All-Ireland Senior Softball Doubles Championship continues
Meath's Gary McConnell in action. Photo by Stephen Marken
By Paul Fitzpatrick
Defending champions Meath are safely through to the final of the All-Ireland Senior Softball Doubles Championship, where they will face Westmeath this Saturday at the National Handball Centre, Croke Park.
The Royals’ Gary McConnell and Brian Carroll defeated former finalists Martin and Diarmuid Mulkerrins of Galway 21-8, 20-21, 11-2 while Westmeath’s Robbie McCarthy and Colm Jordan ran out 21-12, 21-12 victors against last year’s runners-up Eoin Kennedy and Carl Browne from Dublin.
Meath came into their match full of confidence following an impressive 21-8, 21-7 quarter-final win against Wexford pair Gavin Buggy and Mark Doyle in Saturday’s quarter-final and they started brightly in the semi.
With McConnell in dominant form on the left, they led 12-3 and 19-4. Martin Mulkerrins switched to the right side on serve in an attempt to mix things up and the Tribesmen clawed it back to 8-19 but Meath closed out the first.
The Kells pair seemed to be comfortable in game two when they opened an early 7-4 lead; Galway overhauled them to go 13-9 in front but Meath edged ahead again and were leading 20-16.
However, the Moycullen pair survived some long, energy-sapping rallies to tie the game at 20-20 and a tricky lob serve from Diarmuid Mulkerrins deceived McConnell for the winner.
Meath, however, drew on their experience in the tiebreaker race to 11 and were more clinical in the front court as they closed it out 11-2 to make yet another senior decider.
Lying in wait are Westmeath, who delivered a superb performance to take down the Dubs. McCarthy in particular was in scintillating form on the left as he took most of the play and controlled proceedings, covering the court effortlessly and finding his range on kills while Jordan, a native of Fermoy in Co Cork and a former Intermediate Singles champion himself, held the short line to good effect and served well.
The early going was tight; Westmeath threatened to pull away but Dublin, with Kennedy going well, stayed with them. However, they couldn’t get their noses in front and Westmeath accelerated from 12-10 to win 21-12.
Game two followed a slightly different pattern as Dublin fell 4-0 behind before reeling off nine successive points. However, Westmeath caught them at 12 and again surged clear to win with a bit to spare.
Meanwhile, 4-Wall champions Ciana Ní Churaoin and Niamh Heffernan of Galway qualified for their first All-Ireland Senior Ladies Softball Doubles decider with a very impressive win over the Westmeath-Wexford partnership of Jodie Keeling and Aoife McCarthy.
The Tribeswomen were in awesome form in the first as they ran out 21-0 winners but the second game was tighter. The teams were level at 10 before Galway pushed on to win it from there, 21-10.
They will face the formidable Martina McMahon and partner Aisling Shanahan in the final after the Treaty ladies saw off Kilkenny duo of Amy Brennan and Aoife Holden on a 21-10, 21-5 scoreline.
Lefty McMahon, the world wallball champion and former Senior Softball Singles winner, who recently claimed the Irish Nationals crown in Wexford, was in imperious form, shooting the lights out from all angles as Limerick advanced to what will be an intriguing final this Saturday.
Watch the semi-finals back here: