Road bowling: Maria Immaculata put on show to retain Daly shield in style

The Dunmanway school won Munster titles in the senior and junior girls finals, the junior boys and took silver in the senior boys behind Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí

The Munster colleges road bowling finals took place at Shannonvale. Pic: Chani Anderson

Maria Immaculata College, Dunmanway continues to lead the pack in Munster colleges road bowling, retaining the coveted Charlo Daly shield when they won three of the four Munster titles on offer at Shannonvale.

They won the senior and junior girls finals, the junior boys and took silver in the senior boys behind Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí.

Each of the senior girls team of Emma Hurley, Grace Ahern, and Shauna O'Driscoll are emerging forces in women’s bowling with an eye on an Irish shirt at the 2028 European championships.

They scorched to an exceptional 1,359m to forge a 379m win over Sacred Heart, Clonakilty with Mount Saint Michael, Rosscarbery third.

For context, both Clonakilty and Rosscarbery were led by two outstanding All-Ireland champions in Laura Sexton and Méabh Cuinnea respectively. Cuinnea is the current U18 national champion and was a member of the Ireland winning team at King and Queen of the Roads last month.

Sacred Heart (Laura Sexton, Emer Whelton, Louise Coleman) scored 980m, to beat Mount Saint Michael (Méabh Cuinnea, Sarah Marie O'Sullivan, Laura Deasy) by 36m. St. Brogan’s, Bandon (Leila Foley, Sinéad Hickey, Emma Trunwit) were just 16m outside the medals.

To underscore Dunmanway’s reserves of talent, their junior girls team was captained by All-Ireland U14 champion Nicola Hurley. She was joined by Grace O'Sullivan and Alison McCarthy. They achieved 995m, a score good enough for silver in the senior girls.

St Mary’s, Macroom (Anna O'Driscoll, Robyn O'Brien, Caroline Creedon) won silver on 933m with Mount Saint Michael (Niamh Hehir, Lucy Callanan, Sophie Dullea) third on 915m.

Dunmanway’s junior boys (Jason Deane, Tadhg O'Farrell, Rory Hurley) carded a highly impressive 1,518m to land a third Munster title for their school. They needed to be at their best as Clonakilty Community College led by All-Ireland U14 champion, Fiónnan Twohig with Seán Collins, Rian Keohane, were just 18m behind.

St Brogan's starring Tadhg Hickey teamed with Luke Barry and Shane Murphy were third.

Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí senior boys (Kevin Courtney, Davin Ross, Conor Hourihane) prevented a Dunmanway whitewash, but only by 25m, when they recorded 1,768m. Dunmanway (Adrian Deane, Oisín Murray, Ethan Hurley) were on 1,743m, with De La Salle, Macroom (Evan O'Riordan, Dylan O'Shea, Eoghan Kelly) third on 1,649m.

Robyn O’Brien got consolation for the defeat of her Macroom junior team when she beat Dunmanway captain, Nicola Hurley, at the Ted Hegarty Academy on the Phale Road.

Noel Gould added another Munster title to his impressive CV when he beat two other former champions, Jerry Murphy and Kieran O’Driscoll, in the vintage (over-60) A final at Jagoes Mills.

This became a duel between Gould and 2025 winner, Murphy, as O’Driscoll retired injured after a few throws. Gould had 50m odds at O’Brien’s bend, but a huge shot from Murphy through the cross brought him back into it.

Gould used his superior power to go almost a bowl clear at the kerb. He quickly extended his lead to a bowl, which he held past the railway line. He went well over a bowl up with a super shot from the power station.

David Walsh won the Munster vintage B final at Clondrohid, beating Pat Callanan and Patsy O’Sullivan. He gained an early advantage by making light in two, with both O’Sullivan and Callanan failing. He followed with an equally good third one towards the Bell Inn.

That gave him a full bowl on Callanan, but O’Sullivan played a great bowl past the pub to keep the odds under a bowl. Callanan brought it back to an even bowl with a big shot up the hill and O’Sullivan was still less than a bowl down.

Callanan’s bowl unluckily veered left at Kelly’s. By contrast Walsh’s got a smashing rub and went to the bottom of the hill. O’Sullivan failed to get past Kelly’s too and he was now also a bowl behind.

From there on Walsh did everything right as a real battle for second emerged between Callanan and O’Sullivan. Callanan just edged out O’Sullivan with a super shot to light at Kelleher’s Brothers Timmy and Seán-Paul McDonagh had a double at Derrinasafa in the West Cork benefit series. They paired-up to beat Tim Young and Brian O’Driscoll in the last shot and Seán-Paul beat O’Driscoll by a bowl. Cian Young is through to the O’Halloran Cup final at Rosscarbery following his last shot win over Seán O’Neill.

In the international friendly in Pesaro, Italy. The Italians had a clean sweep with the Italian bowl on Saturday. On Sunday Ireland had three wins from three with the Irish bowl.