Brilliant hat-trick for Ulster bowlers

Conor McGuigan beat All-Ireland champion Aidan Murphy by almost a bowl in the final of the Joe McVeigh Cup on Sunday, the feature event of the Ból-Fada festival on the Markethill Road near Keady, Co. Armagh. 

McGuigan’s victory completed a brilliant hat-trick for Ulster. Earlier Kelly Mallon beat Dutch star Silke Tulk by five metres in a gripping Charlemont Cup final and Thomas Mackle opened the day with a bowl of odds win over Christy Mullins in the Pete Grimley Cup.

Aidan Murphy opened with a brilliant bowl up the hill to win the first tip by 50m. He followed with two more big throws to sight at Twynam’s to push his lead to one metre short of a bowl. His next was not as good though and McGuigan replied with a brilliant bowl to the hollow to clip the odds to 50m. Murphy eased clear again by making the creamery lane in six, while it took McGuigan seven to beat it by 30m.