Brigid’s duo miss out on All-Ireland title

ST BRIGID’S duo Eoin Kennedy and Carl Browne were unable to add yet another All-Ireland title to their already huge haul as they lost 21-7, 21-14 to Meath in the final of the All-Ireland 60×30 senior handball doubles.
Last year’s winners were confident walking into a packed Croke Park Handball Centre but they couldn’t match their rivals, who were looking to reclaim the trophy they won two years ago.
St Brigid’s man Kennedy spoke to GazetteSport about missing out on retaining the title.
“Very disappointed with the loss,” he said. “Obviously, we won it last year and we were confident we were playing well but it didn’t really happen on the night.
“They pretty much had us on the back foot from the go. They went 8-0 up and were dominating the front of the court. We fought hard but they were just more clinical on the night in terms of making fewer mistakes and making the big shots when they needed to.”
The Dublin duo went into the final with a specific game plan but their opponents refused to play ball with what they wanted to do.
“We thought that we could keep them out at the back of the court and take the killer shots when we had our chances but they weren’t really going down. We had a strategy and tried to change it during the game to adapt, but to be fair to them they were really, really good on the night. They were definitely deserving winners.
“Hopefully we can come back next year. We’ve had a good run by winning the last three senior All-Irelands across the different codes so it was always going to come to an end at some stage.”
The final marked the end of the season for Kennedy and for now he’s just looking to relax and enjoy his new found life a s a father before looking towards next season.
“I’m switching off for a couple of weeks. Maybe tip away in the gym but I’m not going to go on to the court for five or six weeks.”
In the medals presentation, afterwards the players remembered the late Michael “Ducksie” Walsh who had graced the Croke Park court on many great occasions and Meath dedicated their win to his memory.