Hubbard goes through to semi-final with last-shot victory at Ballincurrig

DAVID HUBBARD secured a place in the Cork semi-final of the Jim O’Driscoll Cup when he beat Wayne Callanan in the last shot at Ballincurrig.

Wed, 03 Aug, 2011 - 01:00

Seamus O’Tuama

Both players started well and little separated them to the no-play line. They were still locked together at the big corner where Hubbard had the lead. Callanan played a good bowl to light at the top of the short straight. Hubbard’s bowl missed light, but luckily for him it was called. His second attempt was perfect and went to clear light to keep him in front.

Callanan got a poor bowl from there and Hubbard punished him with a brilliant bowl to the end of the sycamores. Callanan’s next just beat that to leave almost a bowl between them. He saw a chink of light though when Hubbard’s next bowl fell left and missed light at the last bend.

Callanan responded with a super bowl to clear light and the score was back in the melting pot. His last was not as good though. It beat the line but didn’t swing with the road and Hubbard had little difficult beating it.

James O’Donovan gave a polished performance at Rosscarbery where he beat Edmund Sexton in the semi-final of the Paddy Barry Cup. He was well on the way to final when he led by almost two bowls at Barry’s lane. Any hopes Sexton might have had were quickly banished when O’Donovan got a great bowl from the line at Cahermore Cross to put the contest out of reach.

The reverberation of four defeats from seven starts in last weekend’s All-Ireland series in Armagh is having a salutary impact on Munster bowling. However, that all the male players were defeated is not a reflection on the state of bowling in Munster nor indeed the suitability of the Markethill Road for the All-Ireland series. Each score was a separate event.

Wins for the Rafferty brothers was not a major shock. Ethan Rafferty is a very promising player and it was clear that Kieran Murphy had little room for error if he was to beat him. Colm Rafferty was very polished in last year’s U14 final, so Neil Crowley was always going to have a battle on his hands too.

Donal Daly’s win over Wayne Kingston is not as easy to explain, but it too is a once off. It is very disappointing for Kingston who did extraordinarily well to win the Junior C and Junior B Munster titles in successive years, only to lose in both All-Irelands. He is a young talented bowler though and he will bounce back. For Tyrone bowling, Daly’s win is a big plus.

The one that certainly threw the form book out was Conor McGuigan’s win over David Murphy in the senior final. Remember McGuigan was soundly beaten by Patrick O’Donoghue on the same course in last year’s Intermediate final. Murphy is a big enough a character to take the defeat on the chin and bounce back an even better player.

It would be churlish to put McGuigan’s win down to the road. He performed on the day; he won convincingly and deserves his place in the role of honour. He had to bite his lip last year when he lost an All-Ireland final that he was expected to win and no one put the road into the explanations.

In all of this, there were two very fine Munster winners. Cathriona Murphy took her second title in 2011 and is a player of massive potential that should quickly find her feet at senior level. Likewise Ciara Buckley who had a tough battle to win the Munster crown showed her mettle with a fine U16 win.

Already, bowling fans are thinking about the third All-Ireland series in Westport in September.

In the Junior C championship, Brendan O’Callaghan overcame Chris O’Donovan by a bowl at Castletownkenneigh. He made a good start and was in a solid lead on the straight. He raised a bowl at the hollies and took it to the first pick-up line. O’Donovan continued to press, but O’Callaghan gave him no opening to close the gap.

That win pits O’Callaghan against Oliver Searles in the quarter-final with the winner playing William O’Driscoll in the semi-final. Tony O’Sullivan is through to the other semi-final against Paul Walsh. O’Sullivan received a walkover from John O’Leary who had to concede in advance due to injury.

* On Monday I inadvertently put the date of Danny McParland’s first All-Ireland win over Mick Barry at Dublin Hill as 1963, not 1964. McParland won the 1963 All-Ireland too but against Derry Kenny in Armagh.