2020 40X20 Juvenile All-Ireland Finals
Siobhan Treacy capped off a brilliant end to the handball year for Roscommon juvenile handball when she won her second U17 All-Ireland title in four weeks.
This time around she added the Covid-delayed 2020 40x20 title to the 60x30 one she annexed at the end of October.
Treacy faced Laois's powerful Una Brophy in the beautiful Kingscourt complex in Cavan last Saturday and they served up a thriller.
Due to the quick turnaround from over a year playing 60x30 handball, Siobhan struggled to adapt to the quicker small court in the early going; Brophy's accurate serving and roof game racking up most of the points.
Once Corrigan made some adjustments to her footwork however, the match tightened up considerably and what followed was a very, very close tense encounter. Brophy's early lead helped her to a 21-14 first game win, but the second was tit-for-tat the whole way with Siobhan just edging it 21-17.
The tie-breaker could have gone either way, with both taking leads, but a vital timeout at 5-8 down stalled the Laois girl's momentum and Siobhan cooly picked her way to a nail-biting 11-8 win.
Lisacul's Shauna Corrigan's great run in the Covid-delayed 2020 40x20 Girls U14 singles ended in disappointment when she was beaten by Kilkenny's Katie Brennan on the same bill.
Shauna blasted her way through all opposition back in early 2020, but her momentum was badly stalled by Covid.
Corrigan is an accomplished footballer and like so many other dual players, during the extended delay handball took a backseat.
The short preparation time for the final did her no favours and though she tried hard and showed glimpses of her undoubted potential, the Kilkenny girl was just a little sharper winning 15-6, 15-7.
