Paul Buckley won the honour of being the first name inscribed on the Liam Daly Cup after he scorched over the Shannonvale road to defeat David Shannon and Tim Young in Saturday’s final.
He almost reached the cottage with a huge first throw. That gave him a big lead on both his opponents and he was never subsequently headed Neither Shannon nor Young got a decent second shot. Buckley punished them with a searing bowl up the left to the top of the rise.
He lost some ground with his third one, but compensated when his fourth bowl rubbed the right towards the quarry.
Shannon and Young both got two good throws each to Buttimer’s to close the gap. Buckley saw off that challenge with a super seventh shot to light at Desmond’s. Shannon made light with his throw to keep the lead to a bowl of odds.
Young unluckily missed light when his eighth bowl deviated off the play. He slipped lofting his next one and his bowl landed on the fence. He was now over two behind.
Buckley tightened his grip with a big bowl from the cross that went over the brow. He made Kingston’s wall with his next one, holding a bowl on Shannon and extending his lead to three on Young. He went down to Campbell’s lane in two more.
He now had almost two bowls on Shannon and Young conceded. He followed with another big one to the novice line, which put the cup firmly out of Shannon’s reach too.
John-Anthony Murphy brought his current run of form to Templemichael where he comfortably beat James O’Sullivan in the last shot. He set the early pace, beating blackbird’s lane in four and going onto the straight with his next to raise a bowl. They contested the bowl of odds in the next three to Sarsfields Court cross, where the lead was 20m under a bowl.
They were at the green in two more, with the lead still under a bowl. They made light past the novice line in two more, with O’Sullivan keeping the lead under a bowl. It became a lot tighter after Murphy’s 14th bowl turned in
off the play and left just 20m between them.
O’Sullivan made a good bid to bridge that gap with a fine shot to O’Shea’s lane, but Murphy beat it well by making peeping light at the last bend. Another good shot past the bend kept O’Sullivan in with a chance. Murphy’s reply rubbed the right to keep him in a pole position. O’Sullivan then beat the line, but it was not nearly enough to deflect Murphy.
David Hegarty led all the way against Cathal Creedon in a key contest in the fundraiser at Ballinagree.
He raised almost a bowl with his first one to light and made the cross with his second to raise a full bowl. Creedon followed with three big bowls in succession to cut the lead to 40m. He had it back to just 10 metres after two more towards the cottage.
Hegarty repelled those advances with five sensational bowls in succession. After three past the post office he had pushed his lead out to a bowl and 50m odds. He made light with his next and then went past the bridge to go almost two clear.
Creedon cut the deficit with two good bowls past the last bend. He knocked the bowl with a big second last one, but Hegarty closed it out by beating the line.
Wayne Parkes beat Timmy McDonagh in the same series. Parkes looked to be heading for a comfortable win after five huge bowls in the middle of the score catapulted him almost two bowls clear. McDonagh pushed the needle back in the closing quarter and was rewarded with an unlikely lead after a huge second last. Parkes bounced back with a big last shot.
Michael Desmond and Ciara Buckley had a clear-cut, two bowls of odds, win over Conor Lucey and Denise Murphy.
Danny Stokes Jnr beat Michael O’Donnell in the last shot of a Zone A Munster junior A championship tie at Ballincurrig. O’Donnell looked to be taking control at the big corner, where he led by almost a bowl. Stokes closed the gap to the sycamores. He played two brilliant bowls from there to light at the last bend. This gave him a big lead for the last shot and killed O’Donnell’s challenge.
Michael Bohane had a comfortable win over Brian Wilmot at Ballygurteen. They were level at the first bend, but Bohane raised the tempo to reach O’Donovan’s in 10 throws to go two bowls clear.
