Sandy O'Callaghan, Galway, and Aidan McNulty, Mayo, in action during the oneills.com World Wallball Championships at UL Sport Arena. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
By Paul Fitzpatrick
The stage is set for the last four of the Open Singles in the Men's and Ladies grades at the oneills.com World Wallball Championships following a dramatic day of action yesterday at UL.
In the Men's Open Singles, Irish hopes rest on number one seed Conor McElduff, who takes on American Nazir Marston in today's semi-final.
McElduff has eased his way into the tournament so far but will need to be on his game today against 'Nasty Naz', who was in eye-catching form yesterday.
The other semi-final will be contested by top Americans Tywan Cook and Timothy Gonzalez.
The women's Open Singles will definitely be staying in Ireland as the semi-final line-up features Martina McMahon, Eilise McCrory, Fiona Tully and Caliosa Ní Dhúill.
The big name missing is the dominant female player in the world in recent years, Catriona Casey, who exited the championships in heartbreaking fashion on an injury default yesterday.
It was an eventful day at the oneills.com World Wallball Championships as Irish number one Catriona Casey crashed out of the tournament on an injury default.
Casey opened the event with a comfortable win over USA’s Nancy Dong but, with her quarter-final against Armagh’s Ní Dhúill finely poised, Casey went down with what looked a serious knee injury.
After taking a 15-minute injury time-out, Casey returned to the court but was forced to concede after a single rally and exited the arena in some distress.
“Catriona went down injured and was immediately treated by the medics. She tried to continue but unfortunately was unable to do so. It’s bitterly disappointing obviously, our heart goes out to Catriona who is the ladies captain of our team,” stated Team Ireland coach Dan McVicker.
Elsewhere in the Ladies Open, there were wins for Martina McMahon (Limerick) and Eilise McCrory (Tyrone), while former Roscommon footballer Fiona Tully came through in a tiebreaker against Westmeath’s Aoife McCarthy.
“In the tiebreaker, I got a little bit of momentum going and I said, ‘I’m not going to leave this behind’,” Tully said.
In the Men's quarter-finals, Tyrone man McElduff dispatched American Vlad Klym in straight games.
Having seen off Palestinian Mohamad Mansi in his opening match, McElduff came through with the minimum of fuss to advance to the last four
New Yorker Cook, who survived a scare against Sligoman Cormac Finn in the round of 16, was back to his brilliant best in defeating Julio Carlos (21-16, 21-12) while Gonzalez, another of the leading Americans, used his power to great effect as he saw off the Basque Lur Ziarrusta (21-11, 21-16).
“There is some pressure but it’s something that I look forward to,” said Gonzalez. “I like to look pressure right in the eyes and get out there and accomplish my goals.”
Arguably the most impressive performer of the day was Marston, who turned in a sensational display to oust England’s Luke Thomson (21-20, 21-9) and mark himself out as a live contender.
The Open semis serve off at 3pm and will be streamed live on the Sport TG4 YouTube channel.