James O'Donovan claims European crown after victory in Germany

CHAMP: James O'Donovan of Bandon is now the champion of Europe.

Ireland’s James O’Donovan is the champion of Europe after defeating defending champion Daniel Heiken by 15cm in a dramatic finale to the Dutch Moors championships at Neuharlingersiel in Germany yesterday.

O’Donovan had logged his final score of 1,068.15m when winning the ninth and penultimate score of the day. From two metres hind bowl of Germany’s Florian Eiben, for the last shot, he delivered a huge bowl. Eiben made a gallant bid to follow, but his bowl was marginally to the right and it stopped 1.95m shy of O’Donovan’s tip. That in itself was a dramatic outcome. He was now sitting in gold, with Eiben in silver.

The final group then came into view. This group contained Heiken and the 2016 gold medal winner Rob Scholten, who was the only player of the day to get past the 700m no-play line in six throws. From this perspective O’Donovan’s gold looked very likely to be relegated to bronze. Scholten lost ground with his seventh, Heiken upped the pressure and clipped Scholten’s lead back to 15m for the final throws.

Heiken got the better of his Dutch opponent with his last bowl, but everything was too close to call. The Irish celebrated briefly, but then the capacity crowd were enveloped in a collective holding of breaths as the officials began the precision task of measuring the tips. Scholten was given an official score of 1,066.95, enough for bronze at the expense of his compatriot, Eiben, by 0.75m.

Then they addressed Heiken’s score. After what seemed an eternity, they marked his card at 15cm shy of O’Donovan. In almost disbelief the Irish erupted into celebration mixed with relief. O’Donovan had finally got his hands on the gold medal denied him in the Netherlands in 2016. He had given a performance worthy of a champion, edging out the two previous gold medal winners, with less than two metres separating the top four players.

He had what looked a decent lead of 31m after six shots, given that the course was playing very heavy and emphasising the worth of every metre advantage. Eiben got a massive seventh throw to cut the lead to 20m. Uneven ground cost O’Donovan ground with his eighth shot. Eiben now looked to have all the momentum and managed to win the lead for the last shot.

O’Donovan showed remarkable calm. He lined up to his last shot and delivered a sweet bowl, with the critical low trajectory and speed to carry into a previously uncharted sector of the course. Eiben responded with a fine effort too, but the eruption of cheers from the Irish fans told the tale that it had fallen short. O’Donovan’s nerves were tested far more in the remaining half hour as the others got past the line and the final measurements were announced.

Earlier Silke Tulk won an unprecedented fifth gold medal for the Netherlands. This was far from a straightforward win though. Emerging German star, Femke Wilberts was not cowed by Tulk’s reputation. She led each of the first nine throws, before Tulk had the final say with a brilliant last shot. Hannah Sexton, 11th, was the best of the Irish women.

Cathal Creedon was the only other Irish individual medal winner. He put in a commanding performance to take the U18 silver. Good performance by Anthony Crowley, Liam Murphy and Daniel Wilmot helped Ireland win the team silver. Good performances by Ellen Sexton, Roisín Allen and Darcy O’Brien captured the girls U18 team bronze medal for Ireland.

The Irish men also won the team silver medal, in what was the most competitive championship in recent times, with the top ten players all clustered within 50m. The senior women won the team bronze medal.