DAVID O’Mahony won his first Mid Cork junior A final at Ballinacurra, Upton on Saturday.
Contesting with Denis Wilmot for the Dan Joe Holland Cup, the Fivemilebridge man again displayed his affinity with the road in a steady, almost error-free performance that had him a bowl of odds clear at the finish line.
Wilmot fought a good battle and got a few vital breaks at times but was also unlucky when a few more well-delivered attempts failed to run.
For a €5,400 total stake, O’Mahony set his stall out early with a huge second shot but saw his sixty-metre lead reduced to five when Wilmot’s third touched off the right to the ‘main road’. O’Mahony restored his earlier advantage with his next two but again Wilmot closed to within metres with a lengthy sixth.
The next exchanges were decisive. Wilmot did not follow up and lost ground again in the shots away from ‘Perrot’s’. O’Mahony, as he did in his April tournament success against Tim Young, fired two with pin-point accuracy to take a commanding lead by Innishannon cross. This transferred to a bowl advantage by the novice line and, although Wilmot brought it under that with a smashing cast to ‘Cronin’s avenue’, O’Mahony finished strong again and will carry the Mid Cork banner to the county rounds when he takes on North Cork’s Mark Burke in the quarter-finals at Inchigeelagh.
Declan Holland presented the imposing cup commemorating his late brother to the new champion. David O’Mahony and Mid Cork chair, Martin Foley paid tribute to the late Dan Joe Holland who passed away in 2017 while throwing a score. Dan Joe, from Ovens, was a loyal servant to bowling, an All-Ireland winner and a popular performer at venues throughout the county and beyond.
