Charlie Shanks wins National One Wall Championship
Charlie Shanks wins National One Wall Championship
01/07/2009
Clann Eireann leaves mark in Mayo
Five of Clann Eireann's top handballers travelled the long road to Castlebar, Co Mayo last weekend to take part in the GAA Handball National One Wall competition held in the Breaffy House Hotel & Sports Resort. With a list of 255 competitiors in the various grades, this was the biggest ever all Ireland one wall competition - and promised to be the most competitive.
With this being the first time trying out in one wall competition for four of the five Clann Eireann men, you would have been excused for thinking there would be little in the way of victories coming the Lake Street way..... but that type of thinking was soon to change.
Ciaran McMahon played first in the highly competitive Mens C competition and battled hard with some power serves, only to be defeated in his second match by a single point. An impressive start for Ciaran, and he'll be expected to go further next time round.
Colum Shanks entered the beginner/Challenger grade, and although dissapointingly beaten in his first match, he pulled himself together to win his next three matches to become the winner of the Plate competition. An impressive achievement considering his tender years, as well as his inexperience at playing at this level.
Collie Carville (also playing in the Mens C division) played some of the best handball seen over the weekend, against top grade players who had done it all before. In his second round match Collie comprehensively defeated the No 1 seed from Tyrone - a result that raised the interest of the spectators/pundits, and that took him to the semi-final. Unfortunately luck turned against the Clann Eireann man, as he was beaten in this hard fought game by the narrowest of margins - one point away from the final! Collie has left his mark in this division however, and it would be a brave man who would bet against him going further next year.
Up then came the Club Chairman, Conor McMahon, also taking part for the first time in the Masters section of the competition. This is also an extremely competitive section, with many of the more wily characters of handball ready to teach any "young" upstarts a lesson. But, in this case, the student had become the teacher - and McMahon dispatched his first opponent with what is likely to have been the biggest margin in the competition 43 - 3! It wasn't quite so easy when he reached the semi-final, but an extremely hard fought contest ended in an unexpected place in the final for Clann Eireann. In the final, Conor dominated his opponent with a display of spin and power serves to the experienced Dublin opponent, who could only muster a total of 6 points over the two matches. Conor became the National One Wall Masters champion on a scoreline of 15-3, 15-3.
This left the one Clann Eireann man with some experience and success in one wall competition; Charly Shanks - the most successful handballer ever to come out of Armagh. Charly had actually won the premier grade event (Mens Open) of this competition two years ago, and was unable to participate last year due to injury. The organisers had therefore made Dessie Keegan (last years runner up) the favourite and number one seed for the competition. This seeding looked increasingly suspect at Shanks tore through all competition in a ferocious exhibition of power spin serving that left his competitors reeling and the audience gasping. The scores for the lead up to the final tell their own story; Rd of 16: P McGlinchy (Tyrone) 43-11; Quarter final: J McCann (Mayo) 43-7; R McCarthy (Westmeath) 33-10. These are not the scorelines that senior players of this level are used to! However, Shanks wasn't content with this and pressed home his complete dominance of the one wall game in Ireland, in the final against one of Irish Handballs most talented and experience exponents, Dessie Keegan (Mayo), who as current 60x30 senior doubles champion (and last years runner up in this competition) was expected (perhaps by those rather less in the know!) to win. Charly, unfortunately for Dessie and his supporters, didn't seem to have read this version of the script and astounded the audience with a blistering display of power spin serving and precision shot placement that left the Mayo man totally demoralised and the, very brief, final ended in a barely believable scoreline of 15-2, 15-0! for the Clann Eireann man.
This victory not only gives (back) the National Mens Open one wall title to Charly, but makes him Captain of the Irish National team that travels to Portalnd, Oregon to play in the Worlds One Wall competiton in October, where countries like USA, Puerto Rico, Holland, Italy, Basque Country, England and Ireland will battle for the World team title.
A great weekend of success for Clann Eireann Handball Club, and a great example for the many youngsters they now have in training - who will wish to emulate the success of their senior players in the near future. You can read more about the competition by going to www.gaahandball.ie or the Clann Eireann site www.clanneireann.net/handball
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