For St Comans Handball Club it was a brotherly affair in Hospital, Co. Limerick last weekend for the final Onewall tournament of the season, billed as ‘King of the Gym’.
The Cusack brothers Oisin and Fionn, the Carthy brothers Rory and Eoghan and Dylan Hanley all represented St Comans with reasonable success.
All players played four games each in a group format with the top two in each group going forward to the semi-finals.
In the U11 grade the ever-improving Rory Carthy won all his group games impressively against Clare, Cork and Galway opposition. In the semi-finals he had an excellent win against Kilkenny’s highly rated Niall Drennan but in the final his recent nemesis from Armagh Fiachra O’Duill was just a step too far.
In the same bracket Rory’s younger brother Eoghan was giving away a lot in age, but he gave a very good account of himself, winning one match and losing his other three narrowly.
Dylan Hanley won three of his four group games in the U15 event to qualify as runner-up, but performed below-par to lose his semi-final to his regular sparring partner Evan O’Diolluin from Inverin, Co. Galway.
The Cusack brothers were both competing in the U17 grade and both qualified as runners-up in their respective groups. However, any hope of an all-Strokestown final was dashed when Oisin lost a tough semi to the eventual winner David Walsh from Cork and Fionn was well beaten by Kilkenny’s Eoin Brennan.