Tyrone’s Emer Kerr and Elizabeth McGarvey have qualified for the All-Ireland 60×30 juvenile handball finals following their semi-final victory over Kilkenny in Loughmacrory yesterday. The Breacach pair won the opening game of their under-14 doubles semi-final impressively on a scoreline of 15-4, and despite falling 14-10 behind in the second game they didn’t panic and registered five unanswered points to clinch their place in the decider against Limerick on Halloween weekend.
Tyrone players featured in seven All-Ireland juvenile semi-finals in total and were unlucky not to earn further reward for their efforts against the Leinster champions.
The match of the day was undoubtedly the under-14 singles encounter involving Tyrone’s Lorcan McBride and Kilkenny’s Jack Holden, and after a fantastic duel, which saw Lorcan take the second game 15-10 after losing the opener 15-11, it was the young Kilkenny player who advanced to the All-Ireland final. Lorcan, who secured the 40×20 All-Ireland title earlier this year, can be proud of his superb contribution to a high quality match.
Turlough Clarke and Antoin Fox also went very close in their under-16 doubles semi-final against Wexford, the Tyrone pair finishing both games very strongly after recovering from a slow start each time. They eventually bowed out on a scoreline of 21-18, 21-19 and could count themselves a little unlucky in the end.
Caitlin Conway (U14), Ciara Mullin (U15) and Michaela McCartan (U16) all suffered singles semi-final defeats against strong opponents, with Michaela brilliantly winning her opening game against Kildare’s Mollie Dagg before eventually succumbing in the tiebreaker. Caitlin started slowly in her encounter with Leah Doyle but really put it up to the talented Kildare player in the second game before bowing out.
Pauric Mullin was Tyrone’s final representative on a big day of handball and the Carrickmore player was involved in a great battle with Kildare’s Kevin Diggins until a nasty arm injury unfortunately ended his participation in the second game.
ALL-IRELAND JUVENILE SEMI-FINAL RESULTS…
BU16D Wexford (Anthony Butler/Patrick Boland) dft Tyrone (Turlough Clarke/Antoin Fox) 21-18, 21-19
GU14S Kildare (Leah Doyle) dft Tyrone (Caitlin Conway) 15-4, 15-11
GU14D Tyrone (Emer Kerr/Elizabeth McGarvey) dft Kilkenny (Noelle Dowling/Roisin O’Keeffe) 15-4, 15-14
BU14S Kilkenny (Jack Holden) dft Tyrone (Lorcan McBride) 15-11, 10-15, 15-11
GU15S Kilkenny (Dearbhail O’Keeffe) dft Tyrone (Ciara Mullin) 15-7, 15-10
GU16S Kildare (Mollie Dagg) dft Tyrone (Michaela McCartan) 20-21, 21-10, 11-0
BU17S Kildare (Kevin Diggins) dft Tyrone (Pauric Mullan) 21-15, 14-11 (retired injured)
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