Diarmaid Nash pictured after winning the All-Ireland Senior Singles Handball title in 2022.
By Paul Fitzpatrick
March 19th, 2022 is a date Diarmaid Nash will never forget. After a dozen years giving everything he had in pursuit of the All-Ireland Senior Singles title, he finally got over the line, seeing off Robbie McCarthy in a tense tiebreaker.
Fast forward 11 months and Nash finds himself back in the quarter-finals this weekend and, he insists, while his game hasn’t been where he would have liked of late, his motivation is as high as ever.
“My form has been brutal the last two tournaments,” Nash (32) said frankly.
“I was in New Orleans, didn’t play well at all, and the same in the Southern Classic down in Cork, didn’t play well there either.
“I’ve had four weeks since that, I think I’m playing a bit better now hopefully. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to play well for a full season, it makes what (Paul) Brady used to do even more impressive.
“I find it incredibly difficult to peak for that length of time but if you can kind of time it that you’re starting to play really well around now, you’re in with a really good shout.
“It’s a bit like golf. You might have guys who get to number one in the world or whatever but, in the Majors, someone can get hot for four days and win it and that’s the pinnacle.
“I feel confident, I’m looking forward to this weekend, I feel I’m playing better but until you get in there, it’s hard to know.”
A Senior Singles victory – Clare’s first since the great Pat Kirby in 1980 – is a defining achievement in most careers but Nash hopes it won’t be a standalone success. This weekend he will face Cork’s first-time quarter-finalist Michael Hedigan; should he come through, Tyrone’s Conor McElduff awaits (Dominic Lynch of Kerry, due to face McElduff, has withdrawn due to injury).
Defending All-Ireland Senior Singles Handball champion, Diarmaid Nash.
Playing quarters and semis over one weekend condenses a lot of the action and while it’s challenging if a player is a bit off, Nash is a fan of the system.
“If things aren’t going well you’re screwed because you don’t have time to fix it whereas previously you had time. For example, I didn’t play great last year in the round of 16 against (Gavin) Buggy.
“I got over it but just about, there was a good chance I could have been beaten, it was a tight game. The pressure was on then but I had a weekend before the next two games and it gave me time to go on my own into the court and sharpen up a few things. Come the quarter-final, I thought I was starting to play quite well and then in the semi-final I played really well against Martin.
“That worked in my favour but if you’re not on it on the Saturday you could be beaten. Or, even if you were to get through, you haven’t enough time to sharpen up again ahead of the Sunday.
“I still like it. Handballers are used to these tournaments. Previously it used to be three games to 21 and even if you were playing someone who wasn’t brilliant if it went to a third game it was definitely over two hours in the court.
“It’s more like a tournament structure, I think a lot of players are used to it. I quite like it personally, I think it suits me. I feel like if I can get through one day, the physical toll of the games doesn’t really affect me too much and I’ll play better the next day.”
Diarmaid Nash in action during his match against Caolon Daly in their Men's Under 23 Final at the 2012 World Handball Championships in Citywest Hotel & Conference Centre, Saggart, Co. Dublin.
In ways, the Tuamgraney man was an overnight success over a decade in the making. After striving towards his goal for so long, losing finals along the way, getting his hands on the cup represented validation as much as elation. A year on, he says he is hungry to do it again.
“When you think about Paul, it’s nearly sick how much he won, to keep that level of focus and discipline for that length of time. Last year was unbelievable, the Senior Singles was the thing I wanted to win the most by a mile.
“I’m so happy to have won the US Nationals as well, for an Irish handballer it’s probably a bigger deal because there’s only three Irish players who have ever done it but for me personally, the championship was more important – it meant more to me, it meant more to my family. I was just so relieved almost to win the bloody thing.
“This year, there’s two ways it can go. You can be happy with your lot or you can try to win a couple of them. I know my form hasn’t indicated it but I think I’m going to give this championship a right go. What I don’t want to do is be a flash in the pan, a one-year wonder kind of thing. But I’m very conscious that the championship is insanely hard won, guys don’t tend to win it year on year.
“Robbie won one, Charly won one, Martin won one, Robbie won again, then we had no championship for two years and then I won one. It hasn’t been retained for six or eight years. That is motivating to me.
“I have no real responsibilities at the moment, I have no kids or anything, so I’d absolutely love to win another one. I feel like I’m as motivated as ever and I’ve trained hard so it’s about putting it together.”