Mayo parish recognises remarkable success of sports star
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Cuileann pictured with her parents Mary and John and her brother Finian Bourke. PicasaImage 2 of 4
Mary Jo Cannon, chairperson, Belcarra Community Co-Op, making a presentation to Cuileann. PicasaImage 3 of 4
Pictured at the ceremony were Fionnán Nestor, community chairperson, Mary Fitzgerald, vice-chairperson, Cuileann Bourke, Mary B. Prendergast, community council, and Mary Jo Cannon, Belcarra Community Co-op chairperson. PHOTO: TRISH FORDE PicasaImage 4 of 4
Cuileann Bourke pictured with fellow Belcarra Handball Club members, the Brady family. PicasaBelcarra Community Council has held a presentation evening to mark the amazing achievements of Cuileann Bourke, winner of a gold and silver medal at the World Handball Finals 2024.
The story of Cuileann Bourke’s rise in handball began with two small groups of children meeting regularly at Belcarra Handball Alley, under the steerage of Mary Heneghan.
The children were Diarmuid, Claire, Heather, Kieran, Aoife, Megan, Ruth and Cathriona. Mary brought them to the other handball clubs to play.
They were novice players but were very eager to learn and worked hard. The Holy Angels National School, Clogher, entered both girls and boys into the Cumann na mBunscoil handball competitions.
Both Cuileann and Aoife qualified in the Under 11 doubles and they travelled to Cavan to play schools from Ulster, Munster and Leinster.
They played well but found the other teams more experienced at the time, and it opened their eyes to see that they could travel to new places, meeting new friends and experiencing games.
The local Carra area entered a team in the Community Games, where the girls won the Connaught region, then going to Athlone to represent the province.
The group was now forming and experiencing a very different sport than they had been used to.
Their secondary school years began in a blink of an eye and the children continued to play, some changing to team sports along the way.
Cuileann and her friends had a solid foundation, and she worked hard to gain success. The secondary school in Balla entered Claire and Cuileann in doubles competitions and the two girls won three successive All-Ireland seniors competitions.
Cuileann was lucky to have further help from John Staunton, John Cunningham, Declan Murphy and Darragh Ruane.
She prefers the 60x30 game and in 2022 qualified for the All-Ireland senior final, coming runner-up to the current champion, Cathriona Casey.
She played Laura Finn in the 40x20 junior final in 2022 and came home with the win on the day.
Cuileann played in the recent World One Wall Championships which were held in Limerick.
She played singles against a competitor from Tyrone, losing in a tie-breaker.
She then played doubles with Caóilisa Ní Duill from Armagh and they won the ladies A doubles, defeating the American team in a nail-biting tie breaker.
The Belcarra club continues to promote the game of handball locally. The club alley is a credit to the local community and people are astonished when they come to visit.
The club promotes all levels as it is a sport that you can play aged eight all the way up to 80.
The club has been so lucky to have responsible committees that have kept the club going strong throughout the years, notably are Paddy Tuffy, Padraic Gibbons (RIP), Liam Roche (RIP), Carmel Reynolds, Margaret Ruane, Mary Cunningham, Mary Burke, Seán Doherty and present chairperson Tanya Nally.