Latest news with #DavidWalsh
Irish Times
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Paul Brady wins record-breaking 11th All-Ireland handball title
The curtain fell on Paul Brady's 25-year career at the top of Irish handball and the finale could not have been more dramatic as he overcame injury to see off Cork's David Walsh in a final which is already being spoken about as one of the greatest ever. In the end, it came down to a single shot, a 39-foot roll-out which saw Brady – who at 45 was giving away 20 years to his opponent – claim a record-breaking 11th All-Ireland Senior Men's Singles title after a rollercoaster of a match. 'I suppose it was just a primal type shot,' said Brady of his backwall kill which closed out a 21-20, 13-21, 11-9 win. The Cavan man came up short in the 2024 final on an injury default, which served as extra motivation this time around. READ MORE 'Everything went into it, after having to forfeit at that stage last year when I was obviously well in command and knowing it was going to be my last game here, at this level. 'So I thought of that during that period before and I said, 'right, I'm just gonna go for it here, give everything'. That's just it, I probably wasn't doing that in the game generally. That's a little bit disappointing for me, but that (the final shot) is normally how clinical I would be.' Brady led most of the way in game one before Walsh came roaring back. Both men had chances to win it but Brady closed it out 21-20. Cavan's Paul Brady celebrates his win. Photograph: Stephen Marken Ahead 8-1 in the second, he seemed to be cruising to a comfortable victory only to pick up a debilitating quad injury which required a number of injury timeouts. Brady hobbled his way through the remainder of the second game which Walsh won 21-13. Brady had reached the final 12 months ago and found himself in a near-identical situation when injury struck. On that occasion he was forced to forfeit, but this time he managed to eke out the win. 'The same thing happened last year, so it was just about managing the situation a wee bit better this year,' Brady said. 'I had a shoulder issue coming into it and I didn't get to play as much as I'd like so I think that kind of contributed to the conditioning aspect of it. It's obviously very difficult, the atmosphere and the heat on the day, so I'm just happy I was able to get through it. 'I'm very conscious of my self-talk. You're fighting it because you're thinking, 'this is over here, it's really gone from me, it's happened again', and that's life. And then you're answering those doubts all the time. So it was just managing my thoughts and my self-talk and not giving in. 'You're having a battle with yourself and if I can win that battle in those situations, then I'll win the game.' Martina McMahon during All-Ireland Senior Women's Singles final. Photograph: Stephen Marken The Women's Senior Singles title went to Limerick's Martina McMahon for a second time after the Broadford left-hander delivered an outstanding performance to defeat Ciana Ní Churraoin of Galway, 21-5, 21-18. McMahon previously lost in the World Championships final against the Micheál Breathnachs woman, so this was a doubly sweet victory. 'It's a long seven years waiting for this. As everyone knows, I was out with injury but at the start of 2025 or the end of 2024. This was one of the goals on my agenda and I'm glad to have achieved it today,' McMahon said. 'I was disappointed over the Worlds, obviously I would have liked to retain that title, but I used it as fuel for the fire for this competition. And when I knew it was the two of us doing battle again today, I was hoping to get one up and I was glad I did.'
