to the players starting out on their careers. Many thanks to the
O Connor family, Ballymac Handball Club, all the players and the referees-Brendan
O Connor, Tom Daly, Danny Riordan, Celsius clothing and Trophy World for
all their help. “Foxy Tom” would have given his seal of approval of events
on the day -a good day for the big court game, in a club where he saw many
local players ply their trade in the 60x30 alley. He was involved in the
building of the 60x30 Court in Ballymac which opened in 1950-for the next
thirty years he was deeply involved in the Club, serving as Secretary and
Chairman for many years and as President of the Club for the later years
of his life.
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| Tom O Connor 60x30 Tournament 2008 Cup R Up From left Cian Counihan [Ballymac] Brendan O Connor [Ballymac] Donnacha O Dea [Ball. | Plate R Up From left Colm Kindregan Waterfod, Brendan O Connor, Ballymac David Walsh, Waterford |
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| Tom O Connor 60x30 Tournament 2008 Plate Winners from left Paul Kerins [Cork] Brendan O Connor [Ballymac] Shane Hedigan [Cork]. | Tom O Connor 60x30 Tournament 2008 Cup Winners from left Darragh O Connell [Waterford] Brendan O Connor [Ballymac] Philip Butle |
Results:
Tom O Connor 60x30 Tournament:
Cup Final: Philip Butler/Daragh O Connell dft Donnacha O Dea/Cian Counihan 15-13, 8-15, 11-4
Plate Final: Shane Hedigan/Paul Kerins dftd David Walsh/Colm Kindregan 15-9, 15-10