CARBERY BOWLING: Darren Lynch flexes his muscles in commanding cup final win

DARREN Lynch was a clear winner at Schull on Saturday as the host club completed the third running of the popular Mick Flor Cup novice D tournament.

Cian Minihane and Seamus Hayes had won their way through a strong field of 18 starters to reach the decider but could not cope with Lynch’s powerful showing as an exciting final reached its conclusion.

The Caheragh man raised his winning odds on the rise to ‘McFarlane’s’. Hayes first and then Minihane threatened to close the gap but were repelled as Lynch’s consistency ensured a significant margin stayed between them. Minihane edged the battle for second place. Schull bowling again acknowledged the sponsorship and hospitality provided by Townhouse O’D’s for their after-score presentation.

Another late flourish by Sidney Shannon pulled an unlikely win from a losing position, this time at Rosscarbery in the Michelle Hayes novice B tournament. The Durrus man, although ahead early on, had trailed Drimoleague’s Alan Keane by a big shot of odds with three to go, only to turn it around with a blazing finish. Keane did get in the winner’s enclosure defeating Mark Shannon in the return.

Carbery’s Michael Bohane and Emma Fitzpatrick have vital roles to play on Ból Chumann panels as the 17th European Championships loom in Germany. Bohane will be on all three teams on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Main focus will be on the Road Bowling on Saturday when Ireland’s top ten take on Europe’s best. Bohane led the way for a while at the Meldorf games in 2022 before finishing 12th from 50. Rosscarbery’s Emma Fitzpatrick has experience from championships past, all of which comes into play in her capacity as mentor and coach.

The novice veteran and novice D grades continue to provide the bulk of the mid-week action. It’s 25 years since Finbarr Fitzpatrick won the All-Ireland championship in the over-50’s grade on a tumultuous weekend on the Cathedral Road in Armagh. Recalled, too, for the glorious double achieved by Carbery’s champions when Jerry Hegarty also won intermediate on the same weekend. Much has passed in the intervening time, but one constant is the Rossmore man’s continuing participation. Fitzpatrick gave it another go at Caheragh on Monday evening last, but Harry Russell had the edge and progressed to round two.

Rossmore will not be without representation after another of Carbery’s most enduring campaigners, Pat Joe Connolly, found the revs to deny Ballydehob’s Kevin Coughlan’s in the second of Caheragh’s novice veteran fixtures. Curly Collins is through too after a win over Jack Murphy. The most likely outright novice veteran winner for 2024 from the 24 starters will come from section A and here Jimmy Collins, also an All-Ireland winner in the grade in 2016, took a big step when defeating last year’s winner, Sidney Shannon.

In novice D at Skibb there was no joy for Ross contenders. In two hard-fought duels, Damien Daly ousted last year’s runner-up Sean O’Neill, and Schull’s Cian Bowen won in the last shot from Chris O’Donovan. In the same grade, James Cussen won at Leap. Up the rankings, Darren Whooley won a cracking novice B score with James Whyte at Rosscarbery.