Two former St Comans and Roscommon Handball stalwarts now living in Australia teamed up to win the Australian Open doubles 40×20 title last weekend.
Cousins Chris and Lydia Doolan played superbly to prevail while facing some stiff competition, the strongest of which were fellow Irish teams. What made the win all the more remarkable is that all the other teams consisted of males only! Anyone who ever saw Lydia play won’t be surprised to hear she comfortably held her own against the men. Possibly the greatest underage female player ever, up until last year Lydia hadn’t played handball for over 10 years due to college, work and family commitments. However when Chris arrived Australia he coaxed her back and like so many before her, once she returned she was quickly hooked again.
Ducksie Walsh RIP
Words can barely describe the shock that has been reverberating through the handball world since the sudden death of its greatest ever player, Kilkenny’s Michael ‘Ducksie’ Walsh, last Thursday. The holder of a record 38 Senior All-Ireland handball titles along with countless underage, overage and international titles. He stunned everybody recently when he beat no less a player than Eoin Kennedy in the 60×30 Nationals final even though he was 50 years of age. ‘Great’ is a word all too often overused nowadays, but it’s unlikely we will ever see another like the legendary Noresider. All in Roscommon handball would like to express their condolences to Duxie’s family.