Sexton sisters make road bowling history with Munster titles

The Munster senior and junior finals took place at Bauravilla on Saturday.

Hannah & Laura Sexton from Timoleague won the Senior and Junior County Finals at Bauravilla from Hannah Cronin & Darcy O'Brien respectively. Pic: Gretta Cormican

Sisters Hannah and Laura Sexton created road bowling history when they won the Munster senior and junior finals at Bauravilla on Saturday.

Hannah overpowered last year’s All-Ireland intermediate champion Hannah Cronin in the senior final. Her younger sister, Laura, won the junior final in a score for the ages against Darcy O’Brien. The sheer standard of bowling and the character of the two players was off the charts.

In the Senior final, Hannah Sexton won the opening shot, but Cronin got a massive second bowl to the school to snatch a four metre lead. Sexton nosed a metre ahead in the next exchange to Robin’s cross.

Cronin followed with a great bowl to Derreeny avenue, but Sexton beat it by 60m with a huge bowl. That set the trend for the score, with Cronin finding it hard to make gains. Sexton had almost a bowl after two more towards Dekker’s.

Cronin got a great bowl to Walsh’s gate to close the gap and she kept the lead well under a bowl with her next one too. Sexton then played a huge bowl to light at the rock, which catapulted her almost two bowls clear. She raised the second bowl with another massive bowl from there to the next bend.

She beat a big bowl from Cronin to Deasy’s cross to extend her lead well over two bowls. She then played an extraordinary 12th bowl that went well around the bridge. That closed off any hope of a rally from Cronin, which she made absolute with another brilliant bowl from the bridge.

In the junior final Laura Sexton played some genuinely senior standard bowls, but even so Darcy O’Brien refused to yield. Sexton led from the off, but she could never take her lead for granted.

O’Brien played a great second bowl, but Sexton beat it well. Sexton then opened the bridge with her third shot to push her lead close to a bowl of odds. O’Brien showed a lot of pluck by responding with a great fourth shot to the bridge to hold off the bowl of odds.

She then got a fine bowl to Deasy’s, which looked likely to close the gap. Instead Sexton hit back with a fantastic bowl to O’Sullivan’s to raise a bowl. She held the bowl in the next exchange. O’Brien then played a sensational bowl to the rock, which Sexton missed well. Sexton showed her character with a huge pressure shot past the rock to hold a 180m lead.

O’Brien ramped up the pressure again by reaching Walsh’s gate to cut the lead to 90m. They both got massive bowls towards Dekker’s, with Sexton holding her advantage. She looked to have weathered the storm when she played another super bowl to the fisherman’s steps. O’Brien hit back with two brilliant bowl past the avenue, to cut the lead to 40m.

It all came undone for her though, when she missed Robin’s cross with her next bowl. Sexton made the cross. That gave her a bowl of odds and effectively ended O’Brien’s challenge. The best O’Brien could achieve in the closing shots was to save the bowl of odds.