McConnell falls agonisingly short

While the majority of Irish sports people were tucking into their leftovers from Christmas dinner Kells handballer Gary McConnell was competing in the Boys 17 and under grade at the US Handball Association National Juniors Four-Wall championships in Vancouver, Washington State, US. For the Pedantic Pats out there who will say that Vancouver is in Canada, there is also a Vancouver City located 305 miles south of the British Colombian capital inside the USA border and part of Washington State. McConnell and the rest of the Irish team left Dublin prior to Christmas and set up camp in Portland, Oregon where they prepared for the US National Championships that started on Friday morning. McConnell was hotly tipped to win the American title following his victory in the All-Ireland Minor 40x20 championships earlier in 2008, but he was handed a tough draw despite being the number one seed for the competition. Tyrone"s Caolan Daly was ranked number two for the championship and true to form both players advanced through the competition and met in Monday"s thrilling final where Daly emerged victorious. McConnell was given more time to digest his Christmas dinner with a bye in the first round, but in round two he faced Humberto Cardenaz from Tucson, Arizona who had defeated Waterford"s Darragh O"Connell in the opening round. Cardenaz is one of the USA"s highest rated players, but the Meath man was too strong for him and he advanced with ease to the semi-finals where he took on another Tuscon, Arizona player Oscar Olivas. Olivas defeated Adoni Rodriguez from Santa Barbara, California and then Waterford"s Philip Cashin in the quarter-finals before succumbing to the over-whelming superiority of the outstanding McConnell in the semi-final. In the other side of the draw Daly also had a bye in round two before wins over Kyle Kloss from Mount Pleasant, Illinois and Eric Matiasek from Park Ridge Illinois secured his place against McConnell in the final. The deciding match was an exciting encounter, but in the end it was Daly who emerged with the title to make it a great end to 2008 for the Tyrone player. McConnell"s American adventure didn"t end with Monday"s 17 and under final as he joined forces with Clare"s Diarmuid Nash in the boys 19 and under doubles competition. The Irish pair overcame Dan Sterrett and Riley Kloss in the opening round, but two matches in one day on Monday took their toll on McConnell as he and Nash lost out to Victor Perez and Nikolai Nahomiak in the semi-finals.