Game’s big hitters put on a show for Dowtcha Boy Festival

GARY Daly’s 12-shot tour-de-force from the lower start line to Ballyhilty corner represented a five-star showing from the Fermoy man as the curtain came down on a hectic weekend’s action on The Marsh Road. 

The West Cork Distillers sponsored ‘Dowtcha Boy’ Festival brought crowds in their hundreds to the Carbery venue on Saturday and Sunday. While a few on the seven-score programme were won by wide margins, many more ended in a welter of excitement as comeback charges yielded victories by the slimmest of margins. 

The Sunday scores prior to Daly’s clash with Martin Coppinger were filled with last-shot drama but such was the North-East man’s mastery on the road’s most difficult stretches that he had built a commanding lead on his Bantry rival long before the finish line was in sight. 

After Coppinger made a bright start with a bullet-like opener, Daly upped the gears with astonishing third and fourth shots that brought him up to the ‘veterinary entrance’. Coppinger’s tendency to drag shots to the right militated against him from the third throw onwards and he fell a bowl adrift after another big one from Daly. 

There was no stopping the rangy Fermoy man even after a slightly wayward tenth. He compensated in full with a truly exceptional 12th to Ballyhilty corner and, with Coppinger now over two down after another to the ‘avenue gate’, matters were terminated with the odds deemed insurmountable with just three shots remaining. The stake money at issue amounted to €15,000.

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The weekend’s second senior contest opened Sunday’s programme and, although at times littered with mistakes from both players, was an extraordinarily exciting duel between two of the grade’s newest incumbents. 

Patrick Flood and Bandon’s Brian Wilmot, intermediate champions of 2023 and ’24 respectively, hadn’t met since Wilmot defeated the Fermoy man in the Rosscarbery Paddy Barry Cup final early last year and have had contrasting fortunes since then. 

Player of the Year Wilmot was on a crest of a wave for most of 2023 while, after a bright start, Flood has found the going tough in upper echelons. Nevertheless, it was the Fermoy man who was the punters favourite in the €8,400 total stake and seemed to justify that confidence with a big opening shot. Things were downhill for him in the next segment as poor fourth and fifth shots resulted in Wilmot rising a big bowl of odds. 

Wilmot’s excellent fourth was the catalyst and he rose more odds with a good sixth. The shots from ‘Curragh Hill’ to the ‘steps’ produced an extraordinary turnaround as poor eighth and ninth shots from Wilmot and a super effort from Flood turned the score on its head. Flood was almost a bowl clear at ‘the steps’, but lost ground in the shots to ‘Ballyhilty’ when not making full sight with his fourteenth. Wilmot’s brilliant drive from the cross put him back in front, but Flood's last do-or-die last effort won the day in spectacular style. 

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In between on Sunday was a junior B contest between long-time adversaries, Donie Harnedy, Skibb, and Johnny O’Driscoll, Clon. A whopping €20,000 was the combined total the contest went for. It was shot for shot for the opening five on the downward route. Two explosive efforts from O’Driscoll rose a bowl and 60 metres and it was looking good for the Clon camp as the score moved beyond half-way. 

Harnedy had other ideas and a splendid ninth cut into O’Driscoll’s lead. A sensational turnaround came about after the next exchange when another Harnedy piledriver was followed by an O’Driscoll error and now the Skibb man was in the ascendancy. There was no let-up as O’Driscoll regained the lead with two to go only for Harnedy to go in front for the last shots. The Skibb man won that vital exchange to take the spoils from a rip-roaring encounter. 

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The much-changed fixture list still produced a good line-up and the opening score on Saturday involving intermediate graded Eamonn Bowen and Carbery’s junior A champion David Shannon held its own intrigue. The lower ranked Shannon was the punter’s favourite and duly won a contest that largely hinged on a couple of mid-score mistakes by early leader Bowen. 

On the downward stretch, Dunmanway men Alan Brickley and Brian Horgan took on the Bauravilla Crowley brothers Colm and Gavin for a €10,200 total. The exchanges to the half-way point had the Brickely/Horgan pairing in front at all points. Beyond the ‘steps’ after seven shots they held a 70-metre lead but a couple of misplays on the rise saw the margin cut to ten. The Crowleys kept their challenge up and were rewarded with the lead at the ‘council gates’ but unfortunately for the Carbery men it was shortlived. Throwing down for the Skibb sign, Gavin Crowley did not get a good run and the ascendancy returned to the Dunmanway men. The Crowleys whittled a 60-metre deficit down but Brickley/Horgan held on for the win. 

The north-south clash of the weekend involved Cork’s Tommy O’Sullivan and Tyrone’s Eugene McVeigh. For a €9,000 total, this was an impressive display by O’Sullivan who’s massive fourth throw had him up by the ‘council gates’. This put him a shot ahead of the hard-trying McVeigh and the going did not get easier for the Eglish man, who was two adrift at the ‘steps’. McVeigh did succeed in halving the odds in the shots to ‘Thornhill cross’ but there was no denying O’Sullivan a bowl of odds victory. 

Darragh Dempsey closed out Saturday’s programme with a hard-earned victory over Ballyclough’s Michael Murphy. The hottest of favourites in the €5,800 total stake, the Carbery man showed what he is capable of with an explosive fifth shot that catapulted him to a lead closing on two bowls of odds. His next three were not his best and Murphy closed to within 60 metres. What followed was a brilliant sequence from both players as Murphy strove might and main to level it only for Dempsey to steadfastly hold ground beating big tips by a considerable distance. The upshot was a deserved last shot victory for the home player. 

Classes for Autism at St Patrick’s National School, Skibbereen were the big beneficiaries from a successful weekend on The Marsh Road.