Paul Brady

The stage seemed set for a major impact at senior level back at home but it took the Cavanman some time to adjust. A crop of dominant senior players, including Ducksy Walsh, Walter O'Connor and Tom Sheridan were coming to the end of their senior 40x20 careers at this time and with the emergence of young stars such as Brady, Kennedy, Carlow's Kenneth Kane and, most of all, Cork's Tony Healy, the senior scene was extremely competitive at this time. Brady would suffer a number of heartbreaking defeats – games which he has often cited as being crucial to his later success – before he finally made a senior breakthrough. He lost the All Ireland senior final, in a tiebreaker to Healy, the Irish Nationals final, the senior doubles final and the singles and doubles trials for the World Championships in 2000 and 2001.

In October, he announced plans to retire from Irish singles play in 2013 before winning his fourth World Open Singles crown, defeating American Luis Moreno 21-19, 21-10 in a magnificent final watched by 4,000 fans in CityWest, Dublin.

2012 was an annus mirabilis for the Cavanman. Back from injury, he trounced new rival Robbie McCarthy 21-6, 21-1 in the All Ireland senior final and followed up by reclaming his US Nationals title with a final win over Shanks.

He followed this up with two more All Ireland senior titles, seeing off first-time finalist Charly Shanks of Armagh in 2010 and again in 2011, overcoming a career-threatening finger injury in the latter year, an injury which saw him miss the US Nationals, in which he had been unbeaten since 2005.

In 2009, Brady retained his US Nationals title in June and that October, in Portland, Oregon, he overcame a serious quad injury to come through a tough field in the World Championships, eventually beating Texan Allan Garner in an 11-7 tiebreaker in the final to claim his third world title.

At the 2005 renewal in Houston, Texas, Brady saw off Healy 21-12, 21-5 in the semi-final before defeating Danny Bell (Canada) - who had shocked American Naty Alvarado Jr in the semi-final, on the same scoreline in the final.

In 2004, Brady began the season with a career-best win over David Chapman, who is commonly regarded as the second-greatest player of all time and who at that point was the world number one, in the final of the Ultimate Handball Showdown in Seattle. Brady comfortably defeated the Californian to win the first prize of $50,000, still the richest purse in the sport's history.

He followed up with a first All Ireland senior title in March 2003, defeating Healy 21-6, 21-18 at O'Loughlin's, Kilkenny in the final, and added the doubles title with Michael Finnegan against Meath.

Their first tournament on the circuit was in Peoira, Illinois and the pair would travel to Sacramento, Dallas, Juarez, South Bend, Modesto and Las Vegas up to June 2002, by which point Brady was beginning to assert himself as the top Irish player and a coming force on the world scene. In December 2002, two months after his 22nd birthday, he defeated top Californian Vince Munoz in the final of a pro stop in Milwaukee to become the first Irishman to win such an event, which was a massive milestone in the history of the sport and a turning point in Brady's career.

Brady was first called into the Cavan senior panel by Mattie Kerrigan in the winter of 2002. He played for Cavan for nine years, generally at wing-back but also in the half-forward line, and was regarded as one of the most consistent players in the county. He earned a call-up to the Ulster squad for the inter-provincial series and has two county U21 medals, three Cavan SFC medals (1998, 2006 and 2012) and one Senior League medal (2012) with Mullahoran Dreadnoughts. He was Man of the Match in the 2012 county final win over Kingscourt Stars. Brady's uncle was the great Phil 'The Gunner' Brady who played for Cavan for many years, winning three All-Ireland medals.

Healy, just a year older than Brady, became senior champion as soon as he graduated from intermediate and would win the title three times before he lost a senior championship match. He and Brady became close friends, as well as on-court rivals, and in 2001 the pair began to travel to the US in an attempt to break on to the USHA Pro Tour.

At the time, no Irish player had ever qualified for the tour but Healy and Brady bucked the trend, reaching the final of a qualifying tournament in Atlanta in late 2001.

Having won the minor title, the flesh title, Brady began to travel regularly to the US for tournaments. In June 1998, he won the US Nationals 19 and Under Singles in Los Angeles, won the Junior Nationals in the same age group the following December in Chicago, Illinois and won the title again the next June, this time in Baltimore, Maryland.

Brady was introduced to the sport as a 12-year-old by Fr John Gilhooly, a teacher in St Patrick's College, Cavan. While he showed an early aptitude and won an All Ireland Feile title in 1993, Brady didn't win his first "full" All Ireland title until the age of 16, partnering Pauric Kiernan to the U16 doubles crown in 1995. In 1997, he defeated Meath's Carl Browne in an all-Irish 17 and Under final at the World Championships in Winnipeg, Canada. The win was a mild shock at the time, and marked Brady out as an outstanding prospect. The following year, Brady landed the prestigious Minor Singles title, defeating Dublin's Eoin Kennedy for the first time in a marathon final in Roscommon.

Paul Brady (born 20 September 1979) is an Irish handball and Gaelic football player. Born in Cavan, he won his fifth Men's Singles title in a row at the 2015 at Calgary, Canada. He defeated Killian Carroll from Cork in the final as the Irish dominated the singles with the four semi final berths taken by Irish players. His rivalry with Luis Moreno has been likened to the Federer–Nadal rivalry in tennis. Brady will likely attempt to achieve the record of 12 US National singles titles, which will take him to 2018 and just weeks short of his 39th birthday. Brady has stated he won't compete for his 6th World Handball Championship in 2018.