Olympic Handball 2026

On January 19^th, 40-odd Ballyconnell NS students headed to Ballon Community Centre to take part in the Carlow stage of Olympic Handball Ireland’s national competition. We entered four teams this year – senior boys and girls and junior boys and girls.

Our junior girls were crowned county champions after a thrilling win against Carlow ETNS. You can read more about that here. Our other three teams also did the school proud throughout the day.

Our senior girls began with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Scoil Mhuire Lourdes before defeating Grange NS. This set up the final group game versus Carlow ETNS. A win and our girls would qualify for the final; even a draw might be enough. In the end, our girls suffered a narrow defeat which meant they missed out on the final on goals scored. i.e. Grange NS scored more goals overall so qualified for the final in our stead.

Our junior boys had a tough start versus Carlow ETNS but bounced back to play out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Grange NS. Remarkably, we once again missed out on the final on goals scored!

Our senior boys played some great handball while defeating Grange NS comfortably before a narrow defeat to Carlow ETNS in the group stage. This meant we would be taking on Carlow ETNS once again in the final. The Ballyconnell boys were really switched on and were level (2-2) at the end of an exciting first half. It was tit for tat in the second half before Carlow ETNS’s extra power told as they pulled away in the end.

All in all, a great day was had by all students. Míle buíochas to Joao from Olympic Handball Ireland for his Trojan work on the day; he acted as referee, scorekeeper, fixtures co-ordinator and floor mopper!