Sexton struggles but digs out place in final
This score will not be recorded as Sexton’s finest hour, taking 19 shots to beat the line, but it sets him up for a meeting with Éamon Bowen Jnr with the victor advancing to meet Martin Coppinger.
The winner of that score will secure a place in the King of the Roads in October.
They both made light in two, but Sexton missed Moore’s gate in three, where Murphy had the lead. They took four more to reach the no-play line and they were at O’Riordan’s in two more.
They were locked together in all the shots from there to the big corner, where Murphy had eked out a slender lead.
Sexton got a good bowl to light at the top of the short straight. Murphy misplayed his reply but got a second chance when his bowl was called.
His next throw was much better and kept him level. They took two more to make light at the sycamores and they took another two to reach the last bend, where Sexton was just fore.
Murphy’s last shot went past the line, but it never swung with the road and left Sexton with a simple shot for victory.
Thomas Mackle kept Ulster bowling to the fore when he beat Andrew O’Leary and Trevor O’Meara at Ballincurrig to qualify for a Jim O’Driscoll Cup semi-final with Donal Riordan.
For much of this score it was a battle between Mackle and O’Leary, but O’Meara came back into it at the three-quarter stage to press for second place. The front-runners reached the no-play line in six, with O’Meara a shot behind. They effectively remained in that order to the top of the short straight.
O’Leary got a brilliant bowl from there, but it was called and he missed light with his second attempt. Mackle didn’t capitalise fully on this and O’Meara closed the gap on both of them. Mackle looked to be getting the upper hand after his next, but O’Leary responded with a great bowl to light at the last bend to level it. That golden bowl was quickly forgotten when he missed the line with a poor last shot and handed victory to Mackle.
James O’Donovan came with a late surge to beat Christy Mullins in the O’Flynn Cup semi-final at the Barryshall Road in Timoleague Mullins carried his good championship form into the score and established an early lead beating each of O’Donovan’s first three tips and then extending into a 100m lead after five. He pushed close to a bowl of odds with his sixth. He held that lead with his next, before heavy rain disrupted bowling for half an hour. That break gave O’Donovan a chance to regroup and he bowled much better on the resumption. Mullins gave him an opening when he drove his 10th bowl to the right and O’Donovan was back in contention. O’Donovan led after three more past O’Leary’s and increased his lead to the finish. He plays John Creedon in the final.
The Munster Junior C and Novice II and I championships are reaching their climaxes ahead of next month’s All-Ireland series at Westport.
Tony O’Sullivan and Paul Walsh will meet in the first of the Junior C semi-finals at Shannonvale. In the other side two former Junior A players Brendan O’Callaghan and Oliver Searles will contest the quarter-final at Shannonvale, with Willie O’Donnell awaiting in the semi-final.
Mike Kelleher and Liam Dennis meet in the quarter-final of the Munster Novice I championship. Colm Noonan is already in the semi-final on that side of the draw.
Anthony Broderick and James Nagle meet in the other semi-final at Lyre. Broderick beat a big last shot from last year’s Novice II winner, Pat Gould, at the Mons.
Shane Buttimer caused a major upset in the Munster Novice II championship when he beat Jack Ward at Castletownkenneigh.
A great start set him up for victory here and a quarter-final meeting with West Waterford’s Billy Quirke at Donoughmore. A place in the semi-final against Jerry Murphy is at stake.
Declan O’Donovan is in the other semi-final in which he will play either Kenneth Murphy or Kieran Corrigan.
John O’Rourke had a good win over Brendan O’Neill in the Champy Deasy Cup at Grange; Terry Mallon beat Dan O’Halloran in the last shot at Donoughmore while Richard Murphy beat Denis Wilmot in the last shot at Curraheen.
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