Former Armagh forward, Diarmaid Marsden, will dust off his gear bag next week and travel to Croke Park to take part in the GAA Handball Showdown at the National Handball Centre, which will mark the close of the Association's 125 celebrations. Marsden retired from inter-county football in 2005 but, aged 33, but returned to the Armagh panel in 2007 before eventually calling it a day. Now, he will return to GAA action, but this time to the unfamiliar setting of the handball alley. Marsden will pair up with fellow Lurgan man, Charly Shanks, and the duo will face top GAA pairings from all over the country at the December 5th Showdown. "We used to play handball at school in St Colman's, Newry," said Marsden, who won McCrory and Hogan Cups in football with the school. "We had two large outdoor alleys and playing handball at break-time and lunchtime was a regular occurrence; that was over 16 years ago though so any skills I would have had then are long gone." The classy forward, who collected an All-Ireland title with the Orchard County in 2002, now works as a Coaching and Games Officer with the Ulster Council. Having been involved in coaching for the past number of years, Marsden believes that handball could be key to developing a better all-round GAA player. "The hand eye co-ordination required for handball would definitely help a young player develop as a better hurler or a footballer," said Marsden. "The movement skills such as agility, balance and co-ordination can assist young players and handball is also an ideal way of adult players in keeping active during the off season," he said. The GAA Handball Showdown involves pairing high-ranked handball players with athletes from other codes within the GAA, such as Kilkenny's Tommy Walsh, Tipperary's Shane McGrath, Dublin's Conal Keaney and Mayo's Andy Moran, The competition will involve pitting handballers against each other in a 10-minute singles match, while their novice partners from the same county will then play a six-minute match. The total aces will be added up for each pair and the most aces progress to the next round. Marsden is looking forward to taking on present and past stars of Gaelic games, but insists that handball will be the biggest winner. "Handball has a great future and hopefully this Showdown will show some of its potential. It can be played competitively and recreationally by anyone regardless of age or ability and it is only right that handballs headquarters are at Croke Park." Tweet

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