O'Neill's All-Ireland Senior Singles down to last eight

13 February 2023 - 11:18AM

Defending All-Ireland Senior Singles Handball champion, Diarmaid Nash.

By Paul Fitzpatrick

And then there were eight. After a busy weekend of action, the O’Neill’s All-Ireland Senior Singles race is down to the quarter-finals, with six counties represented.

While defending champion Diarmaid Nash and four-time winner Robbie McCarthy are still in the mix, as is former Irish Nationals top dog Colin Crehan, there are also a couple of new faces in the hunt, namely Cork’s Michael Hedigan and Tyrone’s Conor McElduff.

Completing the line-up are Kerry veteran Dominic Lynch and Kilkenny brothers Patrick and Peter Funchion.

Hedigan emerged victorious on a wafer-thin margin, coming from 10-8 down in a tiebreaker to squeeze past fellow Cork man Brendan Fleming in Mallow, having dropped the opening game. The Liscarroll clubman was delighted to find his groove again after a disappointing outing at his home event on the third weekend in January.

“Before the Southern Classic I was playing great stuff but I played very poorly that weekend. I had to knuckle down after that, I trained very hard and I expected a very tough game against Fleming, it’s always close between us,” Hedigan said.

Next up for the Corkman is a crack at last year’s winner Nash in the quarter-final on February 25.

“I’ll take a rest now for two or three days and then go hard at it again. I played Nash in the Golden Gloves last November. The first game, he beat me 15-6, I didn’t get going. In the second game he was up 7-0, I led 11-7 after that but fitness kicked in and he was a small bit smarter than me.

“In fairness, Diarmaid has been there and done that, he’s a very smart player. I’d want to be playing very well to beat him but I will train hard and hopefully things will click on the day.

“He’s a tough player to come up against, he’s very smart and I’ll have to keep him away from the front of the court if I can. He’s very good on the fly. I’ve played him two or three times and I know what to expect from him, you have to earn every ace to be honest.

“I met him just before Covid in the Senior Championship. He beat me well in the first and then he beat me 21-16 in the second. But I think I’m after maturing, I’m only 27 and I haven’t played a lot of these top boys that much before. I’ll go in and have a cut off him and that’s all I can do, he’s the defending champion and the best player in Ireland you could say.”

Westmeath handballer, Robbie McCarthy.

Nash, for his part, cruised to a 21-1, 21-1 win over Galway's Cian Ó Conghaile, with McCarthy also moving ominously well as he turned back Diarmuid Mulkerrins (21-4, 21-2).

Tyrone’s wallball ace Conor McElduff, in his first championship foray at senior level in the 40x20 code, had an eye-catching 21-16, 7-21, 11-5 win over the in-form Daniel Relihan, who had reached the final of the inaugural Southern Classic recently, taking the scalp of Nash in the process.

“Happy enough with the game, it’s the first time I’ve played championship since I won the Intermediate in 2016. This is actually my first time to play Senior Championship in the 40x20 so I’m happy to get the win, especially since Daniel was coming off reaching the final at the last tournament,” McElduff said.

“I don’t think I have hit my best form yet, I am still getting acclimatised to the four-wall code. There are a lot of things I can improve on. I want to try and give these boys a run for their money. I think I can be among the top in the four-wall code as well so I’ll be flat out training now before the quarters.

“Yeah, I’m happy enough with the win but the performance can be greatly improved. I’m doing too much paddling, too much chipping it up with the left hand, you shouldn’t be hitting that shot in four-wall. But hopefully I’ll iron out those creases soon and hopefully give this championship a good run.”

Kerryman Dominic Lynch again showed his class as he came through a tiebreaker against Tadhg Carroll of Cork, with Colin Crehan dropping the first game but recovering to squeeze past Wicklow’s Michael Gregan.

“I was serving well and I was killing well but I took my eye off the game a small bit in the second game. Now, he played well, he killed a lot from behind me, I was expecting him to go to the roof or three-wall and he killed a lot,” Lynch explained.

“I took my eye off it a small bit and you can’t do that at that level. In the tiebreaker I knew I had to really go for it and I served well, that was probably the difference. I got a few lucky breaks and everything just fell into place in the tiebreaker.

“I felt strong and fit and that was the main thing really.”

Earlier this week, Kilkenny’s Patrick Funchion defeated Gavin Buggy of Wexford, also in a tiebreaker, with Funchion’s brother Peter advancing via walkover against Tipperary’s Ger Coonan.

O’Neill’s All-Ireland Senior Singles Round of 16

Kilkenny (Patrick Funchion) dft Wexford (Gavin Buggy), 21-16, 9-21, 11-4

Tyrone (Conor McElduff) dft Cork (Daniel Relihan) 21-16, 7-21, 11-5

Clare (Diarmaid Nash) dft Galway (Cian Ó Conghaile) 21-1, 21-1

Westmeath (Robbie McCarthy) dft Galway (Diarmuid Mulkerrins) 21-4, 21-2

Cork (Michael Hedigan) dft Cork (Brendan Fleming) 8-21, 21-8, 11-10

Kerry (Dominic Lynch) dft Cork (Tadhg Carroll) 21-10, 15-21, 11-1

Clare (Colin Crehan) dft Wicklow (Michael Gregan) 11-21, 21-6, 11-8

O’Neill’s All-Ireland Ladies Senior/Intermediate Singles

Tipperary (Sinead Meagher) dft Galway (Aishling Mullin) 21-1, 21-5

Kildare (Mollie Dagg) W/O Kilkenny (Noelle Dowling) Scr.

Galway (Niamh Heffernan) dft Wicklow (Patricia Byrne) 21-15, 21-9