Golden Gloves success for McCarthy
Mullingar Handball club notes
Robbie McCarthy stormed his way through the competition at the weekend's Golden Gloves ranking handball event to open his 40x20 season on a high.
Robbie, the Men’s Open number one seed was on a mission to retain the Golden Gloves title, facing off with his world doubles partner, Diarmaid Nash in the final.
Robbie commenced play on Saturday defeating Tadhg O’Neill 15-2, 15-1, in his opener, before defeating Michael Hedigan 15-2, 15-1.
It was Kilkenny’s Peter Funchion that came out the other side to meet Robbie in the semi-finals on Sunday.
It was a thrilling game to watch, with lengthy rallies and some great kills as the players displayed the fitness levels of the elite.
Robbie overcame Funchion in the semi-final 15-14, 15-6 to meet Nash of Clare in the final.
The final was full of action and while Robbie eased his way through game one with a 15-5 win, Diarmaid did not give up, keeping it tight the whole way through game two.
There was no edging away with both players serving for the game and Robbie just taking it 15-14 with a fabulous dump kill shot down to the right corner!
Massive congratulations to Robbie on a great opener to his 40x20 season!
European Tour
This month the club had three representatives compete on the European One Wall tour at the Belgium stop. Ireland’s number one female on the tour, Aoife McCarthy was sailing through to the semi-finals only to sustain an injury and bow out of the competition.
Just one week after winning the Leinster 60x30 blitz with his doubles partner Conor Matthews, our U13’s player Enrico Patrizi travelled to his first European stop competing in the men’s introductory grade.
Enrico played three fantastic matches competing in the men’s division and only bowing out on a 21-20 scoreline against home opponent Thomas Delsipee. Seeking out some more action, Enrico then paired up with UK’s Sahil Shah to compete in the men’s Junior B doubles event.
It didn’t go their way as they narrowly missed out to Italy to progress past the Group stage.
Mullingar handball club also had Robbie Snr. in action.
He paired up with Ireland’s Sean Nolan to compete in the men’s over 40 as there was no over 60s grade.
The pair left no stone unturned and sailed through the competition, tasting victory in the final to take home the gold.
Congratulations to all our players: making it to the European tour is a massive achievement but to come home with some great performances and a gold medal is just fantastic. Their next stop to attend on the tour is the UK in February.