TEAM OF THE YEAR FINALIST: Mullingar handball Féile team

Westmeath Examiner Community & Sports Awards

On April 22, 2024, the Mullingar Handball Féile team did their club proud when they took home the gold in both the boys and girls All-Ireland Titles with Enrico Patrizi also winning the All-Ireland Féile Skills competition. The team was made up of the following players: Alanna Staunton, Gráinne Heap, Caoimhe Heaney, Mary Kate Gilbert, Enrico Patrizi, Darragh Hannon, Connor Mathews, Tito-Roberto Patrizi and Adam Hannon.

This is no ordinary success story with Mullingar not being your typical ‘wallball’ club, coupled with the fact that four of the nine team members are part of the Mullingar All Stars initiative (for children with autism). This is a team full of diversity and inclusion at its core and despite the differences the team members were treated the same by their neurotypical peers and all players gelled so seamlessly together.

While our All-Star players are to be commended for their part on the team and congratulated for every small individual goal it took for them to compete on the team, their neurotypical teammates should also be commended. They were never embarrassed or upset by the team mate’s mannerisms or meltdowns, but treated them with the same dignity and respect as any other team member with each of them really care of each other.

The dedication of their training really paid off with their innate understanding of each other on the day that words weren’t needed. They each knew what a teammate needed whether it be a smile, a high five, a stare or a little space and they supported each other the whole way through, point by point.

The team impressed their coaches, Fiona Staunton, Aoife McCarthy and Robbie McCarthy, with their performances throughout the day only getting stronger against teams such as Naomh Eanna, Kilglass 1 and Kilglass 2, as well as Annaduff and Abbeylara throughout the day to defeat Annaduff and Abbeylara in their respective finals.

With GAA Handball celebrating its centenary year and the Mullingar Handball Club approaching its 70th Anniversary in July, the well-known Robbie McCarthy Snr had to just sit for a moment after that final point as he soaked it all in and with a gentle tear of joy just glistening from his eye as he high-fived the youngsters of our first ever Wallball Féile team who brought home the club’s first ever All -Ireland Féile title. What’s even better is that they also arrived home with memories of a great weekend and a lot of new friendships within the National handball community that we are positive will last a lifetime.

Congratulations to the players and the team coaches on their achievements.

Mol an óige agus tiocfaidh sí.