Murphy, Mullins ready for final battle
Both were impressive semi-final winners last weekend. Mullins beat Aidan Murphy by over a bowl at Rosscarbery on Sunday. The previous evening David Murphy easily accounted for Edmund Sexton at Macroom.
Mullins looked settled and confident from the off at Rosscarbery. He won the opening tip by 30m. Murphy took the next three, but neither player was at full tilt yet. That changed with Mullins’ brilliant fifth shot past the priest’s house, which put him into a 30m lead. Murphy played his next to the left and Mullins increased his lead to 60m.
Murphy got a setback when the end run of his seventh bowl was blocked. Mullins replied with a good bowl up the hill. Murphy was just short of Barry’s boreen with his next and Mullins passed it to hold a 40m lead. Murphy went to the right with his next and Mullins beat it by 80m with his bowl to the guesthouse.
Mullins then played three consummate bowls to just short of the Cahermore line to push his lead to a bowl on 11/12. Mullins was in equal control from the cross.
Murphy’s bowl hit the bend and Mullins increased his lead by 40m. He beat a huge 15th shot from Murphy by 15m. Murphy’s next was to the left and Mullins extended his lead to a bowl and 50m. Murphy then missed light and Mullins sailed out to secure his place in the final.
At Macroom Edmund Sexton’s only lead was his first to the top of the hill. David Murphy played a scintillating second to the middle of the cross. Sexton just beat it in three to leave almost a bowl between them. Murphy raised the bowl with a great fourth up the hill and held it with his fifth past the waterfall.
Sexton knocked the bowl after two more to light facing the gap. Murphy then beat the gap and raised the bowl again. He held it with his next shot on the straight. Sexton knocked the bowl for the last time after two more to Kelleher’s.
Murphy delivered his next bowl at chest height and spun it to the novice line. Sexton missed that and then missed Glasheen cross. Murphy made Glasheen with his throw and raised a second bowl. They played for the odds from there, with Murphy beating the line in 18 to win by close to three bowls.
The John Lowney Munster senior women’s final ended in a dead heat after a magnificent battle between defending champion Carmel Ryan and Maria Noonan at Derrinasafa on Friday.
Noonan won the opening shot, but Ryan led from the second tip. They made the end of the wall in four. Noonan got a good fifth, but Ryan beat it by 10m. She increased her lead to almost a bowl by making light at Ross’s in two more. She followed with a brilliant bowl through Cotter’s cross to push her lead 50m over a bowl.
Noonan went halfway to the Darkwood turn with her next. Ryan made the turn with her reply getting there in just four shots from the bridge. Noonan held off the bowl in the next exchange, but Ryan raised it with her following shot. Noonan played a good bowl from there, while Ryan took two to beat the novice line. Noonan then played a great second last, which Ryan beat by 15m, but missed the line by just five.
Noonan played a super last shot to Grady’s. It looked an all out winner, but Ryan faced up to it majestically with a great bowl to the opposite side of the road. At first it looked as if Ryan had retained her title, but when the referee examined the tips he declared them ‘level bowls’. After some discussion it was decided to refer the matter to the national executive.
On Monday the executive endorsed the referee’s decision and directed that it must be decided, according to rule, by a single throw by each player. Those shots will be played this evening from the finishing line. The winner will meet Kelly Mallon in the All-Ireland final.
Three other Ulster representatives were decided at the weekend. Ryan Gamble beat David Devlin by 30m in a thrilling boys U14 final on the Markethill Road. In the U12 final Odhran Rafferty had a big win over Reece McGeown. His two brothers are also in Ulster finals Colm at U16 and Ethan at U18.
Carly Grimley retained her U18 title by a bowl of odds from Catriona Collins. She will play Cathriona Murphy in the All-Ireland after illness forced Megan Collins out of Sunday’s Munster final.
Conor McGuigan is in the Ulster senior final after a dramatic win over Martin Toal at Knappagh. He had a bowl of odds at the coal sheds, but Toal got an incredible bowl past the line that ran to the bottom of Starr’s Hill. McGuigan just beat the line with his reply to save him facing an almost impossible tip. He plays Brian O’Reilly in the Ulster final.
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