ON a seismic weekend for the senior championship when heavy-hitters fell by the wayside, the possibility of another upset occurring at Lyre when Martin Coppinger and Patrick Flood clashed in a third quarter-final was well within the bounds of possibility.
The question was could the youthful Fermoy exponent bring the devastating form that vanquished James O’Donovan at Beal na Morrive two weeks ago to the South West venue? The answer was only on intermittent occasions, and it was never going to be enough to derail a confident Coppinger who blitzed the opening third and had easily enough in reserve to hold off a creditable late charge by the young rival. The Bantry native won by the shot and will play either Michael Bohane or Michael Harrington in the semi-final round. The Lyre contest did not carry a stake.
On a weekend of turn-ups and surprises, Brian Wilmot’s defeat of defending champion David Murphy in their senior championship quarter-final at Newcestown on Saturday evening really sent the shock waves reverberating through the bowling world. That the Bandon man was up for it was evident in a blistering opening salvo that had him out ‘Mac’s cross’ in four excellent deliveries.
Murphy gamely tried to follow but was unlucky with a fifth bowl and he now faced a shot deficit as they played to ‘Allen’s lane’. Wilmot made no errors and held his odds in the bowling to ‘Desmond’s’ and on to the rise at ‘the sheds’. Murphy was showing form of old when lining a super 12th that knocked the shot of odds but his next to the ‘railings’ didn’t quite run, and Wilmot escaped with his bowl of odds intact in 14 and 15 to ‘O’Brien’s cross’. Murphy came again with a screamer to sight at the bottom of the hill and, when Wilmot missed it was in the melting pot. The Bandon man crucially got a great run to sight at the last corner, but Murphy was within 30 metres. Murphy’s shot to salvage his championship was left and Wilmot had the wherewithal to avail of a touch and beat the mark by four metres for a thrilling victory. There was a €340 total at issue. It’s a Brian Wilmot-Gary Daly semi-final now in a few weeks.
The first of the weekend’s three senior quarter-finals was an all North-East meeting of Gary Daly and Arthur McDonagh played at Grenagh for a €10,000 total. Daly emerged to set up a semi-final against Brian Wilmot. In Ulster, Colm Rafferty levelled his best of five with Thomas Mackle defeating the All-Ireland champion by almost a bowl at Eglish.
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It was a shock of sizable proportions when Wayne Callanan defeated Wayne Parkes in the second intermediate semi-final at Templemartin on Saturday. The overwhelming favourite, Parkes was below his best whereas Callanan was consistent enough and determined enough to take full advantage and go through in some style to a county final meeting with Tommy O’Sullivan at Castletownkenneigh.
