Kildare Handball Player of the Year 2022 – Kevin Diggins (Leixlip)
Kevin had an exceptional 2022 in the 40*20 alley culminating in victory over Cavan’s Joe Dillon in the All Ireland Junior Singles Final. The Leixlip man ran out a fairly comfortable straight games winner after overcame a strong start from the Breffni man. Kevin reached the final by winning the Leinster title and then over coming Limerick’s Shame Murphy away in the All-Ireland semi-final.
Kevin also won the Leinster Junior Doubles title when joined by Ballymore clubman Myles Carroll. However they were narrowly beaten in a cracking game by the eventual All Ireland winners from Limerick.
Arguably Kevin’s biggest win of the year was in the ICHA (Colleges 3rd Level) All-Ireland Men’s 40*20 Open Singles where representing DCU he defeated NUIG’s Peter Donoghue in the final to take the title.
He also reached the final of the Irish Nationals 40*20 Men’s A final were he lost out to Wexford’s Mark Doyle in a cracking final.
In the summer as the action switched to the traditional big court (60×30) Kevin completed the Leinster Junior Singles Double in what is one of the strongest grades in the province defeating Wexford’s Shane Birchy in the final. Earlier Kevin had teamed up with club colleague Niall O’Connor where the Leixlip pairing reached the final of the Irish Nationals 60*30 Men’s A Doubles before losing out to a strong Cork/Limerick combination.
