Fitzharris & Moran Land The Spoils In All-Ireland Juvenile Softball Finals
Following on from last weekend’s All-Ireland softball success at adult level, attention turned this weekend to the All-Ireland juvenile softball finals. Wexford was represented in the Girls under 14 doubles by Kitty Roche & Amber Cronin Kenny (Castlebridge/Coolgreany), in Boys under 14 singles by Conor Doyle (Taghmon) and in Boys under 15 doubles by Séan Fitzharris & Jamie Moran (Templeludigan).
The Templeludigan pairing of Séan Fitzharris & Jamie Moran arrived in Cashel on Sunday morning looking to emulate their Grandfather Tony Breen who a week earlier had won his All-Ireland diamond masters A doubles final. Fitzharris & Moran were up against the Cork duo of Ryan Linehan & Thomas Myers. Fitzharris & Moran were always in command and ran out easy winners in two straight games. The victory sees another All-Ireland title return to Templeludigan and is a great achievement for the boys their club and the county.
In Garryhill, Carlow, the Castlebridge/Coolgreany pairing of Kitty Roche & Amber Cronin Kenny faced the Tipperary pairing of Sarah Williams & Clodagh Shinners in the girls under 14 doubles. The opening game went the way of the Tipperary pair. The second game saw Roche and Cronin Kenny put it right up to the Tipperary duo and in the end, they went down by just a single point in the second game. While Kitty and Amber did not come away as All-Ireland champions, they did themselves, their clubs and their county proud.
The girl’s match was followed by the boys under 14 singles which saw Taghmon’s Conor Doyle take on Dean Carey, Tipperary. Carey proved too strong in the opening game winning well. However, the second game saw the young Taghmon man, who’s older bother Mark is currently playing handball in the USA on a Scholarship, stage a come back and he put it right up to Carey losing the second game by just a single point. Conor should be massively proud have his performance having very nearly took the match to a third game.
