Them's fightin' words, Robbie!
There is not much room for trash talking on the handball circuit - well, there's always room but just nobody really does it - but judging by a video released by GAA Handball this afternoon, All-Ireland 40x20 Senior Singles handball champion Robbie McCarthy is clearly determined to retain the title he won for the first time.
Recently-graduated Irish Navy recruit McCarthy takes on Armagh's Charly Shanks in tomorrow's final at kingscourt, Co Cavan, with the bookies making the Mullingar man a 2/7 favourite to hold on to the crown he won last year against Diarmaid Nash of Clare.
And McCarthy is backing himself, as he says on tape, to deliver a big performance.
[vimeo 122769435 w=500 h=281]
Shanks, meanwhile, is desperate to make up for lost time.
He spent two years in the States and saw his plans destroyed by a back injury in 2014, meaning he is now set to compete in his first senior final since 2011.
“I was out injured last year and it gives you an insight into whenever you do hang up your gloves and leave handball to continue with other things in life, handball quickly forgets. You are quickly forgotten about and that really hit home last year – you have to make the most of it now when you have the chance,” said Shanks, who impressed against Martin Mulkerrins and Nash in earlier rounds.
“I put in a performance [against Nash] but I had done that the weekend before against Mulkerrins. Having said that, the first game was a write-off against him, I thought 'here we go, this is going to be same as last year' [quarter-final loss to Brian Carrol] but I had to dig deep and I found a good performance then. And I just continued that against Nash.”
McCarthy, though, will provide a fresh and probably even stiffer challenge.
“What's it going to take to beat Robbie? I've beat him before and he's beat me before, so we know each other's game pretty well. It's going to come down to who gets their tactics right on the day and who wants it the most, that's the bottom line."
Also on the card are the ladies final (Catriona Casey v Aisling Reilly) and the minor singles (Niall Joyce v Sean Kerr).
