David Walsh scored a big upset win over Robbie McCarthy in the quarter-finals of the oneills.com World Handball Championships.
Mallow man David Walsh produced the biggest upset in years in elite level handball as he stunned Team Ireland captain Robbie McCarthy to power into the semi-finals of the oneills.com World Handball Championships.
Walsh dropped the first game 15-8 but came storming back to win the second by the same score and after opening an 8-2 lead in the tiebreaker, fell behind only to turn it around for an 11-9 win.
He will take on Clareman Diarmaid Nash, who beat Boston-based Cork native Killian Carroll 15-1, 8-15, 11-8 in an epic encounter.
“I’m over the moon with it, it was 8-2 in the tiebreaker, he brought it back to 8-all. I knew there was going to be more in him,” Walsh said.
“He hit three or four ace serves down the right but I just had in my head that I wasn’t going away. I had played so well for the majority of the game, I wasn’t going leaving it behind me.
“I just stayed as composed as I could and tried to finish it out. I knew I had it in me to burst three points (when McCarthy got ahead at 9-8) so I am delighted.
“It’s no secret that I have trained with Robbie over the last number of years and I think that definitely helped in there. My anticipation was good on his shots, that was definitely a big factor.”
Walsh dropped the first game but always felt he was well in contention, he said.
“I was happy enough with how I was playing, I still think I played well even though I lost it 15-8, it was just stupid hand errors and mistakes.
“And I knew if I could them out and kept the pressure on, my fitness was there, I knew I could last the whole length of the game and I saw that he was making errors so I wanted to capitalise on that and keep the pressure on as much as I could. It got me over the line in the end anyway.”
Walsh faces Nash in the semi-final on Saturday.
“Diarmaid is playing unbelievable stuff, I thought he was unreal against Ray Ure as well yesterday and again today obviously, beating Killian, he was unreal. I’ll have to be at 120% again on Saturday.
“I can rest up tomorrow (Friday) and go again Saturday and give it my all and we’ll see what happens.”
Martin Mulkerrins of Moycullen, Galway, in action in the Open Men's quarter final during day six of the O'Neills.com World 4-Wall Championships at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile.
Meanwhile, number one seed Martin Mulkerrins was in awesome form as he dispatched Kilkenny’s Peter Funchion, who had upset top Mexican Daniel Cordova on Wednesday, 15-8, 15-0. The Moycullen right-hander will face five-time world champion Paul Brady of Cavan in Saturday’s semi-final after the former Breffni footballer defeated Daniel Relihan 15-5, 15-6.
In the Ladies Open Singles, Galway’s Niamh Heffernan produced a shock when she defeated Tyrone star Eilise McCrory (15-4, 15-8).
Elsewhere in the Ladies Open, Galway’s Ciana Ní Churraoin ran out an easy straight-games winner over American Mikaila Esser, with Team Ireland captain Fiona Tully defeating Mollie Dagg 15-5, 15-6 and Martina McMahon of Limerick an impressive 15-8, 15-1 victor over New York’s Danielle Daskalakis.
“The earlier rounds are about getting through them, the business end starts now from this point. I feel good, there is no stiffness, I feel fresh enough. I now have 48 hours until I play again on Saturday,” Brady said.
“It’s all business now at this point, you can’t let up. You’ve got to be at your best from now on. A lot of those lads have come of age, they’re all at their peaks. They’re 31, 28… Plus they’ve started to win a lot more tournaments that I haven’t been playing in in the last five or six years actively so they are a lot more confident.
“I’ve got to rewind the clock and hit the levels I was hitting 10 years ago, that’s just the way it is at this point.”
Mulkerrins, meanwhile, was glad to have calibrated his game in a doubles match alongside partner Killian Carroll on Wednesday evening which allowed him more practice on the tricky exhibition court at Croke Park.
“You don’t want too much court time obviously but I was glad we got a doubles game yesterday, it was another opportunity to play on the glass court. It gave a bit of extra time to tidy up a few things and it all came together there this morning,” he said.
“When I started playing handball, Paul was the guy and he’s obviously still there, he’s that good. It’s a dream for me to be here, this is where I want to be and what I have been preparing for. To be in Croke Park in handball’s centenary year, with a sell-out crowd, playing Paul Brady, it’s a fantastic occasion, great for the sport and I’m really looking forward to it.”
In the Men’s Open Doubles quarter-finals, Mulkerrins and Carroll take on Americans Sam Esser and Braulio Ruiz tomorrow, with McCarthy and Joe McCann facing the Canada-USA pairing of Ivan Burgos and Ray Ure.
In a battle of the brothers’, Patrick and Peter Funchion meet Luis and Daniel Cordova while Nash and Colin Crehan are up against Abraham Montijo and Leo Canales.