“WE HAVE THE GOLD CUP OF HANDBALL” was the declaration of PJ Counihan in Tuamgraney on Sunday.
It came as Diarmaid Nash bridged a 42 year gap to bring the All-Ireland senior singles 40×20 handball title back to the Banner County. Tuamgraney hosted a hero’s reception for Nash and U14 All-Ireland winner Paul Rodgers of the same club on Sunday evening.
Nine years on from his first senior semi-final defeat, Diarmaid gladly accepted the singles title and dedicated it to his late brother Barry, himself a former All-Ireland minor doubles winner.
Pat Kirby was the last Clare man to win the senior singles, securing successive titles from 1975 to 1980. Nash and Rodgers stood in front of the plaque dedicated to him at the heart of the East Clare community with their respective crowns.
Coming up short in previous campaigns fuelled Diarmaid’s determination. “I made the semi-final in 2013, that was the first year, I got beat bad but you get a taste of it, when you’re a juvenile you make goals, then you get into senior handball and you would love to win one, Pat and the Kirby’s had won loads in the past, you’re not thinking 42 years, you’re just thinking I’m putting my life on hold and putting an awful lot into this, you need to get some results and try win.
“In the past, I put too much stock in the championship, I had won the other tournaments and played well but I hadn’t played well in the championship until this year, I got to the final but didn’t play great, you’re always some bit over-anxious, this year I didn’t get too worried about the earlier tournaments and wanted to peak for the fifteen days in March. I played really well in the quarter-final and semi-final, I knew I was playing well, I had beaten these guys before but the question was to do it on the big day”.
He added, “To win it is almost as much relief as anything, there’s been some awful dark days after losing, it is a weird sport that way, it is great when you win but when you lose there’s sleepless nights. I don’t want to depress anybody but individual sport is tough going, it is really rewarding in other ways, it is a life’s work and a life’s dream gone into it, loads of great players don’t win the championship, to win one and join the club is really special”.
After defeating Wexford man Gavin Buggy in the championship first round, Nash’s path to the final included a straight-forward quarter-final win over Kilkenny’s Peter Funchion and an eye-catching 21-5, 21-14 semi final blitzing of title-holder Martin Mulkerrins from Galway.
When it came to the decider, he recorded a 21-8, 17-21, 11-8 win over number-one seed and four-time champion, Robbie McCarthy. “A lot of it is a blur, I played well in the first game and then in the second game played very poorly, came back a bit but third game I was just trying no matter what to not give up, the body was starting to keel over a bit but I wanted to make sure I had no regrets and keep moving to get him out of the middle. A lot of the time, handball is a bit spontaneous and you just play the shot that is on, you try not to think too much about it, it was play the shot, play the moment and don’t mess it up,” he recounted of the final.
There is little time to rest for Diarmaid who is in doubles action alongside Colin Crehan this Saturday, the pair bidding to win three All-Ireland titles on the bounce. “We’re going for three in a row in the doubles, we’re playing next Saturday so I told him he could play this round on his own! Colin is a super player, after Robbie (McCarthy) he is probably the most talented player in the country, his hands are from God, we’ve a really good shot but it is the same thing again, in championship you can get caught in one game if you’re not on it. We’ll take a couple of days to relax and get over this one, it would be great to win three in a row”.
Regarded as one of the top handball coaches in the county, Jim Nash has had quite the influence of the majority of handballers to step foot in the alley in Tuamgraney. He was confident for the future of the sport in Clare and believed there was plenty of talent capable of taking Diarmaid’s place.
He told Sunday’s homecoming of his fear that his son would never get his hands on the coveted senior title, “It is wonderful to have such a turnout and be among the people of East Clare and handball, it is a great occasion, Diarmaid said it was a lifetime ambition, he is very fortunate to be able to fulfil that ambition, it is luck, you can be very good and not make it, I thought he would be one of the many players who excelled and might never win a seniors title, he had his day and he took it, more power to him”.
“It has also been broadly said that Diarmaid is at this handball a long time, we’ve travelled a lot and we played a lot, he always gave it his all, he would be the first to acknowledge that he was a slow starter and he didn’t win at U13 or U14, he had to wait more time, I think U15 was his first All-Ireland up in the North, it has been a slow drive along after that but he kept at it,” Jim said while encouraging young handballers in attendance to keep persevering.
