McDonagh and Klöpper crowned King and Queen of the Roads

Anke Klöpper’s duel with west Cork's Hannah Sexton ranks as one of the best Queen finals ever and possibly the best women’s final of all time.

Arthur McDonough beat Colm Rafferty to win the King of the Raods title. Pic: Noel Sweeney

Arthur McDonagh and Anke Klöpper were crowned King and Queen of the Roads at Ballincurrig in performances worthy of their regal titles.

McDonagh was locked in an engrossing battle with Ulster champion Colm Rafferty. It was one brilliant bowl after another as they went toe-to-toe to the very last shot. Both beat the line in 15 throws, equalling the best achieved on the renewed surface at Ballincurrig.

Klöpper’s duel with Hannah Sexton ranks as one of the best Queen finals ever and possibly the best women’s final of all time. Some of the bowls thrown by both players stand measure against anything ever seen before. In the end Klöpper pulled clear, beating the line in a record equalling 14 shots, ending a 14-year wait for a crown she has contested since 2012.

The scene for a day of superlatives was set when Tim Young gave the performance of his career in his Jim O’Driscoll Cup win. He scorched past the line in 15 shots for a good win over Ulster’s Pete Carr. That tally was equal to the King of the Roads final.

All three teams in the Youth International Triple Crown bowled at a level way above the norm. The Irish team of Gerald McDonagh and Méabh Cuinnea were past the line in 16 shots, just two behind Klöpper’s performance, beating the Netherlands and Germany.

If the objective of premier sporting events is to present the sport at its supreme best then the 41st King and Queen of the Roads delivered in spades.

In the King final, Rafferty was in the zone from the off, winning the first two shots. McDonagh won his first lead with a super bowl to the green. He reached Heaphy’s gate in two sensational bowls from there. After another shot he had light at O’Riordan’s and was homing in on a bowl of odds. Things came to a sudden halt when he was too tight right with his next one and his lead was cut to 10 metres.

That was a tide changer. Rafferty settled into a stream of excellence and McDonagh looked less confident. Rafferty won the lead with a huge eighth bowl to Leahy's. He held his lead out the big corner and was still 25m in front after 11 to the top of the short straight. McDonagh then missed light at Din Tough’s and Rafferty went well around. He looked to be on the path to his second King of the Roads.

McDonagh drove a good bowl towards the serpent. Rafferty beat that well, but didn’t go far enough to have a shot at the line. McDonagh played a smashing bowl out the last bend, winning lead for the last shot. Rafferty overcompensated for the white line with his last bowl and it crashed into the left, leaving McDonagh with a relatively easy tip to beat.

In the Queen final, Sexton made the better start with a great opening bowl to light. She followed with two sensational bowls to full light at the muddy gap. From there on Klöpper hit the stratosphere, but Sexton rose to the challenge.

The German champion played an extraordinary fourth shot past Din Tough’s to the short straight to win the lead. She went past the big corner with an equally brilliant fifth, catapulting almost a bowl clear. Sexton closed the gap in the next exchange, but she then had to defend against three unbelievable bowls from Klöpper.

The first to the halfway line, then to light at O’Riordan’s and the third to light at Hegarty’s. Sexton followed each one to keep the lead under a bowl. She looked to be right back in it after a huge 11th bowl past the pony’s gate. Klöpper’s response was her best bowl of the day. From no light before she beat the creamery. Sexton missed that to concede a bowl of odds. Klöpper was almost at the school corner in three more, bowling at a level that no one could match.

Ireland gained supremacy in the youth international through three great shots in succession. Cuinnea got a vital 12th shot to Hegarty’s, followed by a sensational bowl from McDonagh to the creamery and then Cuinnea got to the end of the green. This gave them the leeway to win comfortably, with the Netherlands ( Lotte Telgenhof oude Koehorst, Mike Scholtenhave) winning silver and Germany (Wencke Abken and Joost Kleemann ) bronze.