Ireland’s journey back to the top of road bowling
McManus is probably best known for his work with Olympic medallist, Robert Heffernan, Munster Rugby and Cork hurling but his association with Bol Chumann has brought lasting success for the organisation.
Ireland’s fortunes on the continent had reached their lowest point in 2004 when host country for European Championships, Germany, wiped the floor in the road bowling event in Westerstede.
Drastic action needed to be taken to remedy a worrying decline. This, after all, is an Irish indigenous sport, the nation’s speciality, made famous by an iconic figure like Mick Barry, and Irish pride had been severely dented in Germany.
It appeared that continental bowlers were fitter, more physical specimens. And with Ireland set to host the Europeans in 2008, the Irish team needed to be in peak physical condition to match the fitness levels of their continental counterparts from Germany, Holland, and Italy.
Under McManus’s guidance, Sunday morning 6am practice starts along West Cork roads became the norm as Ireland developed muscle and finessed skill to take on the best of Europe in the summer of 2008.
Hard work begat success. The turnaround in fortune was quick and incisive as Ireland’s resilience shone through, atoning for the Westerstede meltdown and the annus horribilis of 2004 and delivering success in spades with Cork native, David Murphy, winning senior men’s gold.
Eight of Murphy’s teammates also finished ahead of their European rivals.
Four years later equally impressive results were attained in Pesaro, Italy with Murphy taking the top spot on the medal rostrum.
The West Cork man attained the same feat in Ootmarsum, Holland in May 2016, and thus completing a treble of golds, as Irish road bowlers continued on an upward trajectory in their indigenous sport overcoming their European counterparts in style.
“I suppose we may have taken for granted that we were going to dominate in road bowling because it’s our game,” admits Bol Chumann PRO Pat McCarthy who, along with O’Driscoll, Susan Greene, Finbarr Aldworth, Brendan Hayes, and Dan McCarthy along with many other volunteers, have been key in helping create the culture so Ireland’s road bowlers can excel.
“From 1988 onwards, it transpired we weren’t as good as we thought we were. More especially the Germans and Dutch were coming on by leaps and bounds, and maybe preparations weren’t ideal coming into some of the Europeans from 1988.
“We were losing ground rapidly after the 2004 event when our senior team was wiped by the hosts Germany. None our players made the top eight. To add salt to our wounds the Germans filled the first eight places in senior men, relegating our best standard bearers to minor placings as well as commanding first place in the senior men’s team category.
“It called for a radical change. Everyone got more competitive and more serious about it.”
Nobody put their shoulders to wheel more than David Murphy and his brother Aidan and rising underage star, Maria Nagle, all of whom have been setting the roads of Europe alight with their endeavours, particularly in the Netherlands last May.
“David is a very dedicated person, puts a lot of time into training,” says McCarthy. “He’s ultra-competitive as any top sports person would be in his or her chosen field. The 2008 European championships I believe was the making of him.”
With other perceived minority sports like rowing and sailing making deserved front page news during 2016, thanks to the feats of the O’Donovan brothers in rowing and Dublin’s Annalise Murphy in sailing, road bowling, which has a centuries old tradition both in Ireland and in Europe, also made its own headlines.
The three-day hosting at Oosmarsum, a picturesque town in east Holland near the German border, and its environs was the scene for Ireland’s latest medal haul.
While the 2012 Europeans in Pesaro “was a wonderful experience” according to McCarthy, the Dutch expedition — the 15th European Games — was even better.
Five bowling organisations partook — two from Germany, one each from Holland and Italy and one from Ireland (Bol Chumann and Bol Chumann Ard Mhacha combined) with athletes competing across three disciplines: Dutch Moors bowling, Road Bowling, and German Loft.
he Irish are mastering Dutch Moors but German Loft still provides the ultimate challenge for our athletes.
McCarthy explains: “Dutch Moors is very similar to road bowling, but played on grass tracks, so undulations and humps and hollows need to be negotiated. You’re swinging a different kind of ball. The Dutch ball, a timber bowl with metal inserted in it, is a little bit lighter than the 28 ounce Irish bowl, but bigger in size. But the Irish mastered it. The Irish would be as good as the Dutch in their form of bowling.
“However, we can’t match the Germans in Loft. That’s a very specialised discipline where you try to loft the bowl in the air, spin the bowl, get the maximum distance, something like how lofting the Viaduct (at Bishopstown in Cork) was done long ago.
“Ireland has never won a gold medal in that discipline. We’ve come close. Lofting in the Irish game is played as much in the normal day-to-day bowling. David’s three European wins in ‘08 ‘12, and ’16 have come in the road bowling. He hasn’t won any medals in the Moors but his brother Aidan won a gold medal in the Moors bowling in Italy.
“Nobody in the modern era has come close to winning three gold medals across the three disciplines in one European event.”
Whether there will be a Michael Phelps of road bowling remains to seen but Ireland’s continued excellence and consistency over the last three Europeans indicate that that day may be edging closer.
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