Talented Moycullen teenager is the ace in the pack

MOYCULLEN handballer Martin Mulkerrins was, once again, grabbing the headlines last weekend when he won the O’Neill’s U-19 40x20 National Handball Championship – a feat that also secures him a place on the Ireland squad for the World Handball Championships which takes place later this year.

Mulkerrins rise to prominence has been remarkable. His initiation to the sport as an 11-year-old coincided with the opening of the new handball alley in Moycullen in 2004 and in his early years he confesses that he “didn’t really stand out”.

However, he loved the game – it was a bond that strengthened his relationship with his father Brian who, himself, enjoyed the cut and thrust of the rally – and he stuck with it. Two years later, his resolve paid off as he claimed the Connacht U-13 ‘A’ title before reaching the All-Ireland U-14 semi-final 12 months later.

Indeed, his appetite to succeed was becoming insatiable and by the time he turned 15 he was winning All-Ireland U-16 doubles [with club-mate Seamus Conneely] while a year later he secured both the singles and double accolades. He soon began to pick off titles for fun. 

No wonder, then, that 2009 was a year to remember. He won the U-16 singles 40x20 All-Ireland championship in March and followed up that success with the national U-16 one-wall title in June before he stormed the international circuit when winning the U-17 boys singles and doubles – the latter with Kildare’s Niall O’Connor – at the Waterford Crystal World Handball Championships in Portland, Oregon in October.

In doing so, Mulkerrins became the first Galway man – and only the second ever Irish competitor – to achieve the World Championship double at this grade. For his feats, he collected both the All-Ireland Juvenile All-Star Player of the Year and a Galway Sports Stars Award in 2009.

A year later, the Moycullen player picked up a second consecutive Galway Sports Stars after he won no less than four singles titles in 2010, namely the All-Ireland minor 40x20, All-Ireland 60x30, All-Ireland Schools and Colleges intermediate 40x20 and, finally, the All-Ireland Schools and Colleges Senior 60x30.

Interestingly, Mulkerrins was only the second Galway player in 61 years to secure the 60x30 crown while his capture of the 40x20 title was also notable as he was only the second Galway man to win it since the competition was first played in 1976. Added to this, Mulkerrins joined handball’s elite by holding both titles in the one year, a feat achieved by only six players.

Last year, though, Mulkerrins was unlucky to lose out to Mallow’s Cillian Carroll, who he had beaten in the World Championship final in Portland, in the All-Ireland minor 40x20 semi-final and Carroll later went on to take the crown. “So, I was a bit disappointed with that,” says Mulkerrins. “However, I did win back my minor 60x30 last year; I won that back-to-back.

“This year, then, would have been the first time I played outside of the juvenile or younger grades and I decided to play intermediate – just because you can only play intermediate and U-21 in one year, you can’t play the two. The only way you can get to senior is by winning the intermediate so I just thought the year that was in it – being my first year in college – I might have a little bit more time for training.”

In addition to this, Mulkerrins was also in the right environment to pursue such a course of action in UCD, where he is studying first year Agricultural Science. A member of the university squad, Mulkerrins caused quite a stir when he won the prestigious USA Collegiate Men’s Open final in Springfield, Missouri in late February.

“I was just going over to do my best,” smiles the talented teenager. “There was no pressure on me because I was only the third or fourth seeded player. So, I suppose, just to get to the semi-final would have been a good achievement. However, whatever it is about over there, I went well again and I got to the final and won by the tightest of margins against Daniel Cordova from Mexico. It was 11-10 in the tie-breaker.”

Mulkerrins – also part of the UCD squad that won the Irish inter-varsities championships for the first time since 1993 – followed this up by securing both the county and Connacht intermediate 40x20 titles – a super achievement in light of this being his first foray into adult handball.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.