Ciana Ní Churraoin and Niamh Heffernan (Galway), who will represent Ireland in the Ladies Open Doubles.
By Paul Fitzpatrick
After the success of the inaugural oneills.com World Wallball Championships, which attracted almost 900 entries at the University of Limerick in August, GAA Handball is gearing up for another major international event.
The World 4-Wall Championships will take place at Leinster venues from October 26 to November 3 next and boasts another record-breaking entry of over 1,600. Traditionally, the World Championships catered for both the 4-Wall and Wallball codes (formerly known as 40x20 and One-Wall respectively) but due to the growth of Wallball and to mark GAA Handball’s centenary, a decision was made to separate the two.
So far, it has paid off spectacularly, with huge entry numbers and a surge in media coverage reflecting a boom in popularity for handball, one of the GAA’s four pillar codes. As a primarily indoor game, handball was greatly curtailed during the pandemic, with activity extremely limited in 2020 and 2021, but the sport has bounced back spectacularly in the interim.
Head of Handball David Britton, says the two World Championship events are key in bringing together the international community as well as marking a very important milestone.
“The first World Handball Championships took place in New York in 1964 so it’s 60 years since that event and 100 years since handball came under the wing of the GAA,” stated Britton.
“Handball has a very rich history and that’s something we’re very proud of but at the same time, we see ourselves as a modern, vibrant sport and we are experiencing significant growth, particularly among the younger age groups.
“The GAA, as the parent body, have been very supportive and we all recognise that handball offers the potential to grow the association’s footprint outside of Ireland so international competition is very important from that point of view.”
Hosting two massive events within 10 weeks is no mean feat. “After the success of the oneills.com World Wallball Championships in Limerick, we are very excited about bringing the World 4-Wall Championships to Ireland in a month’s time.
“Logistically, it is a major undertaking to host two World Championships in the same year and has never been done before in our sport. The wallball event went really well, with approximately 900 entries from 10 countries and a quarter of a million viewers on the Sport TG4 YouTube and television channels, and rising.
“The 4-Wall event will be challenging in a different way as we are spread across over a dozen venues in Leinster and have over 1,600 entries but preparations are going well and there is a real energy there among staff and volunteers.
“The support of sponsors oneills.com and broadcast partners TG4 has been invaluable and we are very thankful to them for coming on board. In this, our centenary year in GAA Handball, participation rates and other key metrics are soaring and the 4-Wall World Championships is the latest step on our journey.”
Robbie McCarthy in action at the World Handball Championships Doubles trials. McCarthy and Joe McCann (Mayo) will be the official Irish representatives in the Men's Open Doubles.
The official Irish team has been selected from the winners of various national championships as well as official trials competitions, which concluded last weekend and saw Robbie McCarthy (Westmeath) and Joe McCann (Mayo) pair up to earn the right to represent Ireland in the Men’s Open Doubles, with All-Ireland senior champions Ciana Ní Churraoin and Niamh Heffernan the Team Ireland reps in the Ladies Open Doubles.
McCarthy, by virtue of winning the All-Ireland Senior Singles, will be the male captain. Catriona Casey of Cork was the All-Ireland ladies champion but unfortunately misses out through injury, meaning Roscommon’s Fiona Tully, finalist in the All-Ireland, will be the female captain.
There is also an official juvenile squad, consisting of Sean Considine (Clooney Quin, Co. Clare, 15&U), Shea Munroe (Carrickmore, Co. Tyrone, 17&U), Kyle Jordan (Kilfane, Co. Kilkenny, 19&U), Amy Brosnan (Ballydesmond, Co. Cork, 15&U), Caislin Tracey (Greencastle, Co. Tyrone, 17&U), Jodie Keeling (St. Josephs, Co. Wexford, 19&U).
The Americans have a particularly strong squad, with 17 players from the United States entered in the Men’s Open Singles grade alone. The Open, Over 40s and Under 19 grades will take place at the National Handball Centre in Croke Park, with the following venues also being utilised: Tinryland, Garryhill and Borris in Carlow; Culohill and Monavea in Laois; Lisdowney, Galmoy, Clogh, Kilfane, Windgap, Callan, Kells and O’Loughlins in Kilkenny; St Joseph’s, Davidstown and Coolgreany in Wexford; Coolboy in Wicklow; Crinkle in Offaly and Ballymore Eustace in Kildare.
“In the Centenary Year of GAA Handball, it is of huge significance that we have already successfully hosted the biggest standalone Wallball event ever held, but to overwhelmingly surpass those entry numbers with a total of 1675 is totally unbelievable,” stated GAA Handball President Conor McDonnell.
“This is, of course, exciting. The 4-Wall World Championships will need so many volunteers and I know that the GAA Handball family, supported by local communities and friends, will ensure the success of the biggest ever standalone 4-Wall World Championships too.”