Murphy edges to Barry Cup final

Aidan Murphy beat Thomas Mackle by close to a bowl in the Mick Barry Cup semi-final at Ballincurrig to secure his place in next month’s King of the Roads.

After the opening shots, Mackle led by less than a metre. Murphy’s second was not great and Mackle increased his lead with a perfectly played bowl to Moore’s gate. Murphy played his next to the left, but Mackle was too tight on the right with his reply and beat the tip by just 10 metres. Murphy’s fourth was a great shot to the end of the green, but Mackle beat it by 50m with a perfectly spun bowl to the creamery.

Murphy went past well past O’Sullivan’s with his next, but Mackle beat it with a great shot to just short of the no-play line. Murphy just beat the line with his sixth. Mackle’s next clipped a pothole and failed to make the second line, leaving them dead level.