In terms of a dream day for Wexford Handball Sunday August 19^th, 2018, will live long in the memory as five world titles were won by the county yesterday at the World Handball Championships at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.  

Josh Kavanagh from St Joseph’s who was a member of the official Irish team for the championships did the double of 15 and under singles and doubles in the space of a few hours. The singles event saw Josh number one seed and he never looked in danger throughout the competition. In round one Kavanagh battered Antonio Flores 21-2, 21-0. The quarter final victim was Jack Darcy from Tyrone on a 21-11, 21-1 score line, before Rory Grace from Tipperary was defeated 21-7, 21-9 in the semi-finals. Mikie Kelly from Galway was the opposition in the final and Josh showed his incredible skill to win 21-16, 21-10.

A few hours later Mark Doyle joined forces with Josh Kavanagh as the Taghmon and St Joseph’s duo triumphed for the second time at this World Championships as a double act with a 21-8, 21-7 win over Sean Coughlan (Clare) and Rory Grace (Tipperary), Josh finished the championships with three gold medals, while Mark Doyle finished with two gold and one silver.

Galen Riordan (Ballyhogue) completed the double in the 23 and under grade, following from his singles success on Friday last he joined forces with Brian Mahon from Kilkenny to take the doubles title yesterday in what was a fascinating final, the Wexford-Kilkenny duo who were the number two seeds defeated the number one seeds Daniel Relihan and Michael Hedigan from Cork in the final on a 21-14, 20-21, 11-4 score.

Gavin Buggy and Dominick Lynch pictured above

Gavin Buggy picked up title number four of the afternoon for the model county as he teamed up with long-time partner Dominick Lynch from Kerry to capture the 35 and Over doubles in a great final they overcame American pair Chris Tico and Emmet Peixoto 11-8 in a tie breaker and in the decider the Wexford-Kerry combo came back from 8-0 behind.

Marguerite Gore completed the famous five of victories yesterday as she took the Women’s C singles title after a 21-20, 21-20 victory over Ashling Mullin from Galway in a very tough final. What made it more remarkable was that Marguerite had a couple of hours before the final had been defeated in the Women’s Over 35 singles final after a tie break defeat to Jean Kastner from the USA with the home town girl winning 21-20, 11-21, 11-5.

Wexford finished the championships with a total of nine World titles as Josh Kavanagh (3), Mark Doyle, Galen Riordan, Gavin Buggy (2 each), Adam Walsh and Marguerite Gore all won gold. Silver medals were won by Mark Doyle, Joshua Roche, Charlie Roche, Ned Buggy and Marguerite Gore, while bronze medallists were Sean Nolan, John Roche, and Conor Doyle in what was a memorable championship for the county.