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Mayo handballers fared very well in their opening Connacht 40 x 20 semi-final ties with Sligo opposition over the weekend. George Miller defeated Sligo's Martin Cooney in a thrilling three-game encounter at Castleconnor on a 12-21, 21-7, 21-16 scoreline in the silver masters B singles, while Paschal Tuohy of Mayo had a 21-13, 21-13 win over Michael Browne in the junior C singles at the same venue. Killala's Martin Cronin is also through to the diamond masters A final as he beat Seamus Duffy in two games at St Mary's on Saturday. The only Mayo loss of the weekend was in the ruby masters as John Kenny came out second best against Sligo veteran Paddy Walsh in two games. Mayo host Sligo next weekend in seven doubles semi-finals.

The provincial colleges and national intervarsities were the main events of note last weekend. Pauline Gallagher representing Athlone IT picked up the ladies’ A singles title with a 21-6, 21-14, win over fellow Mayo student Amy Corrigan of the Sligo IT. Claremorris and St Mary’s College, Galway, were the venues for the boys’ and girls’ second level colleges over the weekend. The going was particularly tough in the eight boys’ grades but true to form, Kiltimagh duo T J Byrne and Shane Walsh from St Louis’, Kiltimagh, secured the junior doubles title with a reasonably comfortable win over Flanngan and Michéal Kenny, Castlerea CS, in their semi-final, and John Lalor and Conor Noone from St Mary’s in a well-contested final. Despite some fine performances, Mayo lost out to Galway and Roscommon in the other grades contested. In the girls’ finals at Claremorris, Melanie Nally was beaten by all-Ireland u16 champion Lauren O’Riordan in her junior singles semi-final, while Lorraine and Louise Gilmartin (Convent of Mercy, Ballina,) suffered the same fate in their junior doubles final.

Mayo's Ollie Cassidy and Paul Flynn lost out on a place in the all-Ireland intermediate doubles semi-final on Sunday last as they went down in two games to Kilkenny duo Timmy and David Clifford. The Swinford/Ballaghaderreen duo got off to a bad start in the opening game and lost is 21 aces to 10. It was a different story in the second as the Mayo duo really got stuck in and, playing some great handball coupled with top class serving, they led 16 aces to 8 at one stage. However try as they might they simply could not finish off this game and despite serving out game ball at 20 aces to 19 they lost the second by a single ace 21-20 and with it their hopes of a tilt at the title in three weeks’ time. However much credit must go to Cassidy who put the heartbreak of his father’s death just nine days ago behind him, to turn in a fine performance on the day.

Mayo duo Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann made a somewhat disappointing exit from the All-Ireland senior doubles championship as they lost out to Wexford duo Barry Goff and Colin Keeling in three games at Thurles on Saturday evening. There were hopes that the pair would at least threaten for a place in the last four of the doubles championship, and they started with great intent. This was rewarded with a fine 21 aces to 13 win in the opener that set them up nicely for victory. However matters took a turn for the worse after that initial good showing and Keegan, who had been unwell during the week, was unable to maintain the intensity of the first game and the duo paid the price, losing this second game heavily, 21 aces to 5.

Handball

Mayo’s senior handballers saw competitive action for the first time this year as the provincial singles and doubles semi-final were played last week. Dessie Keegan defeated club mate Vincent Moran very comfortably to reach the provincial senior final while Joe McCann accounted for Galway’s Ollie Conway in the other semi-final despite the loss of the opening game on an overall 16-21 , 21-6, 21-1 scoreline.

Senior club specialists Ballaghaderreen took a major set in the defence of their senior softball club title when they narrowly defeated top Leinster side, Kells, in the semi-final on Monday night last at Mullingar. Kells were the only side to beat the Mayo club side in the past three years and they included Carl Browne in top class line out while Ballaghaderreen stuck with their tried and tested foursome.