Congratulations once again to Maria Daly who won the coveted Young female handball player of the year for 2001. Maria was presented with her award last Saturday night in Croke Park. Maria won this award two years ago and it is a great achievement. Our handball club is really proud of Maria and all the awards and games she has won while representing our club and county. It is marvelous to see Maria's talent being acknowledged by Croke Park.

The Irish Nationals were being played in Lenister venues last weekend. The semi finals were played on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. Results as follows:
In the Girls 19 and under semi-final:
§ Patricia Doyle (Wicklow) defeated Tracey Buckley (Ballymac) 21/12, 21/4.
Maria Daly (Ballymac) defeated Nicola Kelly (Roscommon) 21/4, 21/4.
Maria Daly was defeated in the final by Patricia Doyle 21/16, 3/21, 11/9.

§ In the Girls 17 and under semi-final:
Emer Fallon (Roscommon) defeated Sandie McSwiney (Ballymac) 21/15, 11/21, 2/11.

§ Boys 19 and under semi-final: Charlie Shanks (Armagh) Charlie Shanks (Armagh) defeated Clive Counihan (Ballymac) 21/4, 21/16.

§ In the men's B semi-final Ollie Cassidy (Mayo) who is a student at Institute Technology Tralee lost in the final to Gavin Buggy from Wexford 21/2, 21/15. Ollie trains and plays with the Ballymac and Kerry players all year. He is almost adopted by our club and we thank him for his help and enthusiasm.
Congratulations to all our players and we are lucky to have some many representing our club at our premier competitions.

The all Ireland 40 x 20 semi-finals will be played in Tralee and Ballymacelligott next weekend. The semi-final games will see Munster players up against Connaught. The Kerry Handball Board is delighted to be hosting the event and all its members are very busy organising the venues. Ballymacelligott will host the U17 boys and girls' singles and doubles.
We thank Joe Moynihan and all the FAS workers who painted the small court this week in preparation for the games. The remainder of the games will be played in Tralee Sports Complex.
The following players will represent Kerry and Munster:
U16 Singles: Sandie McSwiney (Ballymacelligott)
U15 Doubles: Gemma O Connell (Tralee) & Lisa Falvey (Ballymac)
U14 Doubles: Karen Lawlor (Tralee) & Catriona Casey (Ballymac)
U14 Singles: Ashley Prendiville (Ballymac)
We wish all our players every success.

Congratulation to our U13 boys and U15 girls who won the County Finals in the Community games last weekend. The finals were held in Ventry and all our players played very well. The victorious teams are: U13 boys: Cian Counihan, Paul Culloty, David Keane and Aaron O Halloran. U15 Girls: Catriona Casey, Brenda Carmody, Sharon Twomey, Ashley & Maedbh Prendiville and Lisa Falvey.