Road bowling: Murphy and O'Neill set up Munster junior A final meeting

Seán Murphy beat former Munster champion Andrew O’Callaghan while Brendan O’Neill had 80m odds against former Munster senior champion, Edmund Sexton

Brendan O'Neill and Seán Murphy will face off in the Munster junior A final at Templemartin. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Honan

Seán Murphy and Brendan O’Neill will contest the Zone B Munster junior A final at Templemartin on the June Bank Holiday weekend.

Murphy beat former Munster champion Andrew O’Callaghan by a bowl at Baile Bhuirne. O’Neill had 80m odds against former Munster senior champion, Edmund Sexton, at Macroom.

Murphy and O’Callaghan exchanged the lead at each one of the first four tips at Baile Bhuirne. Murphy won the fifth shot to the cross and was never headed again. He didn’t immediately open up a big lead, he was just 25m fore after ten. He then hit a purple patch to break clear.

First he beat a big bowl from O’Callaghan to the council yard. He followed with two more big shots past the novice line and onto Moynihan’s to push his lead close to a bowl of odds. He raised a bowl with his 14th shot past the piggery and beat the line with his next one.

Sexton opened with a brilliant bowl against O’Neill in Macroom. He followed that with three more big shots to the flyover to go a bowl in front. He held that in two more good throws past Mulcahy’s.

O’Neill began his fightback by knocking the bowl with his next throw from the lollipops. He showed a lot of mettle to hold the lead under a bowl in the next two. He then played an extraordinary bowl to Glasheen Cross, which Sexton missed by 80m. He had almost a bowl after Sexton’s next one and held the momentum past the line.

Pete Carr secured his place in the Ulster intermediate final and in the process eliminated Conor McGuigan from the race. He now awaits the outcome of the second semi-final in which Mark Toal leads Bryan O’Reilly, if Toal wins their encounter next Sunday he will join Carr in the final.

Carr gained his second win over McGuigan in the last shot at Knappagh. McGuigan led the first exchange, but Carr took the next two. McGuigan regained the lead with a great fourth throw and extended his odds with a brilliant fifth bowl past the planting corner. He drove on the raise a bowl in the next two past Farley’s.

Carr knocked the bowl after two more to the plum trees. He reached Daly’s in another two to get back in front. He shaded each of the last two, having a sweat when his last bowl had to navigate through the grass verge.

Shane Crowley secured the third semi-final spot, joining Darragh Dempsey and Cathal Creedon, in the Munster Premier Junior. He beat Cillian Kelleher and Michael O’Donoghue at Templemartin.

O’Donoghue was the first to show well and had he done better with his third one he could have been a bowl clear at Slyne’s corner. Despite that he was still ahead there. He lost ground in the next three and had fallen out of contention at the monument.

Crowley got a brilliant bowl from Slyne’s, but Kelleher stayed with him. At the schoolhouse cross Crowley had 30m odds on Kelleher and increased his lead down to the stone-field bend. Just past the pub cross he had almost a bowl on Kelleher and then played a brilliant bowl towards the line to seal it.

Kelleher will play Liam Murphy at Inchigeelagh and O’Donoghue will meet Brian O’Driscoll at Ballinagree. The two winners meet in the Munster quarter-final.

James O’Donovan was too strong for senior rookie, Páidín Stokes, in the O’Connell-Dullea Cup at Ballygurteen. He was just short of the women’s lane in four where he led by a bowl. He raised a second bowl with his next shot. He was three ahead at the coffee dock.

Aidan Murphy was equally emphatic in his dismissal of Tommy O’Sullivan in the Mother Hegarty Cup at Lyre.

O’Sullivan was well up for the contest, winning more than his share of leads to Crowley’s. Murphy turned the score with two good bowls to light at Crowley’s bend and raised a bowl with his next one. They contested that lead to the line.

Conor Lucey and Shane Collins will contest what promises to be a standout North Cork junior B final at Kilcorney tomorrow evening. Lucey was a bowl down against Dean Sexton at the bridge at the same venue in the semi-final. He won the lead after three, but he was pressed all the way to the line by Sexton.

Mick Hurley led at all but one tip in his last shot win over Anthony Gould in the Munster Zone veteran semi-final at Carraig na bhFear. He had a bowl of odds at the creamery, but Gould fought back to lead with his second last. Hurley bounced back with a big last one.