Football

McElduff and Casey breeze through to last eight in World Handball Championships in Limerick

Tyrone’s McElduff ran out a 21-11, 21-18 victor over Mohamad Mansi and Casey cruised to an easy two-game win over Nancy Dong

A man wearing a white top, red glasses, white gloves and headband whilst looking at a blue ball with his arm outstretched to strike it
oneills.com World Wallball Championships - Day 3 Conor McElduff of Team Ireland during the Men's Open round of 16 in the oneills.com World Wallball Championships at UL Sport Arena in Limerick. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile (Stephen Marken / SPORTSFILE/SPORTSFILE)

Irish number ones Conor McElduff and Catriona Casey safely negotiated their way to the quarter-finals of the Men’s and Ladies Open Singles respectively at the World Wallball Championships at the University of Limerick.

Tyrone’s McElduff ran out a 21-11, 21-18 victor over New York-based Palestinian Mohamad Mansi.

The left-hander pushed the Breacach clubman in the second game but McElduff kept his composure to march on to a last-eight clash with Louthman Ben Devlin.

Drogheda’s Devlin, a former All-Ireland senior finalist, had an impressive 21-18, 21-16 win over experienced American Vlad Klym.

A woman wearing a green top, white gloves and clear glasses looking at a blue top winding up to strike the ball with her hand
Caitriona Casey of Team Ireland in action during the Ladies open round of 16 in the oneills.com World Wallball Championships at UL Sport Arena in Limerick. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile (Stephen Marken / SPORTSFILE/SPORTSFILE)

In the Ladies Open, Casey cruised to an easy two-game win over Nancy Dong while there were also wins for Martina McMahon (Limerick), Ciara Mahon (Kilkenny), Eilise McCrory (Tyrone) and Aoife McCarthy (Westmeath) on a brilliant day for the Irish women.

Join the Irish News Whatsapp channel

Out of luck on Tuesday morning was young Sligo player Cormac Finn. The Ballymote star had to deal with personal grief following the passing of his grandfather Padraig on Monday and had an emotional win over Basque Mikel Beldarrain in a wafer-thin 11-10 tiebreaker in the round of 16.

However, a bold bid against American ace Tywan Cook came up short as the decorated New Yorker scraped home 21-20, 21-20.

Elsewhere, top-ranked UK player Luke Thomson was comfortable in turning back American Arthur Sayed in straight games (21-13, 21-11) while 19-year-old Armagh man Fiachra Ó Dúill played superbly in defeat, losing a tiebreaker to American Julio Carlos.

The quarter-finals are down for decision on Wednesday.