Irish Examiner
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Walsh out to make impression in first senior handball final against maestro Brady
It has been a whirlwind 12 months for Cork handballer David Walsh, who lines out in his first All-Ireland Senior Singles final today at the National Handball Centre, Croke Park. Standing in his way is Cavan's six-time world champion Paul Brady, who is 19 years the Mallow man's senior. Making the semi-final of the Worlds and his first Senior Championship decider means Walsh has now firmly established himself as one of the leading elite players in the sport, having only broken through from intermediate ranks two years ago, but the 26-year-old is not getting carried away. 'It's definitely satisfying to reach your first senior final,' Walsh said after his breakthrough win over Meath's Gary McConnell last time out. 'It just shows the training that you're doing every day is working and paying off, so I'm looking forward to the final now.' The vagaries of the calendar, with international events mixed in, meant that Walsh played three tough matches in eight days before a three-week break ahead of the final. He was glad, he said, for the chance to rest up and re-focus ahead of the biggest match of his career to date. 'Championship is just different; on the day it can be tougher, the games are longer compared to your tournament-style handball, so the three games in eight days was tough because you have your few niggles and stuff to manage.' While his style is explosive, not unlike that patented by Brady, Walsh tries to remain calm and composed in the court. 'I suppose just treating every point individually as such, whether the score is 14-19 or 0-0, just treat every point the same, just try to win every single point,' he said. 'There's no point thinking about the score or thinking 'I'm losing by seven points' or 'I'm ahead by seven points' - it doesn't really matter at the end of the day. Just play every point as is.' Walsh's spectacular spin serves are a huge weapon but, he said, it's important to be selective when employing them. 'That's a good question. To be honest, the one down the middle often catches people straight away, so even if you leave that one for the last few aces, for example, and things like that. If you haven't thrown a hook in and you've been reversing all game, it might have an impact. 'It's tough enough on the body too, you don't want to over-do it and sometimes you literally want the ball to go straight down the left,' he said. ' There's no point in over-complicating it by putting a hook or a reverse on it. It's about just managing it I suppose and not over-thinking it.' Heading into the final, Walsh remains committed to the habits that have brought him this far. 'Just keep doing what I'm doing, to be honest,' he said. 'Whatever I'm doing seems to be working so I'll just keep focusing on myself, my serves, my returns, my shots, and that's all I can do really - just focus on what I can do.' The programme begins at the National Handball Centre, Croke Park at 2pm with the ladies Senior Singles final between Ciana Ní Churraoin (Galway) and Martina McMahon (Limerick). Both finals will be streamed live on the Spórt TG4 YouTube channel.
1News
08-05-2025
- Business
- 1News
NZ Post mega-centre's new tech a 'game changer' for drugs, biosecurity
New technology rolled out at New Zealand Post's huge national packaging centre in South Auckland is being praised as a "game changer" for stamping out biosecurity threats and detecting drugs at the border. The Auckland Processing Centre (APC) in Wiri is the country's international and domestic gateway for all parcels and mail entering and leaving New Zealand, using modern technology to make the process more efficient. Around $250 million has been invested in the Wiri centre and two others around the country. Wiri had been sorting domestic parcels since April 2024. Lesley McLinden from Customs said new 3D screening technology was stepping up how officers identify and process biosecurity risks. (Source: 1News) The international section of the facility was opened today - which housed NZ Post, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) together at the same location. NZ Post chief executive David Walsh told 1News that bringing together NZ Post, MPI and Customs made the process "a more seamless service" for consumers. 'They're a very important partner to New Zealand Post and the New Zealand border security, but the fact that they're on the site, working closely together means we can very quickly work through to get product cleared and get it into the domestic network as well.' Standing at 30,000sq metres, Walsh said the "very big, important site" can process up to 30,000 parcels per hour at capacity, and that all of the mail in the North Island would be sorted through the centre. "This is a really important investment for NZ Post. We're seeing New Zealanders shop more online, and as e-commerce grows we need to have the equipment and machinery to keep pace with that." During 1News' visit to the facility, about 1kg of methamphetamine that had been concealed in a packet of seaweed was being tested by an officer in the inspection room, and in another room was ketamine that had been contained in a coat hanger. Customs technical specialist Braden Harris said a new three-dimensional (3D) scanning system that was used at the facility was "fantastic". "So previously, it was an extremely manual operation. An officer would have to be looking at the mail at the right time for the right things, but with the 3D technology as well as our data we're actually able to use, it's been a game-changer for Customs, that's for sure.' Harris said the methamphetamine would have a street value of about $250,000. MPI Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner north Mike Inglis said New Zealand was already "world class" at mitigating biosecurity risks, but said the new technology would allow the process to be even better. "With the innovative use of new data and intelligence tools, we will focus on items that pose the greatest biosecurity threat, therefore reducing the likelihood of incursions and ensuring we protect our primary industries," he said. Huge Auckland Processing Centre houses MPI and Customs, making the biosecurity and drug detection