Late Paddy Stokes flurry secures All-Ireland intermediate title for Munster

Stokes' tied the series with three wins each for both provinces. The Toal family will head home with particularly good memories. 

Dervla Toal-Mallon. Pic: Paul Stack

Paddy Stokes won the All-Ireland intermediate final for Munster with a late flurry of excellence to see off Ulster’s Pete Carr at Ballinagree.

This tied the series with three wins each for both provinces. The Toal family will head home with particularly good memories. 

Dervla Toal-Mallon won her sixth senior women’s crown, following a brilliant finish against Hannah Sexton and her niece Alice Mackle beat Rachel Desmond in the junior women’s final.

On Saturday Ulster gained its first win when Darragh Gribben beat Darragh Dempsey. Dempsey was leading that final till he picked up an injury, which effectively ended his hopes. 

Earlier Munster had an U18 double, with Gerald McDonagh convincingly beating Johnny Campbell and Méabh Cuinnea closing with a great bowl to deny Megan O’Reilly.

The men’s intermediate final never reached the anticipated level of intensity, marred by two many unforced errors. Like Julius Caesar’s Gaul, it was divided into three parts. In the first part both Stokes and Carr bowled well, with little between them. 

In the second part they struggled to find consistency and form. The third part saw Stokes reach his normal standard and pull clear.

Stokes opened with a great bowl, which Carr missed well. The second bowls were mirror opposites, with Carr cutting the odds to 25m. Carr led with his third one. Stokes was ahead at Timmy Nuts, but Carr hit his best patch in the next two to hold the lead to the bridge.

The next three exchanges were top quality too, with Stokes now leading by 40m. They took three more shots each to reach the pink cottage and they continued to splutter in the next two. 

There was a sense that one of them might produce a bowl to break this dull sequence.

Stokes’ 15th bowl was the catalyst for that change. He drove a great bowl towards the end of the straight to go a bowl clear. 

He followed with another good one to the quay wall. Carr began to bowl better now too and held the lead to a bowl of odds to the last bend, but never threatened.

Dervla Mallon bowled well from start to finish against Hannah Sexton in the senior women’s final. Sexton struggled to reach the pitch of her fantastic Munster final win over Denise Murphy, but she was still in it with three to go. 

Mallon’s monster bowl past An Capaillín Bán changed all that and she closed with two more brilliant bowls.

Sexton opened with a good bowl to win the first tip of the senior final, but she did not follow-up like she did in the Munster final. Mallon dug in winning the second tip and never allowing Sexton to gain a foothold.

When Sexton played a huge bowl past the post office it looked like she was about to put her stamp on it. Mallon followed with a super shot and missed it by just 11m. Was that the turning point? Maybe it was as it showed she would not be seen off easily. 

Mallon won the lead in the next exchange and was not headed again She gained 100m odds after a big bowl to the double gates. 

Sexton closed the gap again and it looked in the balance heading down towards An Capaillín Bán. Sexton’s bowl was too tight on the left and hit a rock which killed it. Mallon replied with a sensational bowl to the bridge.

Alice Mackle’s polished performance in the junior women’s final really put the cherry on top for the Toal family. She followed her aunt’s win with a compelling victory over Rachel Desmond.

Desmond was well in the contest in all the shots past the quay wall. Once they got onto the straight though Mackle began to take control. She pushed a bowl clear with her tenth shot to the pink cottage and she dominated to the line.

The Toals now have over 30 individual All-Ireland titles, three siblings Michael, Rosheen and Dervla have 18 senior wins between them and three of the next generation Thomas Mackle and bothers Ethan and Colm Rafferty are also senior champions.

Gerald McDonagh won the first All-Ireland title of 2026 when he beat Johnny Campbell on Saturday morning. He was totally on top from the off and looked set to kill Campbell’s challenge before halfway. 

The Ulster youth finally found the class that saw him twice beat Caolan Carr this year. McDonagh weathered that phase and pushed clear again to the line.

Méabh Cuinnea, like McDonagh, hit top gear from the off and built a big lead on Megan O’Reilly. That cushion proved decisive as O’Reilly gained momentum in the latter part of the score to force a last shot. 

Cuinnea met that challenge with a super bowl confirming not just her win, but her champion credentials.