County Sligo is the destination for many Irish handballers this weekend when they will descend on the Yeats County in search of one of the thirteen Irish One-Wall National Championship titles on offer for 2005. Now in its ninth year and hosted by the Sligo Handball Board, the One Wall Nationals will get underway on Saturday morning at venues in Collooney, Ballymote and Sligo IT, with the finals being played from 12 noon on Sunday (3rd July), in the outdoor court at Ballisodare. In the Men's Open grade, One Wall aficionados Dessie Keegan from Ballaghaderreen, the 2000 and 2004 Champion and David King from Carlow, who won back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002, will this year face some tough qualifying matches on their planned route to yet another All-Ireland Final. Mayo's Joe McCann, the reigning Coca-Cola Intermediate All-Ireland 60 x 30 Champion; Robin Cooke from Dungiven, Co. Derry who has just returned from competing in the USHA Four Wall Nationals in Houston, Texas; Ryan Daly from Co. Tyrone and James Doyle from Armagh who represented Ireland in the Compromise Rules Series with the Basque Country last October and who became Armagh's first ever Senior player after winning the Intermediate All-Ireland 40 x 20 title last year will all be bidding for glory in Ballisodare. Speaking about the event, Connell Cannon, Chairman of Sligo Handball Board said "Irish handball is enjoying great success at the moment and with Irish players of all ages competing nearly all year-round both at home and abroad, the One Wall Nationals offers both players and spectators the chance to take the game back to its most skilful basics. It also offers them the rare chance to play and witness handball outdoors and enjoy the exceptional atmosphere that creates. It really is a unique Irish sporting occasion." In the underage events, the current 13 & Under USHA Junior Nationals Champion and last years U14 Irish One Wall title holder, Caolan Daly from Tyrone, will remain the competitor to beat in the same grade this year, while Tyrone are also favourites to land the U16 title with Carrickmore's Conor Grogan. Meanwhile, in the U18 singles, Mullingar's powerful Robbie McCarthy is expected to perform well. With a strong contingent of young female players competition will be tight in the Girls U14 grade, with only one or two aces usually separating Mayo's Mary Duffy, Stephanie Coleman, Amy Corrigan and Kilkenny's Rebecca Mulholland, Tyrone's Nicole Loughran and Westmeath's Aoife McCarthy from each other. Roscommon's Leona Doolin and Marianna Rushe are the top seeds in the U16 Girls, while in the U18 grade, Kerry duo, Karen Lawlor and Lisa Falvey are expected to battle it out in the final if they can make it past Roscommon's Katie Costello. The three Masters Singles, Men's B and Men's C events, make up the remainder of the grades. All fixtures are available on www.handball.ie. Tweet

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