A two-day benefit series at Castletownbere attracted much of the attention in a very packed calendar over the festive period. Aidan Murphy and Martin Coppinger saw 2018 out in style there.

Arthur McDonagh replaces Martin Coppinger in next weekend’s King of the Roads following his bowl of odds win over Colm Rafferty in Sunday’s play-off at Ballincurrig.

The line-up and draw for Hurley’s of Midleton King of the Roads 2018 were resolved on Saturday when Killian Kingston beat Colm Rafferty in the last of the Mick Barry Cup semi-final at Ballincurrig.

David Murphy beat James O’Donovan in the last shot of an enthralling, top class Munster senior semi-final at Béal na mBláth on Sunday.

John O’Rourke and David Hubbard will meet in the North Cork Junior A final, following O’Rourke’s impressive semi-final win over Derry Cooney at Peake.

While Thomas Mackle was lighting up the northern roads with his sensational bowling, the main attraction down south was the Carbery-South West festival at Shannonvale.

Team Éamon Bowen (Éamon Bowen, Michael Barry and Denis Murphy) won the first big prize of 2018 when they beat Team Joseph Murphy (Joseph Murphy, Denis Connolly, Celly Spillane) in the John O’Donovan Cup final at Bottlehill on New Year’s Day.

James O’Donovan beat Aidan Murphy in the feature score of the Mid-Cork festival at Ballinacurra on Sunday.

Michael Harrington franked his All-Ireland intermediate credentials with an impressive win over Christy Mullins in the Cancer Research benefit at Shannonvale on Saturday.

Cathal Toal secured his place in the Ulster final of the Joe McVeigh Cup qualifier for the Ból-Fada with a line-to-line win over Bryan O’Reilly and Eddie Carr.

Trevor Deane bowled brilliantly at Caheragh to lift the O’Sullivan-Keating Cup at the expense of Denis O’Sullivan.

Brothers Edmond and Séamus Sexton advanced to the Munster senior championship semi-finals in a weekend that saw all four Munster quarter-finals decided.

Edmond Sexton beat James O’Donovan by a bowl at Ardcahan.

Ulster champion Thomas Mackle beat Christy Mullins on Sunday in the feature score of the benefit festival for the cancer unit at Cork University Hospital in Shannonvale.

Gary Daly and Séamus Sexton secured places in the Munster senior championship quarter-final draw at the weekend and Éamon Bowen Jnr revived his hopes with a brilliant show against James Buckley, writes Séamus Ó Tuama.

Martin Coppinger is back on track to regain the Munster senior title after securing the top spot in Pool D with an emphatic win over Christy Mullins on the Creamery Road in Bantry.

Raymond Ryan was the pick of the weekend Munster Intermediate championship winners after beating Denis O’Driscoll by almost three bowls at the Marsh Road.

On Sunday, David Murphy beat Martin Coppinger by almost a bowl in the Denis McGarry Cup semi-final at Whitechurch, the feature score of a packed weekend that included four tournament finals and several cup ties.

Christy Mullins had a decisive win over James O’Donovan at Shannonvale.

Christy Mullins beat the line in 17 shots from the town line at Skibbereen to record a bowl of odds win over Michael Toal in the CoAction Benefit on the Marsh Road.

Michael Bohane bounced back from his Flor Crowley Cup defeat with an impressive win over Gavin Twohig in the Jim O’Driscoll Cup at Ballincurrig.

John Shorten won the Flor Crowley Cup final by two bowls of odds against Michael Bohane at Ballinacurra on Saturday.

Aidan Murphy and Christy Mullins will contest the Munster senior final on Sunday July 6 at Ballygurteen.

All-Ireland senior women’s champion Carmel Ryan secured a hard-fought victory over Sharon Russell in the first round of the Munster championship at Ballinacurra.

PJ Cooney and Davey Fitzgerald had good wins in the Munster intermediate championship during a weekend packed with championship scores in all grades.