IN keeping with many that preceded it, the first of the novice county finals went ahead at Derrinasafa recently and produced a score of excellent bowling that kept the large crowd enthralled to the final shots.
David Desmond and Gavin Crowley fought it to a standstill before Mid Cork champion Desmond took the laurels in the last shot of this novice C thriller.
Crowley, the Carbery representative from Bauravilla, had early momentum, taking all three opening shots and leading by 30 metres at the end of the wall.
His fifth and sixth were pin-straight and Desmond looked in trouble when his sixth fell left at ‘Fax’s bridge’.
The former Kilbrittain man’s response defined his day. He held off what looked like a bowl-of-odds deficit with a super seventh and then took a first-time lead with another well-delivered effort around ‘Nattie’s corner’.
Unbowed, Crowley rebounded with a brilliant ninth which restored the lead and then followed a big tenth of Desmond’s to stay in front.
Desmond then fired the shot of the day, a sublime 11th to sight at ‘darkwood turn’ and it swung the contest his way when Crowley’s well-tracked response drifted right short of sight.
The Carbery champion fired a great effort to ‘Walshe’s lane’ but Desmond’s reply escaped from a tight left-hand play and he still held significant odds. Crowley tried again but Desmond’s 15th was a killer and it set him up for a last-shot win. Ból Chumann’s James O’Driscoll complimented both finalists on their performance.
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Gavin Crowley, Bauravilla, throwing in the novice C county final.
Thursday evening’s action centered on the novice A semi-finals at Castletownkenneigh and Firmount. Wins for West Cork’s Brian O’Driscoll from Drimoleague and North-East’s trailblazer, Michael Ahern, from Fermoy, has set up an intriguing final this week at Jagoe’s Mills.
East Cork’s highly-rated Wayne Kingston, a county junior B champion in 2011, did not bring his best game to the Mid Cork venue for his penultimate round clash with O’Driscoll. A poor opener was capitalised on by the West Cork champion who rose the bones of a bowl of odds, and it was an uphill battle from there.
O’Driscoll maintained his rich vein of form in recent months and hit the ‘old pub’ in seven quality shots. Kingston fired a good effort at this juncture, but he was holding off a two-bowl deficit. There was no stopping O’Driscoll as he increased his odds in the subsequent exchanges. The stake at issue amounted to €8,000.
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Elsewhere in county round action, newly-crowned All-Ireland U18 champion Ellen Sexton is carrying the South West banner in the junior ladies championship.
A second county is not beyond the capabilities of the talented Timoleague teenager after she survived a stern preliminary round test at Ballinacurra, Upton, provided by North East’s rising star Sonia Ahern.
Ellen’s good start was important in this victory, and she now faces another tough assignment in the quarter-finals when she comes up against the Carbery champion Triona Murphy or Aisling Crowley. In a junior ladies quarter-final at Ballyvourney, North Cork’s Rachel Lucey won from West Cork’s Eirinn O’Donovan.
