Sport

McCann plays Hardball but Kennedy takes title in the end

Eoin Kennedy defeated Joe McCann to take the All-Ireland Senior Singles Hardball title at St Colman’s in Roscommon
Eoin Kennedy defeated Joe McCann to take the All-Ireland Senior Singles Hardball title at St Colman’s in Roscommon Eoin Kennedy defeated Joe McCann to take the All-Ireland Senior Singles Hardball title at St Colman’s in Roscommon

EOIN KENNEDY claimed his eighth All-Ireland Senior Singles Hardball title at St Colman’s in Roscommon with a two-game victory over Mayo’s Joe McCann, but it wasn’t just as easy as the scoreline would suggest.

Dubliner Kennedy totted up winning margins of 21-12 and 21-8 which, of course, is a pretty convincing win, but McCann kept fighting back when it seemed Kennedy was about to run away with the title.

In the first game, Kennedy stormed into a commanding 11-2 lead with some strong serving and kill shots before McCann got into his stride and, with good right corner kills, pulled the score back to 11-7.

Kennedy regained serve and extended his lead to 15-7 but, once again, the Mayo man fought back to close the gap to 15-11 and leave the game nicely poised. Kennedy regained control and extended his lead to game ball 20-11. Even with taking serve back, McCann scored only one more ace before Kennedy closed out the first game 21-12.

Both players produced excellent hardball in the second game and the scores were level on four occasions by the time it reached eight-all. Kennedy then upped his game and won the next four aces in quick succession to establish control at 12-8. The experienced Dubliner continued to extend his lead and went on to clinch the match without McCann collecting another point.

In the Minor Hardball Singles final, Mayo’s Niall Joyce, the recently crowned minor 40x20 Singles winner, was up against Kilkenny’s Shane Dunne and was leading 14-8 before his opponent pulled it back to trail just 14-12. Joyce upped his game at this stage and, with some great serving and passing shots, took control and won the first game 21-12.

In the second game, Joyce raced into an early 5-0 lead and quickly extended this to 12-1 and then 17-1. The Kilkenny player had a purple patch at this stage and brought the score back to 20-10 before Joyce closed out the match with another ace.

In the other finals, Kilkenny had double victory in Cashel as they won both the intermediate and junior titles. In the Intermediate final, Ciarán Deary came back from losing the first game to Dominic Lynch (Kerry) to win the match 5-21, 21-19, 21-17. The Junior final was won by Brendan Burke, who defeated Wicklow’s Jerome Willoughby in two tight games, 21-18, 21-12.