Road bowling: Gary Daly beats James O’Donovan in Skibbereen thriller

Road bowling: Gary Daly in action. Pic: Gretta Cormican

Gary Daly beat James O’Donovan in the last shot of the Doucha Boy feature at Skibbereen, with Aidan Murphy a bowl back in third. It was almost a mirror-image of last year’s finale, in which O’Donovan beat Daly.

Daly raised a bowl on O’Donovan with a super opening shot to the West Cork Distillery and had 25m on Murphy. Murphy led after a big third shot. O’Donovan got back into it with a huge fifth bowl past the veterinary clinic. Daly regained the overall lead with his fifth to the quarry gate.

Murphy was contesting the lead till he played three poor shots to fall a bowl behind Daly at the steps. O’Donovan hit some great shots in this section to get past Murphy and press Daly for the lead. He upped the ante with a brilliant 13thbowl towards Ballyhilty cross, but he couldn’t dislodge Daly.

Murphy’s challenge also gained momentum, he was back in the frame till he made a mistake with his 16th towards Crowley’s boreen. O’Donovan cut Daly’s lead to just 10m with his 16th shot past the boreen. He missed the line with his next one though and Daly beat it.

Michael Bohane led all the way in a comprehensive win over Martin Coppinger in the first score of the weekend. There was little in it for the first seven. Bohane then hit two super shots in succession to the steps. They catapulted him two bowls clear. He went past Thornhill cross in two more to put the contest out of reach.

Colm Rafferty beat his brother, Ethan, at Keady-Tassagh to secure the Ulster spot in Joe McVeigh Cup final at Ból-Fada on Easter Sunday. He will face Arthur McDonagh in what could be an important bellwether for 2026. Between them the Rafferty brothers and McDonagh mopped up the lion’s share of big prizes in 2025.

Colm won the Joe McVeigh Cup at Easter, but he relinquished his Ulster crown to Ethan in June. Ethan beat McDonagh in the All-Ireland final in July. McDonagh reversed that result in the final of King of the Roads also taking the title out of the Rafferty household as Colm was the defending champion.

The big challenge of 2026 for McDonagh and his Munster comrades will be to prevent Ulster completing an All-Ireland five-in-a-row. The All-Ireland final will be over the Ból-Fada course, so the McVeigh Cup will carry added import.

McDonagh opens his Munster title defence in an all-Fermoy meeting with Patrick Flood in Carraig na bhFear. Daly and Coppinger meet at Templemichael. Bohane will face last year’s Intermediate champion, Páidín Stokes, at Timoleague. O’Donovan meets Tommy O’Sullivan at Shannonvale. All the other Munster players received a first round bye.

Seán-Paul McDonagh had a big win in Zone A of the Munster junior A championship when he eliminated one of the top fancies, Michael-John O’Brien, at Conna. He led the first four to the green, where he had 50m odds. He held that lead to the bridge and looked to be progressing towards a bowl of odds till he made a mistake at Mullins’.

O’Brien won his first lead heading down the hill at the farm. McDonagh hit back with a brilliant bowl past the novice line to force a last shot and won the last exchange.

David Hubbard pipped John-Anthony Murphy in the last shot at Curraheen. He won the first two tips, but Murphy led after a great third to light facing Ballinora cross. Hubbard regained the lead after three more and stayed in front to the line.

He enjoyed a good lead till Murphy clipped the odds to just five metres with a great 14th shot to Richards’ lane. They were virtually dead level in the next two. Murphy closed with a good bowl, but Hubbard beat it.

Brian O’Driscoll defeated fellow Munster Premier Junior top seed, Shane Crowley, also at the Doucha Boy festival. Crowley won the early shots, but two big bowls to light at the silver gate gave O’Driscoll his first lead.

He got a nice rub with his bowl to light towards the steps, which put him firmly in control. He was almost a bowl in front facing Thornhill cross and Crowley was unable to bridge the gap.

Andrew O’Callaghan beat Jimmy O’Driscoll by a bowl. His brilliant 10th shot to the quarry gate proved decisive. David Shannon led all the way to a bowl of odds win over Donal Riordan.

Darragh Dempsey and James O’Sullivan finished well to beat Willie O’Donnell and Liam Murphy. Edmond Sexton beat Colm Crowley by two bowls and Triona Murphy beat Natalie Dempsey in the last shot.