Landmark title wins for Loughmacrory handballers

Loughmacrory GAA handball club has ended the 40×20 season in spectacular style with two landmark title wins inside a week.

Last Saturday in Roscommon, their U15 boys feile team captured the All Ireland division one feile title with a series of thrilling performances, six days after Laura Duff had brought the All Ireland minor singles championship title back to the club with an impressive triumph in Croke Park.

Laura became only the second Loughmacrory player after Mairead Fox to lift the prestigious Julie Long Cup following a smooth 21-6, 21-13 victory over Roscommon’s Shauna Corrigan, crowning a memorable season in which she’s claimed the premier underage title in girls handball with another year to come at under 18.

She had earlier defeated high quality opponents such as fellow Tyrone star Caislin Treacy and Kilkenny’s Katie Jordan on her way to the showpiece and she finished the job off in fabulous style in the glass showcourt at the national handball centre.

This is Laura’s 12th major national title at the age of 16 and it maintains her phenomenal progress in the sport since the beginning of 2022 when competitive handball resumed fully after covid.

The Loughmacrory boys feile team were hoping to pull off a similar coup when they headed to Roscommon on Saturday morning and they achieved their objective of winning the elite title in feile with a fabulous team effort against opponents from Cork, Galway and Kilkenny, before securing the cup in an all Tyrone final against neighbours Carrickmore.

Owen Kelly and Michéal McCrystal enhanced their growing reputations as they emerged from the event as one of the finest doubles teams on display throughout the day, while Damhán Meenagh and team captain Ciaran McCrystal gelled wonderfully and produced some great displays to finish the job off each time.

Eolann Kelly, unbeaten in U13 championship handball all season, was the talented young sub for Loughmacrory.

After coming through a really tough group which included crack Cork outfit Liscarrol and a Bertie Donohue inspired Inis Mor side, the Lough lads had to face title favourites Kells in the semi final.

Owen and Michéal produced a stunning finish to the opening doubles encounter with Kells as they hit eleven points without reply to turn a 14-7 deficit into a four point win, setting things up nicely for Ciaran and Damhán to complete a 28-24 aggregate victory against the number one Kilkenny pairing.

And so the All Ireland division one feile final was set to be an all Tyrone affair for the first time in history and remarkably both teams had four representatives from Dean Maguirc College in their ranks.

Michéal and Owen continued on from where they had left off in previous rounds as they came from behind against All Ireland U15 singles champion Sean Donnelly and his partner Rory Daly to clinch a vital 12-8 win inside the 15 minutes.

Ciaran and Damhán then produced some terrific handball to go into a five point lead (11-6) in second game against Aaron McElhone and Niall Morris but the Carrickmore lads staged an exciting revival to take a one point lead (12-11) before the Lough lads delivered two more aces to guarantee the All Ireland title on an overall scoreline of 25-20.

The final was a credit to both teams from the same parish and, as well as serving up excellent quality handball, it was played in a great spirit from start to finish.

It was fitting that Ciaran McCrystal was the player to receive the All Ireland Feile Cup from GAA Handball president Conor McDonnell afterwards as it was just reward for his outststanding efforts on the court over the last couple of seasons.

His other four teammates will be eligible again for feile next year so will fancy their chances of retaining the title.

As a club Loughmacrory has now lifted a total of seven division one feile titles, including five boys titles (four 40×20 and one 60×30) and two girls titles (60×30 and 40×20). Five of those have been recorded since 2019 which is a remarkable feat.

Apart from the Loughmacrory division one feile success last weekend in Connacht, there was also notable triumphs for Greencastle and Pomeroy in boys division 2 and division 4 and Tyrone were strongly represented across all divisions with a total of 85 teams taking part from all over the country.