O’Carroll hopes his success can boost handball in West Cork

HANDBALL is the name of the game for Philip O’Carroll.

The man who grew up in Glenville but currently lives in Clonakilty won this year’s All-Ireland Golden Masters B Singles 60 x 30 title in Tuamgraney, Co Clare recently. To take the crown, O’Carroll defeated Offaly’s Declan Kilmurray on a scoreline of 21-8, 21-7.

‘It was a long time coming,’ said a delighted O’Carroll.

‘There was a handball setting at the back of my house and I started playing from five or six years of age. I won an All-Ireland before but this was a singles event. I kept trying and thought eventually I might win something like this.’

O’Carroll has spent the last 24 years living in Clonakilty and it feels like home, but he has to leave West Cork to play and train. There is no handball alley locally, and to train he makes the familiar trek to Cullen.

‘There is a lot of travelling involved. I played a match in Broadford in Limerick and I was down there training too. People don’t realise that for me to train, it might be a two-hour one-way trip so four hours in total. You could do that twice a week. There is a lot of effort to do it but I have no choice if I want to continue playing it,’ O’Carroll said.

He hopes his recent success will shine a spotlight on handball and raise its profile locally. It isn’t for the glory, but the recognition of his sport.

‘I’d be hoping with my success, I could encourage kids around the schools to pick up handball and give it a try,’ he said.

‘The thing about handball is that it compliments so many other sports. Hand-eye coordination, hurling, football, that type of thing. People don’t realise the benefits of handball.’

O’Carroll feels that handball, part of the GAA family, doesn’t get enough recognition.

‘In the GAA in general there isn’t enough attention. It is a GAA sport and it’s not getting the recognition it deserves. The skill levels in the sport are as good as any athlete you’d see. It’s practically professional at the senior levels,’ he said.