2022 champion Michael Bohane won last weekend’s senior championship contest at Templemartin, defeating Killian Kingston by a bowl of odds.
After an even opening, Caheragh man Bohane gained good law in the bowling to ‘Slynne’s’ corner’, and this transferred to a bowl lead at ‘O’Riordan’s’. Kingston dug in and, in good bowling kept it at the shot of odds as they played to the three-quarter point at ‘Buttimer’s’. Bohane increased his margin beyond the ‘monument’ and had close to two at the finish. He plays Michael Harrington in the quarter-final at Jagoe’s Mills.
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Ballyclough’s Michael Murphy, the North East champion, will play Mid Cork’s Kieran Murphy in the 2024 county junior A final at Castletownkenneigh. Securing their places with semi-final wins at Bantry and Ballinagree, the pair promise an exciting final, both having shown consistently good form for the most part in the run-up.
Kieran Murphy’s win over South West’s Johnny O’Driscoll came thanks to superb brace that broke early deadlock as the contest entered its third quarter stage. Playing for a combined €5,200, they both started well lining big shots to ‘McSweeney’s’ where the South West champion led by metres. They stayed close in eight each to ‘Cronin’s cross’ before a misplay by O’Driscoll gave Murphy an opening. He took it in some style, lining two massive shots to the point known as ‘the crush’ and suddenly he was clear. O’Driscoll could not recover ground and Murphy won by a big fore bowl.
Murphy’s win on Saturday came in a surprisingly one-sided contest with West Cork’s Noel O’Regan. Played at Ballinagree for a €7,400 total with the Ballyclough man the hot favourite, the score began with O’Regan in the ascendancy following an excellent opener and a well-drilled second shot that looked like rising a bowl of odds. His fourth and fifth cost him odds and when the improving Murphy hit a screamer past ‘Horgan’s cross’, it brought him in front for the first time. Coming from arrears hasn’t been a problem for the Togher Cross man in an unbeaten two-year Cork championship run and there were expectations of a quick revival. It did not materialise. Murphy showed his pace with outstanding efforts on the rise and on the ‘bridge point’. He increased odds with almost every shot as O’Regan failed to get the distances he needed. Murphy was in total control over the closing stages winning by close to three.
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Tommy O’Sullivan won a rip-roaring county intermediate semi-final at Derrinasafa on Saturday. Paul Buckley fought it to the finish but could not get in front at any point despite seeing his comeback charge bringing him within 25 metres in the closing quarter.
Both men carried plenty of support evidenced in the €20,000 total stake but it was O’Sullivan who laid the early markers. A sweeping third shot brought him close to ‘Fax’s bridge’ and when he followed with a super fifth, a big bowl of odds separated them.
Buckley, whose blistering opening salvo of Conna two weeks ago was not replicated here, did well to keep it at the shot of odds to ‘natties’ and, when a cracking tenth opened sight at ‘darkwood’ he put pressure on O’Sullivan. The South-West man’s ninth did not quite make it out but he regained his bowl lead when Buckley hit a poor 12th in the bowling to ‘Walshe’s lane’. The Crossbarry man's hopes were instantly revived when he hit a thundering 13th shot that O’Sullivan only beat by metres in two, but crucially, he did not follow-up and a crossed shot at ‘O’Neill’s cross’ allowed O'Sullivan to increase his advantage again with the line in sight.
Still, following two more exchanges, only 20 metres separated them for the closing shots, but it was not to be for Buckley as his final effort again drifted right, leaving O’Sullivan with the task of beating a tip well within his grasp. He did with aplomb and will play either Wayne Parkes or Wanye Callanan, who meet in the second semi at Templemartin next weekend, in the county decider.
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The inter-regional rounds of the U18 and U14 championships are down to the finals. At Terelton on Sunday morning Carbery sought double success for the third time, but it was not to be.
North Cork’s Culann Bourke proved himself a real challenger when a storming start gave him momentum to derail Darragh Crowley’s great run. The Carbery champion fought it manfully, but Culann fired the big ones down past the ‘garage’ and will play Gaeltacht’s Ross O’Brien in the county final.
In U18 Carbery’s Shane Crowley stays on course after his victory over North’s Shane Dennehy. This was a quality score too although Crowley made the vital break with a splendid second shot. Dennehy stayed threatening but last quarter belonged to Crowley. In the second semi at Templemichael on Sunday evening, East Cork’s John O’Donoghue came with a late charge to deny Mid’s plucky Daniel Wilmot. Wilmot led in good bowling with three to go but had to give best to O’Donoghue’s late salvo.
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The county rounds have commenced in the novice veteran grade and through to the quarter-finals is City’s Declan O’Leary who got the better of Carbery champion Denis Murphy in a preliminary round score at Ballinacurra, Upton. O’Leary’s winning margin was two bowls for a €1,900 total. Playing on Ballinacurra’s alternative route, O’Leary rose his winning odds on the narrow stretch from the fifth shot onwards. Back the road here, Colm O’Regan kept a winning run going with victory of last year’s All-Ireland D winner, Mick O’Discoll (Blarney). The stake in this one amounted to €2,200.
At Ballincurrig, North East’s John O’Leary defeated Leinster’s Alan Long by almost a bowl. He plays City’s Declan O’Leary in the quarter-finals. South-West’s Joe Tyner awaits the winner of that contest in the semi-final. Tyner eclipsed North Cork’s Jim Martin at Clondrohid on Wednesday. Tyner rose a bowl of odds at ‘The Bell Inn’ and held it.