process more efficient for all parcels and mail in and out of New Zealand. (Source: 1News) "For instance, we don't want foot and mouth disease coming into New Zealand so any fresh meat products coming in, [the facility] allows my staff to have much better technology, much better visual images and we can also make sure we have secondary checks without having to check every item because of the new tech." He said the "explosion of e-commerce" has forced industries to change the speed in which packages were processed too. "We have to change. We have to make sure that we're innovative and looking forward to the future and with our industry partners, particularly when you're protecting a $54 billion dollar primary industry." Customs border operations manager operations processes and systems Lesley McLinden agreed, saying the agencies had always worked closely with one another, but the facility would bring them closer together using the new technology. "[The] new electronic data system that we worked really closely with New Zealand Post to develop allows us to get the data and the information about mail items that are coming in ahead of them arriving," she said. Other guests including Minister for State Owned Enterprises Simeon Brown, Minister for Customs Casey Costello and Minister for Biosecurity Andrew Hoggard were at the site today to help officially open the facility. Brown said having all three teams on the site using the modern technology would help to decrease how many illegal items were arriving on New Zealand's shores. He also reiterated that NZ Post was expected to "maximise the investment that's been made here". "As post continues to decline and parcel [and packages] grows, they need to remain competitive and part of that is having modern infrastructure." He said NZ Post was currently undergoing "a turnaround plan to return to profit", and that "taxpayers are going to expect a return on their investment". "It's ultimately the customers who are critically important to the success of this investment. "We're expecting an economic return in terms of this investment... All our state enterprises need to be focused on making sure they are providing that economic return to the taxpayer which invest in them."
NZ Herald
08-05-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
NZ Post unveils $250 million Auckland processing centre
NZ Post chief executive David Walsh said the facility has the capacity to grow for the next 15-20 years. 'The APC is a critical piece of infrastructure that will benefit New Zealand as e-commerce continues to grow here and internationally, as well as supporting New Zealand export businesses that are trading internationally,' Walsh said. 'In the years to come, we expect Kiwis to shop online more often, with an increased dependency on a delivery network that is reliable and offers greater visibility in real time.' Walsh, who has been with NZ Post for almost a decade, said that when he started, New Zealanders were buying about one in 20 items online. Now it's about one in 10. He said the package sorter was one of the biggest anywhere, with 1800 bags available for items to be sorted into. Each of those 1800 bags represents a delivery person somewhere in the North Island. 'I live in Wellington, so one of these bags or two of these bags will be from my courier. We used to have to move all this to Wellington to manually sort it, now it'll hit Wellington and the courier will pick up that bag and it won't be sorted again.' To help simplify the process, parcels are sorted into two machines determined by their size, one for large parcels and the other for anything smaller than a shoe box. Any oversized parcels or those that contain fragile items are intercepted manually and redirected for processing in a separate area of the facility. With 200 people working in the facility at any one time at night to process parcels, the new capability also comes with a serious promise from the business. 'Our service promises to pick anything up in New Zealand today and deliver anywhere in New Zealand tomorrow.' The new facility will include the presence of the New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) on site. NZ Post has always worked with MPI and Customs at the international mail centre at Auckland Airport, but Walsh explained that when talks began about investing in parcel automation, it became clear they needed to be part of the process. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. 'It's been an incredible relationship because they want to keep the border safe, we want to make sure we can move freight through efficiently.' Customs operations manager Lesley McLinden said the facility was a massive change from the old environment. 'The automation in the processing and the movement of the packages here, and also within the Customs rooms themselves and the MPI facilities. We share access to X-ray images, which is one of our key risk assessment tools. We also have some more updated examination equipment.' She said Customs had also worked closely with NZ Post to develop an automated targeting system, which allows team members to see all information about incoming packages and screen them electronically. Part of the conveyor line includes inspections by Customs sniffer dogs, which are rostered to work in the facility for certain hours of the day before returning to other duties at Auckland Airport. Despite the level of automation in security screening, human oversight and profiling are always present to ensure the highest level of scrutiny. Advertisement Advertise with NZME. Customs and MPI officials explained that all images from X-rays get sent directly into a separate processing room, where they can investigate them and make informed decisions about what to do next, including potentially opening packages when necessary. 'The security integrity of our entire system is really well managed throughout the electronic tracking process, which is a huge step forward in capability for all of us,' one official said. Walsh said NZ Post had been around for 185 years, and this facility was the next step in its evolution to serve its customers across the country. Looking ahead, Walsh said he would spend the next three to four years making sure NZ Post continued to be a great New Zealand business and service provider.
