First big tests of the year at Ból-Fada festival
It starts on the Viaduct Road at Tassagh today, before moving to the Markethill Road on Saturday and Sunday, culminating in the Joe McVeigh Cup final.
Three previous title holders, Conor McGuigan 2015, Thomas Mackle 2013 and David Murphy 2009, contest very competitive semi-finals of the Joe McVeigh Cup tomorrow. Gary Daly, the fourth semi-finalist, contested the 2015 Munster final.
Mackle came of age in 2015, recovering from his All-Ireland final defeat to win his first King of the Roads against David Murphy.
Tomorrow’s semi-final draw against Conor McGuigan is a good omen for him. He met McGuigan at that stage on his way to comprehensively beating David Murphy in 2013.
Champion McGuigan will be the outsider, but he is used to rubbishing that tag. On this road he beat David Murphy in the 2011 All-Ireland final and he beat both Cathal Toal and Aidan Murphy last year, so he won’t be fazed by Mackle.
By contrast David Murphy is always the favourite. He has a tough assignment in Gary Daly who pressed him in the Munster final.
Murphy does not have the happiest of experiences on this road and will need to be economical to see off Daly.
Sunday’s Charlemont Cup final between All-Ireland champion Kelly Mallon and Dutch champion Silke Tulk could be the score of the weekend.
Last year Mallon won this tie by five metres in a dramatic finish. First Tulk went almost a bowl clear with a massive shot to Twynam’s. Then Mallon raised almost a bowl with a huge throw to O’Hanlon’s lane with the line in sight.
Tulk almost stole it with a phenomenal last bowl that Mallon took two to beat with the aid of a rub.
Six months later Mallon had regained her All-Ireland crown and dismissed Tulk in the Queen of the Roads semi-final. The springboard of her Easter win gave her momentum for 2015. The stakes are even higher this year as Mallon and Tulk are the prime candidates for the European title in May.
In today’s feature Mick Hurley will hope his last weekend’s form will hold when he teams up with Tony Carey against Darren Donnelly and Shane O’Neill. This will be preceded by the meeting of Ryan Gamble and Fergal McCreesh against Colm O’Donovan and Tony O’Flynn.
Tomorrow, Cathal Toal and Aidan Murphy meet in the first of two exciting support scores. Toal comes into this off the back of a big win in the Bill Hillock Cup semi-final on Sunday, but Murphy is due a turn in fortune. In the second Eddie Carr and James Oliver face Killian Kingston and Nicholas Carey, this could go either way.
Paul O’Reilly and Michael Bohane contest the Pete Grimley Cup on Sunday. This is a tie breaker as O’Reilly won the All-Ireland intermediate final at Lyre, but Bohane beat him in the Jim O’Driscoll Cup at Ballincurrig
