Cian O’Driscoll from Mallow has won gold in the 73rd USHA National Four-Wall Championships in the Men’s Singles Open and in the ‘Men’s Doubles A, partnering with Adam Walsh (Wexford), while Sarah Walsh won the ladies B national four-wall singles title, defeating Marisol Maldonado from Tucson, Arizona in the final.The 73rd USHA National Four-Wall Championships were held from 23rd – 27th May in Los Caballeros, Fountain Valley, California, hosted by The Southern California Handball Association. The tournament attracted 270 players from all grades in both men’s and women’s divisions, from Pro to Men’s over 80. Cian was entered into two divisions, the Men’s Singles Open A, and the ‘Men’s Doubles A, partnering with Adam Walsh (Wexford).

Men’s Singles Open A
Cian got a bye into the quarter-finals and his first game was against Ryan Watkins from Los Angeles.Cian remained in control in the first game and won 21/10. However, in the second game Watkins got his head together and put it up the young Mallow man. Watkins went 20/14 up in the second game and Cian had to pull it out of the bag. A blistering series of aces and kill-shots secured his place in the semi-final, defeating Watkins 21/20.

Semi-final
Cian was up against Holden Smith from Austin, Texas. Smith had beaten Cian’s doubles partner, Adam Walsh (Wexford) 21/2, 21/9 in the quarter-final. The man from Texas tried his best against a very determined Cian, it wasn’t to be. The young Mallow man, who came from the Don Carroll school of handball, defeated Smith 21/3, 21/8.

Problems with the court
The number of games that had been played in that particular court combined with a breakdown in the air-conditioning system caused the walls to become extremely wet causing the ball to slide as well as effecting the players through excessive sweating and overheating. This was to test the two Irish finalists.

The Final
First game
In the final Cian faced Kevin Diggins from Leixlip, Co. Kildare. Cian got off to a blistering start, racking up eight straight aces within a minute and a half, the Kildare man only managing to get one ace. Diggins was rattled and called for a timeout. After the two-minute break O’Driscoll went up another four points, making the score 12/1. Diggins got in and scored 3 points but was knocked back out by Cian who scored another two, with the score now at 14/4. Diggins slipped one past Cian, bringing it up to 14/5. But O’Driscoll with a combination of kill-shots and roof-shots finished out the first game in 22 minutes, 21/5.

Second game
The second game was a different game altogether. O’Driscoll and Diggins went head-to-head, knocking each other out from one ace to the next. After twenty minutes the score was just 6/6. Diggins had found his mojo! Another 21 minutes went by and the pair were at 13/13. The rallies were long and the fitness of both players was truly tested. O’Driscoll, who lives up the north now, had prepared for this extreme heat and humidity by spending an hour at a time on a spinning bike in his little sitting room, having a raging fire on with a fan blowing hot air into his face while wearing two jumpers. He must have watched Rocky as a child!
Cian only managed to score one more point and Diggins finished out the second game 21/14.

Tie-breaker
We were now into the tie-breaker and both players were within touching distance of the gold medal as well as a place in next year’s Men’s Pro Division (top of the top, Killian Carroll territory). O’Driscoll scored 11 aces, an unbelievable achievement. A series of accurate shots down the left hand-side brought him to 10/0 with the winning shot being a shot that his first coach Billy O’Connell taught him when he was six years old, the ‘Z-Shot’ high up into the right corner, bringing the ball onto the back wall and across onto the left-side wall. Diggins had no choice but to try to hit the ball with his left hand with an overhand swing, causing him to bury the ball into the ground. Game over, 11/0.
Final score
Cian O’Driscoll beat Kevin Diggins (Leixlip) 21/5, 14/21, 11/0 to win the 73rd Men’s Open A Singles Small Ball USHA National Four-Wall Championships.

Men’s Doubles Small Ball A semi-final
Cian O’Driscoll and Adam Walsh were up against Jack Wu and Max Chiang (Flushing/Oakland Gardens, New York). These guys from New York were out to put it up to the Irish lads and took full advantage of the fact that Cian was just back on the court after just winning the singles final an hour earlier. It turns out that O’Driscoll and Walsh are a very tight pair and managed to secure the first game 21/17 and the second game 21/11.
The Final
Playing Meleci Gonzalez/Holden Smith (Eagle River, AK/Austin, TX) in the final, the Irish double proved their dominance, winning the first game 21/0. The American duo tried to get a bit of traction in the second game but O’Driscoll and Walsh were having none of it and finished out the second game 21/6.