{"id":417930,"date":"2026-04-26T04:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T04:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/417930\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T04:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T04:39:20","slug":"daniel-relihan-and-michael-hedigan-reclaim-all-ireland-4-wall-senior-doubles-title-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/417930\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Relihan and Michael Hedigan reclaim All-Ireland 4-Wall senior doubles title \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/cork-gaa\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/cork-gaa\/\">Cork<\/a>\u2019s Daniel Relihan and Michael Hedigan reclaimed the All-Ireland 4-Wall Senior Doubles title in impressive fashion at the National Handball Centre, Croke Park this afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Liscarroll clubmen gained revenge on Kilkenny brothers Peter and Patrick Funchion, who beat them in the 2025 decider, with a straight games win, 21-16, 21-14.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Corkmen had won their maiden crown in 2024 before falling to the Funchions in last year\u2019s final, the Cats also getting their names on the roll of honour for the first time on that occasion. Anticipation was high when the pairs qualified to meet again in the latest instalment of what is becoming one of the sport\u2019s hottest rivalries and the match lived up to its billing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Cork came out shooting and opened an 11-2 lead but Kilkenny came roaring back to 12-13, with Peter Funchion finding his range on kills.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">However, Cork weren\u2019t rattled and raced to game-ball, belatedly closing it out 21-16.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Kilkenny opened a 5-0 lead in game two but Cork moved 8-5 in front and kept their opponents at arm\u2019s length from there on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWe bring out the best in each other to be honest,\u201d said Hedigan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cMost times we meet it goes to a tiebreaker. Thankfully it worked out for us today, they\u2019ll be back stronger than ever next year and hopefully we\u2019ll be there waiting for them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cTo be honest, playing the two boys, you have to be patient. They are exceptional on the roof, you have to play around till you get your opportunity and then you have to take it. I know I missed a few but that\u2019s the joys of handball.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI thought our serving was exceptional and when we served well, I thought their returns were poor \u2013 thankfully it paid off. This was our fourth final in a row and we have met them every year, we know their games and they know ours.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Meanwhile, Galway\u2019s Ciana N\u00ed Churraoin and Niamh Heffernan affirmed their position as the leading ladies doubles team as they secured a three-in-a-row.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Miche\u00e1l Breathnachs-Claregalway partnership ran out 21-4, 21-11 winners over first-time finalists Leah Minogue and Cathriona Millane from the famous Tuamgraney club in Clare.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The first year we were playing together, I was very young, I was only up in senior ranks, I felt very inexperienced, out of place nearly. I think we\u2019ve grown into a great doubles pair over the last three years, we enjoy playing it and it feels unreal to have won three in a row.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">N\u00ed Churraoin, the world champion in singles, felt the game was closer than the scoreline would indicate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cIt was intense, the scoreline didn\u2019t reflect how it felt in there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cork\u2019s Daniel Relihan and Michael Hedigan reclaimed the All-Ireland 4-Wall Senior Doubles title in impressive fashion at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1964,61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-417930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-cork-gaa","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}