DONAL O’Riordan, Bantry, and Brian Wilmot, Bandon, will meet for the 2023 intermediate championship at Ballygurteen this Saturday afternoon at 2.30pm.
The challengers for this year’s crown booked their final slots in contrasting fashion with respective wins over Wayne Parkes and Wayne Callanan.
The Bantry man’s joust with Parkes, who has had the upper hand in their more recent head to heads, ensured a packed Marsh Road on Sunday. Revenge was sweet as he forged a last-shot win from a contest of sometimes mixed bowling but one that was, nonetheless, entertaining to the last shot.
Clon man Parkes, with youth on his side, was the overwhelming favourite but O’Riordan brought a large following from his local hinterland, and they backed their man in the €11,600 total stake the contest went for. Up for the fray from the start, O’Riordan opened a 60-metre gap with two big opening throws.
Parkes, unusually for him, could not find the gears in that opening phase and he was a bowl down after four and five to the ‘council gates.’ It was O’Riordan who missed a chance to consolidate and even double his odds in the shots to and from the ‘quarry entrance’ and he was under pressure to hold his advantage when Parkes went sight at ‘the steps’ with a good eleventh.
The Bantry man answered that challenge with a smashing tenth and held most of his bowl lead in mixed bowling to ‘Ballyhilty’. When Parkes found the grass with a short 16th it looked all over but he rebounded with a magnificent effort up towards the last bend. O’Riordan, still with a bit to do, missed that mark and left himself with a handy tip to beat the line when his next went right. Parkes had a go with his final effort, and it nearly came off. O’Riordan was very assured with a fine last shot that gave him a well-deserved victory.
Brian Wilmot was utterly convincing in his semi-final win at Newcestown on Friday. City’s Wayne Callanan had no answer to a near record-breaking performance from the former senior finalist although he did win the opening exchange. The favourite from the outset in the €400 total stake, Wilmot hit three big efforts on the trot following his average opener and was, thanks to an incredible fourth, a bowl to the good in four and five to ‘Mac’s cross’.
The Bandon man fired a big fifth up towards ‘Allen’s Lane’ and he followed with a succession of searing drives to ‘Desmond’s’ at which point his lead had doubled. Callanan tried but could make no inroads as Wilmot seamlessly hit ‘Collin’s Lane’ in thirteen. He was on course for road-record figures before matters were terminated a few shots from the finish as his City rival sportingly conceded.
The final on Saturday evening is a repeat of the 2011 decider which was played at Derrinasafa and won by Wilmot. O’Riordan, also a finalist last year when Patrick Flood took the spoils at Ballincurrig and, previous to that in 2017 when Michael Harrington won at Grenagh, will be hoping for a change of fortune in final appearances and will certainly be buoyed after upsetting the apple cart with a fine win over one of the competition favourites. That said, Wilmot, a former senior finalist, will undoubtedly carry the favourites tag but an intriguing encounter awaits.