The festival activities continued on Saturday afternoon with the much anticipated handball competition between the senior footballers. With bragging rights up for grabs the competition proved to be a big success with a turnout of 10 players who were all keen on getting their hands on the trophy (especially Shane ‘danger’ McKenna).
The games were first to 15 with the winners qualifying for the next round and the final the first competitor to won 2 games would be crowned King of the Court. There was an open draw for each round which left the competition wide open for an upset along the way.
The slog fest turned out as follows:
Preliminary Round:
James Carlin v Ciaran McBride (15-14)
The competition could not have got off to a better start with the closest finish possible. It piped the energetic James Carlin against the oldest person in the competition Jay McBride. The early exchanges were close but McBride seemed to blow the cobwebs of his knee bandage quicker than most expected and raced into a 14-7 lead. With the next two competitors getting ready to grace the alley James produced a storming comeback to defeat the old dog McBride 15-14.
Leo Meenan v Damian Meenan
The open draw matched two of the outside favourites for the competition in the preliminary round with one man going to have an early shower. The tension between the two was immense with both men playing for family pride. The crowd was buzzing with anticipation of a close game but were disappointed as Damian ran out a comfortable winner 15-7. The stewards had to be called for to clear the court as Mary Meenan ran on to the court to embrace her son… that’s twice Mary has done that in the past 2 months!!
Quarter Finals:
Dermott Carlin v Peter O’Kane
Going into the competition Dermott ‘Black Beauty’ Carlin was the dark horse! of the competition due to his All Ireland handball successes with Omagh CBS. Dermott was drawn against the heavier of the twins who was going to have to draw on his endless reserve of experience gained over the past two years playing in the Tyrone Division 6 handball league. O’Kanes cuteness and exceptional ball placement seemed to work as he raced into a 5-0 lead however this was short lived as Mountfields most famous citizen got into the swing of things and eventually won pulling up (That’s another horse reference by the way) on a score-line of 15-10.
Shane ‘Danger’ McKenna v Damian Meenan
This game was one of the most anticipated of the day. It had been marketed on the Sky Sports channel as the David v Goliath game. By the way Shane was David and Damian was Goliath. The early part of the game panned out as many had expected with Damian racing to an 11-0 lead. But Shane with a self confidence that would put
Muhammad Ali to shame dominated the serve and levelled the game at 11 all. Unfortunately for Shane this was as good as it got as Damian regained the serve and dominated the remainder of the game and won 15-11.
Paul ‘Malibu’ Conway v Sean ‘The Greek’ O’Kane
This game was seen as a bit of a lottery with the bookies divided over who would come out on top. It turned out to be a very one sided affair with Conso dominating the game from start to finish. With the skinny O’Kane demonstrating no hand/ eye coordination whatsoever it was left to the finely tuned athlete that Conso is to dominate proceedings and won by a country mile on a score-line of 15-4.
James ‘Rocker’ Molloy v James Carlin.
The favourite for the competition finally graced us with his presence after flying in from County Sligo. He took the court resembling a grizzly bear in a 40 x 20 cage but his foot work resembled that of a finely tuned Irish Dancer! The favourites tag rested easy on rockers big shoulders as he beat the younger of the Carlin’s on a score line of 15-6. James produced a number of great kill shots which were the first seen after some 2 hours play.
Semi Finals
Damian Meenan v Dermott Carlin
This game was expected to be a close encounter but it turned out to be the complete opposite. Damian seemed to get annoyed by some of the referee’s decisions. Damian couldn’t understand why he didn’t get a point when he dived to the court floor and let a big roar out of him! This seemed to distract Damian but ‘Black Beauty’ keep his concentration to produce some fine shots and he galloped away to win the game 15-7.
James ‘Rocker’ Molloy v Paul ‘Malibu’ Conway
This game was something similar to the previous semi final in that it was a somewhat one sided affair. Conso who has only started playing handball recently must be commended on his performance but it was Rockers that produced a number of excellent kill shots to won the game 15-7.
The Final
James ‘Rocker’ Molloy v Dermott ‘Black Beauty’ Carlin
The final turned out to be an excellent game with opinions divided amongst the large crowd about who would be the eventual winner. Would it be the dark horse or the grizzly bear. The first game saw James take control of the early exchanges in which he raced to a 6-1 lead but Dermott played his way back into the game to level matters at 7 all. However, some accurate serving by the Rocker saw him take the first game on a score-line of 15-8. The second game was probably the best of the whole competition. James was calling on all his experience in the handball alley to try and overcome the boundless reserves of energy that Dermott had. The game seemed over as James dominated the middle of the court on his way to a 14-8 lead. However Carlin produced a rousing comeback to level the game at 14-14. Each player had a number of opportunities to won the game as serves were exchanged on a number of occasions. However it was rockers sheer determination not to let the game go into a tie-break which won out. The 2009 All Cappagh Handball Champion was crowned. After the game both finalists were presented with trophies which I’m sure will take pride of place on their mantelpieces at home. In an interview after the game James thanked his personal trainer Barney McAleer for all the help throughout the year.
