By Paul Fitzpatrick

The O'Neill's All-Ireland 4-Wall Senior Doubles titles found familiar homes as Cork and Clare won the Men’s and Ladies titles respectively in high-quality deciders.

The ladies final was one of the best ever and was decided on a wafer-thin 11-10 margin in a dramatic tiebreaker. Cork’s Catriona Casey and Aishling O’Keeffe have been the pre-eminent doubles team in the sport for the guts of a decade and they claimed their seventh crown with their win over Galway’s first-time finalists Ciana Ní Churaoín and Niamh Heffernan.

The first game was plain sailing for the Rebels as they won 21-7 with the minimum of fuss. The game was relatively tight at 8-5 but Cork were dominating the front court and pulled away for a comfortable win.

But the Tribeswomen were a different team on the restart and with Senior Singles champion Ní Churraoín finding her range and Heffernan excelling in her maiden final, they recovered from an early 5-0 deficit to lead 16-12.

Cork rallied to 16-17 but Galway closed it out to force a ‘breaker and they looked certain winners when they opened a commanding 8-1 lead. However, Cork showed all their experience, with O’Keeffe consistently ending rallies with deft touches in the front court to claw it back and claim the title on an 11-10 scoreline.

“It feels great to come out the right side of it, that’s for sure,” said Casey.

“Things weren’t looking great there in the tiebreaker so I’m just thrilled that we managed to pull it off.

“I thought in the first game we played really well, the second game we started really strong but the girls really cut down on their errors and played a lot more consistently and showed that they really wanted it as well.

“It was a great battle so we’re delighted to get the win in the end.

“One at a time. I wasn’t making a lot off my serve which is disheartening when you get in. You think you have two hands now and, you know, one is gone kind of cheaply a few times so I was a bit disappointed in myself, especially when I served one into the floor.

“If we hadn’t come out the right side that would be something that would haunt me but we all made good shots at times and we all missed at times and that’s the joy of the game I suppose.”

The Men’s final produced an excellent first game as Cork’s first-time finalists Daniel Relihan and Michael Hedigan proved themselves a force to be reckoned with. However, there was no doubting that Claremen Diarmaid Nash and Colin Crehan were the better side on the day as they found their groove in game two and comfortably secured a third Senior Doubles title, in the process affirming their position as the top doubles pairing in the men’s game.

There was no sign of nerves from the Liscarroll duo as they matched the Banner most of the way in game one. While Clare led 16-10 and 18-12, Relihan’s shot-making was impressive, as was Hedigan’s solid right-side play.

They took the lead and surged 19-16 in front but Clare refused to panic. Nash’s speed in the front court was extraordinary as he consistently picked anything that wasn’t rolled out while Crehan, who switched to the left when he was serving, came up with the big shots on the home stretch.

A right-handed Nash kill from deep got Cork out of the service box at 16-19. Crehan took Clare to 18 with a left-handed pass with a big hook on it. A Nash re-kill in the right corner tied it, Crehan paddle-killed in the left corner and then drove one at Relihan and forced a hand error to claim the first game.

After that reprieve, there was always a sense that the two-time winners would come to the fore and that was the case in game two as both men played their best stuff of the season to run out 21-13 victors.

“It’s a great feeling, delighted to get over the line. It was a tough game against the two boys but thankfully we pushed on near the end of the second game and closed it out. Thrilled with our third title now,” stated Crehan, who modestly admitted that he wasn’t entirely happy with his performance in the first game.

“Diarmaid was playing fine, I couldn’t hit a ball. I was probably over-thinking it, I was trying to put spin on it and shanked a few shots but when we got back in at 14-18, the serve came good then and it gave us a bit of confidence to push on.

“If that game had gone the other way, God only knows what would have happened in a tiebreaker to 11 but thankfully our serving came good near the end.”

Winning in the new show court at Croke Park made it all the sweeter, he said.

“Just to say you’re coming to Croke Park... The court is elite, it’s amazing to play in. Just the buzz around today and the weekend, people are really excited about handball again after a bit of a lull and it’s just brilliant to see people enjoying it and getting to play in a top-class facility.”

Crehan and Nash are members of Kilkishen and Tuamgraney Handball Clubs respectively; both Casey and O'Keeffe play out of Ballydesmond HC.

RESULTS

Men's O35B Final: Myles Carroll & Jamie Balfe (Kildare) dft. David O Brien & Niall Quinn (Tipperary) 21-10, 16-21, 11-1

Ladies Minor Final: Emer Barron & Una Duggan (Kilkenny) dft. Hannah Grace & Emma Williams (Tipperary) 21-15, 21-6

Men's Junior B Final: Anthony Crotty & Ned Reilly (Tipperary) dft. Ciaran Cooney & Brendan Hosey (Kilkenny) 17-21, 21-11, 11-2

Men's Minor Final: Noah Minogue & Conor Doyle (Kilkenny) dft. David Considine & Mike Sheedy (Clare) 21-10, 21-9

Men's U21 Final: Kyle Jordan & Conor Holden (Kilkenny) dft. Gearoid Healy & Eoghan Daly (Cork) 21-16, 21-9

Ladies Intermediate Final: Sinead Meagher & Roisin Cahill (Tipperary) dft. Noelle Dowling & Aoife Holden (Kilkenny) 21-4, 21-7

Ladies Junior Final: Caitlin Conway & Elizabeth McGarvey (Tyrone) dft. Cora Doyle & Holly Hynes (Wexford) 21-19, 6-21, 11-7

Men's O35 Final: Michael Gregan & Johnny Willoughby (Wicklow) dft. James Brady & Patrick Clerkin (Cavan) 21-5, 21-13

Men's Intermediate Final: David Walsh & Tadgh O Neill (Cork) dft. Kevin Diggins & Paul Moran (Kildare) 21-20, 21-10

Men's Junior Final: Patrick McCrory & Cahir Munroe (Tyrone) dft. Seamus Conneely & Conor Noone (Galway) 21-18, 21-20

Ladies Senior Final: Catriona Casey & Aishling O Keeffe (Cork) dft. Ciana Ni Churraoin & Niamh Heffernan (Galway) 21-7, 16-21, 11-10

Men's Senior Final: Diarmuid Nash & Colin Crehan (Clare) dft. Daniel Relihan & Michael Hedigan (Cork) 21-19, 21-13