1News
08-05-2025
- Business
- 1News
New tech a 'game changer' at mega NZ Post processing facility
New technology rolled out at New Zealand Post's huge national packaging centre in South Auckland is being praised as a "game changer" for stamping out biosecurity threats and detecting drugs at the border. The Auckland Processing Centre (APC) in Wiri is the country's international and domestic gateway for all parcels and mail entering and leaving New Zealand, using modern technology to make the process more efficient. Around $250 million has been invested in the Wiri centre and two others around the country. Wiri had been sorting domestic parcels since April 2024. Lesley McLinden from Customs said new 3D screening technology was stepping up how officers identify and process biosecurity risks. (Source: 1News) The international section of the facility was opened today - which housed NZ Post, Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and New Zealand Customs Service (Customs) together at the same location. NZ Post chief executive David Walsh told 1News that bringing together NZ Post, MPI and Customs made the process "a more seamless service" for consumers. 'They're a very important partner to New Zealand Post and the New Zealand border security, but the fact that they're on the site, working closely together means we can very quickly work through to get product cleared and get it into the domestic network as well.' Standing at 30,000sq metres, Walsh said the "very big, important site" can process up to 30,000 parcels per hour at capacity, and that all of the mail in the North Island would be sorted through the centre. "This is a really important investment for NZ Post. We're seeing New Zealanders shop more online, and as e-commerce grows we need to have the equipment and machinery to keep pace with that." During 1News' visit to the facility, about 1kg of methamphetamine that had been concealed in a packet of seaweed was being tested by an officer in the inspection room, and in another room was ketamine that had been contained in a coat hanger. Customs technical specialist Braden Harris said a new three-dimensional (3D) scanning system that was used at the facility was "fantastic". "So previously, it was an extremely manual operation. An officer would have to be looking at the mail at the right time for the right things, but with the 3D technology as well as our data we're actually able to use, it's been a game-changer for Customs, that's for sure.' Harris said the methamphetamine would have a street value of about $250,000. MPI Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner north Mike Inglis said New Zealand was already "world class" at mitigating biosecurity risks, but said the new technology would allow the process to be even better. "With the innovative use of new data and intelligence tools, we will focus on items that pose the greatest biosecurity threat, therefore reducing the likelihood of incursions and ensuring we protect our primary industries," he said. "For instance, we don't want foot and mouth disease coming into New Zealand so any fresh meat products coming in, [the facility] allows my staff to have much better technology, much better visual images and we can also make sure we have secondary checks without having to check every item because of the new tech." He said the "explosion of e-commerce" has forced industries to change the speed in which packages were processed too. "We have to change. We have to make sure that we're innovative and looking forward to the future and with our industry partners, particularly when you're protecting a $54 billion dollar primary industry." Customs border operations manager operations processes and systems Lesley McLinden agreed, saying the agencies had always worked closely with one another, but the facility would bring them closer together using the new technology. "[The] new electronic data system that we worked really closely with New Zealand Post to develop allows us to get the data and the information about mail items that are coming in ahead of them arriving," she said. Other guests including Minister for State Owned Enterprises Simeon Brown, Minister for Customs Casey Costello and Minister for Biosecurity Andrew Hoggard were at the site today to help officially open the facility. Brown said having all three teams on the site using the modern technology would help to decrease how many illegal items were arriving on New Zealand's shores. He also reiterated that NZ Post was expected to "maximise the investment that's been made here". "As post continues to decline and parcel [and packages] grows, they need to remain competitive and part of that is having modern infrastructure." He said NZ Post was currently undergoing "a turnaround plan to return to profit", and that "taxpayers are going to expect a return on their investment". "It's ultimately the customers who are critically important to the success of this investment. "We're expecting an economic return in terms of this investment... All our state enterprises need to be focused on making sure they are providing that economic return to the taxpayer which invest in them."
