Thomas Mackle claims Joe McVeigh Cup at Ból-Fada festival

WINNER: All-Ireland champion Thomas Mackle won the Joe McVeigh Cup to top a sensational weekend for Ulster bowling at the Ból-Fada festival at Keady-Tassagh. File pic: Cathal Noonan

All-Ireland champion Thomas Mackle won the Joe McVeigh Cup to top a sensational weekend for Ulster bowling at the Ból-Fada festival at Keady-Tassagh. He defeated the holder, Arthur McDonagh, by a bowl of odds.

It completed a very sweet weekend for the broader Toal clan, with four big wins on the road for Thomas Mackle, his first-cousins Colm and Brendan Rafferty and his aunt Dervla Toal-Mallon. The icing on the cake came from the Athletic Grounds where the Raffertys’ brother Ethan was a vital cog in Armagh’s win over Antrim in the Ulster football championship. If the title of Ireland’s fittest family is already taken, perhaps they could be designated Ireland’s most versatile sporting family. The great Aidan Toal is Dervla’s father and is grandfather of the other four.