Murphy gets in early claim for bragging rights
He opened with a good bowl, which Coppinger missed by 50m. Coppinger followed with a brilliant second shot towards the stream and Murphy just edged it. Coppinger’s third bowl over the bridge brushed at Spillane’s and won him his first lead by 20m. Murphy then got a great bowl towards the round tower, which Coppinger just beat.
Murphy followed with another great shot. Coppinger misplayed his bowl and only beat the tip by 90m with his following throw. Murphy didn’t reach Kenneigh pub with his next and Coppinger sliced the corner at the pub to level the score again. Murphy got the better of the next exchange by 30m. Coppinger then missed sight at Pyne’s corner and Murphy made sight to consolidate his lead.
Coppinger was very tight with his next and Murphy just beat the tip. There was nothing between them to Forshin’s cross where they were dead level.
Coppinger rubbed the left with his next to get a decent shot. Murphy then played the shot of the day, a perfectly delivered bowl that beat the corner and put in him in a virtually unassailable position. Coppinger was a bit unlucky to miss the line with his last. Murphy brushed the left with his and beat it comfortably Thomas Mackle beat Gary Daly by a bowl in the Dunmanway Hospital Benefit final at Derrinasafa.
He led from line to line. His first shot was not brilliant, but Daly hit a pillar with his first and missed the tip. Mackle quickly put distance between them with two good shots to Daly’s gate where he was 100m clear. He raised a bowl with his next and increased that to almost two bowls after two more throws to Ross’. He raised the second bowl with his seventh to Cotter’s cross.
Daly got a good bowl to sight at the Darkwood turn to bring the lead just under two bowls as Mackle missed sight. They both made Walsh’s lane in two more. Daly got a great bowl from there which clipped the lead to a bowl. Mackle responded with two good shots to push his odds to a bowl and 80m facing the line. He held that lead in the last shot.
Colin Kingston beat Brian Coughlan by almost a bowl in an exciting final at Ballydehob. Kingston got two good opening shots to sight, which put him a bowl in front and set him up for the score. He set the pace up the hill and stretched his lead to almost two bowls when Coughlan’s bowl broke unkindly at the small gate.
Coughlan rallied strongly with two good bowls down the hill to bring the lead well under a bowl. He kept pressing and might have been in the frame for a last shot. Kingston denied him that when he got a great rub with his shot past the Novice D line to go a bowl in front again. They beat the line in two more each, with Coughlan saving the bowl of odds.
Wayne Callanan secured his place in the Whitechurch tournament semi-final when he beat Michael Bohane by almost a bowl.
He won the first tip with a good bowl towards Brickley’s. He pushed his lead towards a bowl with two good shots to the top of the hill. He raised a full bowl with his next down the hill. He increased his lead past Boula lane and was two bowls clear at the Guard’s house. He was still well over a bowl in front after four more to the top of the straight.
Bohane raised his challenge with a good bowl to the farmhouse to cut the lead to an even bowl. He went around the Devil’s bend with his next, but Callanan just edged the tip. Bohane then made the end of the wall and Callanan missed that to lose his bowl of odds. He missed the line with his next, but it was called. He was sharper with his second attempt and beat the line.
John Shorten got a massive last shot at Ballinacurra to beat David Hubbard in the Flor Crowley Cup. Hubbard won the first tip and led to Brinny cross. They made Foley’s in five where Shorten had his first lead. Hubbard regained the lead with his next and had big odds at Perrott’s, which he held to the Novice D line.
Shorten got a great bowl from there to take the lead again and won the next shots past the Junior C line. A big bowl to Cronin’s avenue put Hubbard back in the lead. It looked over when Shorten then hit Cronin’s wall and Hubbard was just 80m shy of the line with a great reply. Shorten closed with a massive bowl that beat the line by 20m. Hubbard’s reply went left and missed that tip well.
Edmond Sexton and Éamon Bowen had a win each at Whitechurch. Sexton won the first by over two bowls and Bowen won the return by almost a bowl. They meet again at the same venue next weekend in the inaugural score in the new Dennis McGarry Cup.
