Doc is right up our alley

Cavanman's Diary

Okay, before we start, let’s address the alley-sized elephant in the room. If you’ve read this column before, then I know what you’re thinking – another bloody piece about handball. I know, I know. Bear with me.

While you’re technically correct that, yes, it doesn’t take much to excite me when it comes to the great game, well, this week is extra-special. The World 4-Wall Championships take place at the National Handball Centre in Croke Park and a Cavanman, Paul Brady, is in the mix for the Open Singles. Out of 1,700 players, Brady is ranked among the very best and, if things go to plan, he’ll take all the beating.

Paul’s possible path to glory is covered elsewhere on these pages; suffice to say, my money rests on the Mullahoran man but, as he found out when injury intervened mere minutes before his inevitable coronation in the All-Ireland final last April, things don’t always go smoothly in elite sport.

After the near existential crisis that was the pandemic, when handball was restricted and some players, like renegades or guerillas maybe (note the spelling), stole into alleys to get their fix in the dead of night, handball has bounced back very strongly and is currently experiencing a surge.

Ten weeks ago, I wrote about the World Wallball Championships in Limerick, where the star was 22-year-old New Yorker Nazir ‘Nasty Naz’ Marston. Wallball, formerly called One Wall handball, does exactly what it says on the tin – it’s a softish ball and a hardish (usually plywood) wall and away you go.

Wallball may be the future; certainly, it has the least barriers to entry of the other codes. It’s easier to improve quickly, courts are very cheap to construct and the game represents the ideal ‘crossover code’ for all the different forms of handball – and there are a couple of dozen – around the world.

But 4-Wall, for me, is the most skilful game. There are side walls and a back wall, the roof is in play, the ball is harder and faster and the court is slightly bigger, which means truly elite players, like Brady, must master maybe 20 different shots, off each hand, just to make it to the top.

And when they’re there, there is the conditioning, the strategy and shot selection, the mental side; truly, it is one of the ultimate tests for a sportsperson, hence why the Americans bill it as “the perfect game”.

This week will see the best in the world showcase their talent and, aside from the actual competition which is the lifeblood of any sport, there is vast promotional potential. Around the country, clubs have been renovating, painting, cleaning and improving their facilities in anticipation of hosting players from home and abroad (there are over 200 players from America alone making the trip), which means there will be a positive legacy in terms of infrastructure but also PR – in all senses.

There is the fact that a generation of youngsters will watch this and want to start, or keep, playing (like myself, in 2003, when I watched courtside as Brady won his first world title in the ramshackle old arena at Croker). And then there is the actual media coverage, the bringing of the game to the masses.

Which brings me, eventually, to the point. Last Saturday, I was lucky enough to be in Clones for a special screening of a new one-hour documentary entitled ‘Líathróid Láimhe’, the brainchild of Ballybay native and Derry resident Deaglán Ó Mócháin.

The screening took place at Clones Post Office and the documentary was extremely well-received. I’m not certain as to why the organisers selected this film but aside from the obvious local link to the filmmaker, there is a rich tradition of handball in Clones.

Before Brady, the late Seamus McCabe was the greatest player ever to emerge from Ulster. He was one of the icons of handball in its glory days of the 1960s. A renowned character, McCabe’s left hand was vicious and he took down the best players of his era, many times, winning major titles in all codes.

There were iconic back-to-back alleys at Cara Street in Clones, which were built in 1928 on the site of an old horse fair. And, before that, there was one at St Tiernach’s Park and another at Ball Alley Lane, which incorporated the boundary wall of a churchyard which was common.

So it was fitting that this documentary, 18 months in the making, was shown in the town. Ó Móchain had his finger on the pulse, no pun intended, when pitching the idea to TG4, who showed the documentary on Monday last (October 28) at 6pm (if you missed it, don’t worry, it’s also available to view on the player).

Soon into his journey, he recognised that handball is on the up and his work chimed with what was going on.

“I think I twigged that the centenary was coming up. I had been thinking about something about Eoin O’Duffy, I had done a documentary about the IRB so I think that might have been a circuitous route into it,” Deaglán, who was actually born in O’Duffy Terrace in Ballybay, told me last week.

“I was in touch with TG4 about it fairly quickly, I put together a proposal and TG4 jumped on it to be fair to them… Particularly with the Worlds coming up. If you’d said to me what is One Wall, I wouldn’t have been able to explain it.

“I wouldn’t have known too many of the players, I would have heard of Paul Brady – coming from Monaghan, that’s one of the few things that Cavan people can throw up to you!

“It started from there and the first person we met was (Galway player) Martin Mulkerrins who was fantastic and that opened our eyes. This is about clubs, this is about families, this is about certain players who are really elite athletes. Outrageous stuff, it’s off the charts.”

Like many Irishmen of his vintage, Deaglán played a little bit of handball growing up; it existed somewhere on the extremities of his sporting consciousness.

“As a youngster we would have been down watching the good players playing in the outdoor court in Ballybay on a Sunday afternoon, we’d have been in ourselves, probably kicking football more than handball, the handball was quite sore from memory.

“We had a couple of good players locally, we would have been aware of it but we wouldn’t have seen much of it for a long time. The sport went indoors in our town as well and then that alley got knocked down. It was used for racquetball and I’d have been more into racquetball so maybe out of guilt, you’re contributing to something positive about the sport now!”

Regardless of the motivations, the sentiment rings true. Ó Mócháin and his team have done the sport a huge service in capturing our elite players, telling their stories and showing what handball really is. It is beautifully snapshot of where the game is at and where it came from, told through the prism of last season. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

The man behind it will be there this week again at Croke Park, putting together an hour-long feature which will be screened on TG4 next Monday. With any luck, the Monaghan man will be shooting a Cavanman being handed the trophy.

Now wouldn’t that be something?

• Líathróid Láimhe is available to view on the TG4 Player. A recap of the World Championships will air on TG4 this Monday evening.