Freelance sports media journalist. Commentator for the EHF Champions League and co-host “handballhour.libsyn.com“. Irish international handball player.
VIDEO: France’s Estelle Nze Minko spoke to Chris O’Reilly in the aftermath of her side’s 31:26 win over Sweden on Wednesday night. With the scores locked at 15:15 at half-time, France came out with a rejuvenated and deadly defence in the second half, smothering the Swedish attack and laying the foundation for their victory, which sends them on to the …
Spain 2021 Quarter-final – France vs Sweden 31:26 (15:15) By Chris O’Reilly Before the Game Saving the best for last, the headline quarter-final pitted two teams completing a trilogy of big matches in 2021. At this summer’s Tokyo Olympics, they played out two thrillers, a 28:28 draw in the preliminary round and a 29:27 win for France in the …
Spain 2021 Quarter-final – Norway vs Russian Handball Federation 34:28 (19:15) By Chris O’Reilly Before the game Norway’s World Championship started all of a sudden with two make-or-break matches against Sweden, 30:30, and the Netherlands, 37:34, to send them through to the knockout rounds. The Russian campaign, on the other hand, was more of a slow burner as they had …
Spain 2021 Quarter-final – Spain vs Germany 26:21 (14:10) By Chris O’Reilly Before the game Hosts Spain came into the quarter-finals as somewhat of an unknown quantity, in so far as they had progressed with ease from the softest quarter of the championship. An unbeaten main round concluded with a 27:24 win over Brazil but it was difficult to know …
Spain 2021 Quarter-final – Denmark vs Brazil 30:25 (14:13) By Chris O’Reilly Before the Game Denmark have been the standout team for me at Spain 2021 so far and I had them top of my power ranking. Coming into this match with six wins from six and conceding more than 20 goals on just one occasion, the only question mark …
By Chris O’Reilly No rest for the wicked. From the final main round matches on Monday night to the quarter-finals beginning on Tuesday, it leaves little room to pause and take stock of what has happened. So here is a quick rundown of the eight remaining contenders and how I rank them in terms of current form – not necessarily …
By Chris O’Reilly Captivating matches at Spain 2021 are like waiting for a bus: you wait ages for one and then a bunch come along at once. At least that’s how I felt in recent days as the main round came to an end. Is that fair though? One glance at the results from the past few days suggests there …
Spain 2021 – Denmark vs Germany 32:16 (13:8) By Chris O’Reilly IN FOCUS: In Sunday’s Group III finale, Denmark taught Germany an uncomfortable lesson with a truly dominant performance, their sixth of the championship, sealing top spot in the group and booking a quarter-final clash with Brazil, while Germany must face hosts Spain. Here are the ratings for all players …
Denmark coach Jesper Jensen chats to Chris O’Reilly about his side’s brilliant start to Spain 2021, their development over the past 12 months and the players’ understanding of their own and each others’ strengths. Jensen, who also coaches Danish club Team Esbjerg, admits a tiny part of him has an eye on his club players with other nations and breaks …
Spain 2021 – Sweden vs Norway 30:30 (12:14) By Chris O’Reilly Before the game Having breezed through Spain 2021 so far, Norway would be put to the test for the first time on Saturday against a Sweden side on the hunt for a quarter-final place and a measure of revenge. Their last meeting was the bronze medal match at the …