Road bowling: Crowley in control as he gets better of Kelleher

They showed plenty value for their elevation to intermediate on Wednesday night.

Anthony Crowley beat Cillian Kelleher by a bowl in the Jerry Desmond Cup.

In a clash of two freshly minted Munster intermediate players, Anthony Crowley beat Cillian Kelleher by a bowl in the Jerry Desmond Cup at Grange.

They showed plenty value for their elevation on Wednesday night. Kelleher won the opening exchange for his only lead, but he contributed plenty, down to his big last shot to the pub.

Crowley threw a smashing second bowl to the junior finish. Kelleher played to follow it, but his hit a pillar. That left him 70m hind and with a near impossible task to open the stud farm bend in three. His third one clipped the left and there was now almost a bowl between them.

Crowley followed with a sensational third bowl past the stud farm bend. 

Kelleher showed his mettle and class by following and beating it to keep the lead under a bowl. Crowley raised the bowl in the shots to Holland’s. He looked like he might increase his odds towards de Barra’s.

Kelleher kept him in check with a great bowl to light there. After two more to the school cross it was back to an even bowl. Kelleher closed the gap to O’Sullivan’s and looked well placed to level the contest after a good bowl up the hill towards the big tree.

A massive bowl to the bungalow pushed Crowley well clear again. He regained the bowl of odds with his next one. He scorched to Barry’s wall in two more. Not even Kelleher’s brilliant bowl to the pub could deflect him.

The 2027 Munster intermediate championship, which Crowley and Kelleher join, has almost doubled in size. An infusion of seven younger players is the biggest boost to the second tier for decades.

Paddy Stokes moves up to senior, as All-Ireland intermediate champion, while all the other eight players stay in-situ. Darragh Dempsey, who won the 2026 Munster junior A championship, is an automatic promotion.

The new look grade will boast both riches of youth and talent. Dempsey was European youth champion for 2020. The other six are Shane Crowley, Anthony Crowley, Cillian Kelleher, Seán-Paul McDonagh, Michael-John O’Brien and Brian O’Driscoll.

Both Shane Crowley and O’Driscoll are recent All-Ireland champions. Anthony Crowley was a key member of the Ireland team that won European youth gold in 2024.

The changes should end Intermediate’s bridesmaid label. It has the depth of class to measure up well to senior and assert its superiority over junior once again. The promotion of Stokes was the only change at senior level.

The clash of Anna Deane and Alison McCarthy outshone everything else at the Ted Hegarty academy on the Phale Road. Deane won, but the exceptional ability of both players made it top of the class. McCarthy is making exceptional progress and like Deane will have an eye on a youth green singlet in 2028.

Hannah Cronin beat 2026 All-Ireland intermediate champion, Ailbhe O’Shea, by less than two metres in a cracking score at Bottlehill. 

Cronin raised a bowl after two big opening shots. O’Shea kicked into gear at the holy well and it was on a knife-edge to the line.

Also at Bottlehill, Tommy O’Sullivan made a successful return to competition when he beat Timmy McDonagh and Patrick Flood. 

After six McDonagh and O’Sullivan were level, with Flood slightly off the pace. He made a mistake with his next one though and that ended his interest.

Little divided the other two to the iron railing. O’Sullivan then got a big bowl out the next bend, but McDonagh was still in touch. O’Sullivan’s extraordinary bowl towards the line really sealed it. McDonagh replied with a big bowl past the line, but it was not nearly enough.

Shane Crowley flaunted his intermediate credentials in a sensational finish of the Carbery junior semi-final at the Marsh Road. 

He broke the deadlock with Kevin Minihane with a huge bowl out the steps. Two sensational bowls from Ballyhilty to the avenue catapulted him out of sight.

Declan O’Donovan beat David Shannon in the last shot of the other semi-final at the same venue.

David Roche marshalled his superior speed to break clear of Shane Lotty in the Cork city junior A semi-final at Curraheen. They were level at the bridge, but Roche found a higher gear up the hill. He was a bowl up at the riding school and cruised home.

Michéal Ó Deasúna reached An Ghaeltacht junior A final at the expense of Cathal Ó Criodáin at Baile Bhuirne. Ó Deasúna raised a bowl early on, but Ó Criodáin knocked it with a great shot to the island. It was all Ó Deasúna after that.