After the recent sadness regards the sudden passing of Ducksy Walsh, the handballers of Kilkenny have returned to the courts this week. In the provincial finals there has been a number of local successes, with the Clogh club leading the way.
In the Intermediate grade, William Love captured the Singles and, with his brother Daniel, the Doubles crowns when defeating Meath opposition. In the Minor championship, Shane Dunne had an exciting 21-16, 21-13 victory over Shane Kavanagh from Wexford.
This was a sweet win for the Clogh player as the he and Dion Bourke had lost the Doubles final to Wexford the previous week.
Not to be outdone the Ladies Handballers from Kilkenny have had a number of successes in the Leinster championships. In Intermediate Singles, Rachel Hogan from Kilfane defeated Niamh Dunne (Laois) to claim the title, Ciara Mahon (Clogh) beat the same Laois player when adding the Senior Singles crown to her growing collection of titles, while in the Ladies Junior B Doubles, Cora Delaney and Aoife Walsh came up short when losing to Dublin in the provincial decider.
Notes
The death has occurred of Pat O’Keeffe, Mullinavat. Pat represented his club and County with distinction over many years in the courts of Ireland and was well known throughout the country. A top class player, he was All Ireland champion in many grades, particularly in the 40 x 20 Masters grades, and a World Champion winner on two occasions. A wonderful supporter of handball he took great pride in following the successes of all Kilkenny players.
