Ireland's elite handballers, boys and girls from U13 to U19, gathered at Galway venues for the Irish Juvenile Nationals and what an event it turned out to be for the local stars. After a weekend of knockout handball Moycullen club hosted yesterday's finals.
Claregalway's star player Niamh Heffernan kept the packed gallery on the edge of their seats with a super win against Kildare's Mollie Dagg. Niamh, who found herself trailing in the tiebreaker, pulled out all the stops and showed nerves of steel to win 15-8, 13-15, 11-10 in the girls U15 A division.
The last game on the card was the Blue-Riband Boys U19 final where Tyrone's decorated player Sean Kerr faced local Moycullen man Diarmuid Mulkerrins. It was Kerr who set the pace and Mulkerrins didn't get into the first game at all, losing 15-5. The second game was a different matter which saw the young Tribesman in his true form, leading from the start and winning 15-12 to force a tiebreaker. Motivated by the local support Mulkerrins played inspirational handball and finished the encounter 11-5 with a left hand, flat roll-out kill shot to claim the coveted U19 trophy.
