Absence makes the heart grow fonder: How handball returned to centre stage

Handball was one of the sports which were hardest hit by Covid restrictions over the past two years.

Cork’s Catriona Casey defeated her great rival Martin McMahon (Limerick) 21-18, 21-15 in the ladies Senior Singles final at the 2022 O'Neill's All-Ireland Handball Finals, Kingscourt, Cavan

At the lowest point, it was hard to see a way back. For Diarmaid Nash, the nadir came early in 2021, by which time the sport he has devoted his entire adult life to had been suspended for almost a year.

Nash had gone back training that autumn in 2020, keen to be in the best shape he could if, as was hoped, the All-Ireland Championships returned the following February. But handball, deemed high risk during the pandemic, didn’t come back; another lockdown intervened, this one the longest of all.