Racquet king Noel claims 17th Irish title
He was remarkably low key about the result but when you are collecting your 17th consecutive crown, such a laissez faire attitude is understandable.
“I just love the game,” the O’Loughlins, Kilkenny club man says of his longevity.
“I remember the first title in 1991 against Mick Ryan from Cavan but to be honest I can’t remember many of the finals in the years since.”
His latest victim, Tristan Hickey, is a remarkable 13 years younger than the champion. This is the second season in a row he has come up against — and lost to — O’Callaghan in the final.
“Tristan gave me a much better game this year. I was made to work harder this time round.”
The victory aside, O’Callaghan had other reasons to smile this weekend. There were over 135 entries across the age groups vying for titles, including an impressive number of youngsters. The crowds were good while RTÉ sent an OB Sport crew to cover an event which otherwise did not register on the media radar.
“Racquetball is booming in Ireland,” said O’Callaghan. “It is not as expensive as when I started. Twenty years ago it would cost £200 for a racquet while today that same racquet would cost you €160. Maybe it is a mark of the growing interest the sport is enjoying that prices are coming down.”
An employee at Glennon’s Sawmill in Fermoy, O’Callaghan quit his brief entanglements with GAA at the age of 13 to concentrate on his passion.
But he is not as dedicated a trainer as his record would suggest.
“I don’t train as much as I should because I do shift work. I try train three of four nights a week when I am working on days. But when I am on evenings, I am very lazy to get out of the bed in the morning and usually leave my training to the weekend. I have no funding, it is completely amateur. I do have a sponsor, an American company E Force, who make equipment. Apart from that everything else is out of my own pocket.”
He has seen a lot of the world through the sport. There have been world championship assignments in Mexico and Arizona, jaunts all over Europe, the highlight being a doubles title with Jimmy Gannon of Arklow. There is plenty on the horizon to keep him hungry.
“The Europeans are coming up in Milan. I am hopefully going to go for that — but my game needs to improve if I am going to win anything.”
Next year Ireland hosts the World Championship in Kingscourt and then there is the small matter of title number 18 to keep motivation bubbling.
“I’ll be back but I don’t know will I be winning any more,” he said.
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