A member of the only handball club in Armagh City has encouraged more people to get involved in the sport, which he describes as the “best kept secret of the GAA”.
Conor McLean, a past pupil at St Patrick’s Grammar School in Armagh, was victorious at the 2024 O’Neill’s World Wallball Championships held in Limerick last month.
Conor represented Eugene Quinn GAA Handball Club, who are based at the Athletics Grounds, and was champion of the Men’s B competition.
Eugene Quinn is a member of the Gaelic Athletic Association and provides recreational and competitive handball in a 40 x 20 court.
There are a number of different codes of handball; 4-Wall, 1-Wall and 60×30. Eugene Quinn play in 4-Wall, which is 40×20, while wallball is played in the 1-Wall format.
The primary aim of a handball match is to make the ball hit the front wall and bounce twice before your opponent can return it. The different codes have a variation of the number of walls in the court and the size of the court.
Conor hopes that the sport can become more popular in the future and that more people take it up.
“I don’t think a lot of people are aware there is a club in the town,” he said. “People call handball the GAA’s best kept secret because nobody really knows about it.
“There definitely is a prospect for wallball to be an Olympic sport in the future. It’s a good spectator sport and is played by many countries. There’s a European tour and it’s big in America.
“We just want to raise its recognition in Armagh. It’s not that well-known. We’re the only club in Armagh City.”
Continued Conor: “It just doesn’t have the PR the other GAA sports have. The World Wallball Championships did raise the profile a good bit, I think we have to build on that.
“It’s such an accessible sport for people: all you need is a ball and a wall and that’s it. It’s very fun and competitive.
“It’s for all age groups too, there’s even an over 70s category. It’s really good for all levels, you don’t have to go and compete. I think people should definitely take it up.”
TG4 reported that over an eight-day period, a remarkable 265,000 viewers tuned in to TG4’s coverage of the World Wallball Championships, indicating that awareness of the sport is increasing.
