UL Wolves Handball Club seal gold in four grades at Galway ICHA 40×20 Doubles

UL Wolves Handball Club continued their winning streak this past weekend in Galway at the ICHA 40×20 Doubles Intervarsities.

The university took home gold in four grades which were the Women’s Open as well as the Men’s A, B and C respectively.

The tournament took place in Galway venues during the weekend of 18-20th of November. After recent success at the 60×30 Intervarsities last month in Wexford, the UL contingency were looking to a busy and intense schedule of games, determined to bring back more trophies to Limerick.

Preliminary rounds took place on Friday evening in with the Women’s Open taking place in Indreabhán, the Men’s Open in Moycullen and the Men’s B and C grades in Salthill.

A total of 20 UL players made the trip to Galway, comprising of players from Open to Beginners and after some outstanding games across all divisions, the scene was set for the finals on Saturday evening with UL contesting four titles in the Women’s Open, Men’s A, B and C.

First up on the schedule was Evan Murphy and Colin Healy in the Men’s Open Semi-Final where they faced MTU pair Adam and Conor Walsh. After a fast and entertaining game, the UL duo were unfortunate to fall short on this occasion. Henry McGrath and Sean Murphy played their way to the Men’s A final where they defeated defeat UCG team of Ashling Mullin and David Donohue.

The Women’s Open final was an all-UL affair. Niamh Heffernan and Sinead Meagher returned in flying form to defend last year’s victory. They beat fellow UL teammates Cliodhna O’Connell and Aisling Shanahan to retain their Women’s Open Doubles title.

Cian O’Donnell and Jack Glynn followed, playing together for the first time and were victorious in the Men’s B final where they defeated UCD resulting in the third win for UL.

Aoife Guildea and Aoife Hurley reached the Women’s Open Doubles Semi Final but came up short against their college teammates and eventual winners Heffernan and Meagher.

Darragh Ducey and Adam Coggeran also reached the Men’s Open Doubles Quarter Final before losing out to TCD and the pairing of Eoin Hegarty and Keith Crehan in the Men’s A lost out by the narrowest of margins to UCG.

Elsewhere, Sandy O’Callaghan and Patrick Nevin came out victorious in the Men’s C final, as they defeated UCG, while Alan Costello and Adam O’Shea took part in the Men’s B, reaching the semi-final but losing out to UL pair and eventual winners O’Donnell and Glynn,

UL returned home with 4 titles in total, bringing their tally to 7 titles in the last two tournaments, with the 40×20 Singles in Belfast at the end of January next up on the agenda which is regarded as the most prestigious event on the Intervarsity calendar.