Clare’s Nash is tops in Munster Handball

Clare’s rising star, Diarmaid Nash, who made it to his first Mens Open final at national level in 2011, when he lost out in a tie-break to Robbie McCarthy in the Irish Nationals Mens Open final, is the newly crowned Mens Senior Singles champion in Munster.

The Tuamgraney player has certainly been showing immense progress in recent times and added this latest ranking points title to his resume, to follow on from an impressive World 23 & Under singles title win in the Citywest Arena back in October.

Nash powered his way to the Munster final with a series of eye-cathcing wins, where he was forced to pull out all the stops in early rounds against some of the many rising young stars of the game in the southern province.

A 21-12, 12-21, 21-3 opening round win over Tipperary’s Fergal Collins was followed by another pulsating victory in the semis finals against World 19 & Under champion, Killian Carrol of Cork. Nash claimed victory there by 21-13, 15-21, 21-16 against the Mallow clubman and went on to claim the title against another world champion, in 35+ Singles Worlds winner Dominick Lynch, by 21-9, 21-12.

Munster Mens Senior Singles Championship:

Round 1: Ger Coonan (Tipperary) dft Niall Malone (Clare) 21-4, 21-7

Quarter Finals: Killian Carroll (Cork) dft Ger Coonan (Tipperary) 21-2, 21-20; Diarmaid Nash (Clare) dft Fergal Collins (Clare) 21-12, 12-21, 21-3; Brendan Fleming (Cork) dft CJ Fitzpatrick (Limerick) 21-11, 21-19; Dominick Lynch (Kerry) dft Colm Jordan 21-11, 21-9

Semi Finals: Diarmaid Nash (Clare) dft Killian Carroll (Cork) 21-13, 15-21, 21-16; Dominick Lynch (Kerry) dft Brendan Fleming (Cork) 21-11, 21-16

Final: Diarmaid Nash (Clare) dft Dominick Lynch (Kerry) 21-9, 21-12