St. Mary's top dogs in Wexford as St. Josephs are kept at bay in SD final

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Tommy Hynes and Paul Carty, St. Mary’s continued their 60×30 dominance over Wexford town rivals Gavin Buggy and Paul Lambert, by beating the St. Josephs pairing in last night’s county senior softball doubles decider at a well attended Emmet Place, Wexford. It crowned a terrific week for the Hynes family as Tommy had already defeated  Buggy to win the singles title and this was followed by a win for 15 year old daughter Holly in the women’s JS final. Things were very tight for the opening half of the first game of the doubles final before Buggy and Lambert took over when the scores were level at 10-10 to run out deserving 21-12 winners.  The second went the way of Hynes and Carty in the early stages and when they led 15-7 it appeared they were all set to level the match with the minimum of fuss. Buggy and Lambert has other ideas however and they dominated the exchanges to wipe out the deficit at and level at 15-15. Tempers frayed a little as the tension rose and words were exchanged between Hynes and Buggy as the rallies got longer and tougher but referee Ricky Barron kept things under control and Hynes and Carty regained kept their composure to edge home 21-19 in a thrilling finish. With the fierce rivalry between these players bubbling away at the surface the large crowd were on edge as the players entered the court for a game that would not just deliver the coveted winners medals but also the bragging rights around the town for the next 12 months! And it was Hynes and Carty who went for home early as they opened up a 6-0 lead. The pace was relentless as Buggy and Lambert fought back to 11-7  but then the incredible fitness of Carty began to influence this match at a vital time. Several vital gets followed by a number of fine corner kills effectively ended the St. Josephs challenge as the lead was extended to 17-7. Buggy tried his heart out and Lambert also produced some telling finishes but that earlier period had done the damage as Hynes and Carty went on to  retain their title on a scoreline of 21-12 While Hynes did not match his earlier form of the singles final he nonetheless lit up the occasion with a high workrate and several flat kill shots while Paul Carty again confounded those who say you have to play a lot of handball to be good at it. The ‘occasion’ player may have been a bit off the pace in that first game but when the going got tough there was nobody better and in fact it was he who went from strength to strength as the match progressed. Truly a remarkable athlete with a thirst for victory and now thew winner of 5 of the last 6 county senior doubles titles. Ironically three of those were won alongside Buggy before he transferred his allegiance to St. Josephs. For Gavin Buggy it was a bad week but this terrific competitor gave his all as usual and fought to the very end. Perhaps he could have left a little more to Paul Lambert in this match as the leinster junior singles finalist played extremely well throughout and was never found wanting in any regard.  They will be back but for now it is Hynes and Carty who continue to reign supreme on Slaneyside!
 

Also at St. Mary’s Padhraic Roberts and Niall Maher, Kilmyshall had a surprisingly easy passage against Michéal Busher and Bob Byrne, Bridgetown in the JD semi final running out winners by 21-12, 21-5.  They now take on Paddy Haughton and Matthew Hynes, St. Marys’ in the final at Ballymitty on 24th July.