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Fermoy’s racquetball hero Noel O’Callaghan, who has claimed an Irish record for the most national titles won in any sport.

Fermoy’s Noel O’Callaghan claimed his 22nd Irish national singles championship in racquetball last weekend, officially making him the athlete with most Irish national titles across any sport.

The latest title was also his 17th consecutive Irish national singles championship. He beat Kilkenny’s Mark Murphy in the final 2-0 held in Galway and his success means he has qualified to compete in the US Open in October.

Speaking to The Avondhu, Noel said he was very pleased with how the tournament went. “It went very well, the preparation for it went very well. I was beaten in the semi-finals of the Castlebar Open two week before so that gave me a bit of a rude awakening to go away and do a bit of training for the national championships.

“Luckily enough I just played very well at the weekend. The final was a bit easier than I thought it would be. The guy I played in the final is from Kilkenny, Mark Murphy. He’s the number 2 in the country at the moment.

“Down through the years he’s been giving me a good run for my money so I was expecting a tough battle, but I came out on top and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.”

Looking ahead for 2015, one of Noel’s aim is to retain the Irish Open, having came out on top last year, when the tournament is held over the May Bank Holiday.

Thanks to funding provided by the Racquetball Association of Ireland, Noel will also be able to attend the US Open later in the year.

“The prize for winning the national championships was a trip to the US for the US Open in October. It’s a competition I’ve always wanted to go to, but it had always been expensive and racquetball being racquetball, it’s a minority sport in Ireland and you don’t get the sponsorship a lot of the top sports would get.

“But thankfully this year, the Racquetball Association of Ireland have offered to pay for my flights to the US Open if I wanted to go, so that’s very promising and I just have to do a good lot of training over the summer for that,” he added.

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