Donovan,Callanan take the honours at Grange
The first three shots essentially decided the score. O’Donovan got the better of the opening tips with a good bowl to the speed limit sign — Mullins’ first bowl hit a stone in the jagged wall on the left. Callanan increased the lead with a skilfully played second to Whelton’s gate. O’Donovan then delivered a perfect third bowl which went to clear light past the stud farm and put them almost a bowl in front.
Mullins edged Callanan’s bowl to Holland’s wall and Gibbons cut the lead with a fine effort to de Barra’s. After Mullins’ good bowl down the school hill, it looked more competitive. O’Donovan killed that comeback though with a perfectly lined bowl to the school cross which put them a full bowl in front. They increased that lead by 30m in the next exchange and held that sort of lead in each of the tips to Hodnett’s farm.
Mullins made another bid to turn the tide with a brilliant bowl past Hodnett’s bungalow. Callanan did very well to beat that tip by a metre to hold the bowl of odds. Gibbons’ took tight play on the left with his next and it fell well short of White’s. O’Donovan hit back with a fast bowl on the centre that ran past White’s. Mullins beat that by just 40m with his next shot.
Callanan then hit the left dyke and Gibbons got a great bowl to Barry’s to make it a contest for the bowl of odds. O’Donovan defended the winning margin with a good bowl to the pub. Both the lead and victory were secured without a further throw when Mullins’ last bowl went left at the car park.
Thomas Mackle got an unbelievable last bowl at Ballinacurra to beat Raymond Ryan in a top class score.
Ryan opened with a record bowl which beat the factory entrance by five metres. That shot gave him a bowl of odds after Mackle hit the kerb with his second bowl and missed the tip by 60m. Mackle recovered with a great third to just short of Brinny cross. Ryan restored it with a good bowl to the start of the church wall.
Mackle’s next bowl rubbed the right hand dyke and went well past Foley’s. That brought the lead just under a bowl again, but Ryan won the next exchange by 30m with a great bowl past the gas line. Mackle then got a brilliant seventh shot to the end of Perrott’s. Ryan played his reply to the left and missed that tip by 100m. He followed with a good bowl towards the GAA pitch, but Mackle beat that by 50m.
Ryan went almost to the bridge with his next, but Mackle beat it to keep the lead under a bowl. Ryan played two poor shots in succession from there, which cut his lead to just 10 metres at the Novice D line. Mackle got a great bowl from there onto the last straight, which gave him his first lead.
Ryan regained the lead when he just got the better of two great bowls up the straight. Mackle won the following exchange by 30m with a great bowl to Cronin’s. Ryan then got an excellent bowl to light facing the finishing line. Mackle looked to have a big bowl to beat. But he released a sensational bowl up the centre of the road, it sped past Ryan’s tip and beat the line by 20m.
O’Donovan, Mullins, Mackle and Ryan all played a big part in a memorable bowling year in 2011. Add in players like Martin Coppinger who gave a spectacular display when winning the Joe McVeigh Cup, Gary Daly winning the Joe O’Sullivan/Acorn Life Cup and more especially Conor McGuigan for causing the shock of the year by beating David Murphy in the All-Ireland senior final and 2011 had more than its share of special moments.
Still, as we face into a European championship year, David Murphy and Kelly Mallon have to be seen as Ireland’s two top bowlers. Mallon has really become a dominant force in women’s bowling. She won at Ból-Fada, she retained her Ulster, All-Ireland and Queen of the Roads titles — the latter at the expense of the mighty Silke Tulk.
The All-Ireland final is a day best forgotten for David Murphy, but he proved his worth by bouncing back to win King of the Roads. However, he has become a victim of his own success. Most seniors now shy from a head-to-head with him and he is thus not included in many invitational events. The consequence being that the jewel in the crown is rarely seen by the bowling public and lack of competition is hampering his progress.
