An Caisleán Glas shine at the Handball Féile

AN Caisleán Glas Handball Club were delighted with the return at last weekend’s Feile hosted in Tyrone and Monaghan with the very best players representing their clubs from across the country. This year An Caisleàn Glas had entered 3 teams with aspirations of continuing the success from the three previous years.

The Division 1 girls team consisting of Emma Conway (team captain), Mya Molloy, Aimee Fox & Grace Teague topped their group in a round robin of fixtures with some very entertaining matches, to earn their spot in this year’s Féile final against a very strong St Brigid’s Dublin team, Ciara & Lauren O’ Reilly, Sophie Floyd & Aoife Tobin.

The Greencastle girls defeated St Gall’s Antrim, Clogh, Kilkenny & Moycullen, Galway in their group stages to reach this year’s 2025 Division 1 Féile final.

The final was an end-to-end display with fantastic handball and skills being displayed by both teams to produce a showdown final by all. The Greencastle girls had to dig deep to come out on top, winning by a single point to claim this year’s Division 1 Féile title. This is the second time for the girls to win the All-Ireland Division 1 Féile in three years.

Greencastle Division 2 girls’ team was represented by Kailagh Bradley, Anna Mae McElduff, Caela Keenan and Ava Molloy. The girls topped their group with impressive wins over Newport (Mayo) and Clooney (Clare), earning themselves a well-earned spot in the semi-finals where they played a strong Carrickmore side who progressed on to the final. The girls showed great performances and skills throughout the competition, showing great potential for the future of Greencastle handball.

Our division 3 boys team of Conor Molloy, Sean McGlinchey, Anthony Morris, Caolan Meenan, and Fionn Harte travelled to Bawn Co Monaghan, where they contested some excellent matches against Eugene Quinn team, from Armagh and our neighbours Carrickmore, winning 3 of the 4 fixtures qualifying for the semi-finals.

Traveling to Corduff, where the other Division 3 Boys teams had played their initial games, we were pitted against a very strong Clooney team from Co Clare who topped their group. The boys showed great character and resilience to overcome Clooney by fine margins, leading to a rematch with neighbours Carrickmore who overcame Breacach in the other semi-final.

There was no doubt that it was going to be a tough challenge, against their very strong team. The boys had played well up until this, but they knew they had to up the gear and really put everything into every single shot, if they were going to be the winners. The final didn’t disappoint with an excellent exhibition of skill shown on both skills in hotly contested rallies with Greencastle taking the slight edge in both games to claim the title.

A special congratulations to Sean McGlinchey who received the Skills Award, which was a wonderful individual achievement.

This is a fantastic achievement by all the young players who representing their clubs amazingly across the weekend and a special word of thanks to all the coaches who dedicate their time to support the players and to all the host clubs and organisers who made the Féile possible.