Noel O’Donovan finishes with a flourish to win title

NOEL O’Donovan’s late flourish got him the winner’s prize from a drama-filled three-way junior A final at Ballinacurra, Upton on Saturday.

Seldom has a decider delivered so many twists and turns as both Michael Murphy, Ballyclough, and Kieran Murphy, Templemartin, held winning advantages and indeed looked unassailable at different points through the score.

Evenly matched and coming on the back of good qualifier wins played over the Christmas period, all three had plenty of support in the €8,100 total stake the contest went for.

While Noel O’Donovan won the opening shot, it was Kieran Murphy who set the early pace. Michael Murphy had catching up to do after a misplayed second, but he brought himself back into it with magnificent fifth and sixth shots from well back of the main road. But Kieran Murphy held sway at this point, taking full advantage of two misplays at ‘Foley’s’ by O’Donovan.

The Templemartin man consolidated his lead to a bowl and 30 metres with a fine seventh to ‘Perrot’s’ but, unfortunately for him his eighth missed sight at the ‘GAA pitch’ and, given a glimmer, both his opponents were right back in it at ‘Innishannon cross’. Michael Murphy came for the second time and took a sensational lead as Kieran’s travails continued.

Noel O’Donovan had come from well over a bowl adrift to within 30 metres of the lead, but his chance looked surely gone when his thirteenth went right off the play. Nothing was going to plan for Kieran Murphy and he, along with O’Donovan, fell a shot adrift of Michael Murphy by ‘Cronin’s avenue’. Out of nowhere, O’Donovan produced the score-changer, a perfectly executed 15th cast that ran a huge distance around the last bend. It instantly wiped out Michael Murphy’s bowl of odds lead and, when the Ballyclough man missed the finish line with his sixteenth, the Valley Rovers’ man beat that target by centimetres to achieve a victory that could not have been countenanced two shots earlier. There was no joy either for the North East camp in the return when Gaeltacht’s Conor Creedon got the better of Timmie Murphy last shot, for €2,240.

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Shannonvale had a couple of high-profile tournament scores at the weekend. A Noel Phair Cup shoot-out on Sunday had Seamus Sexton and Michael Bohane in opposition. It was the 2022 county winner Bohane who hit the ground running, firing four of the best to take a lead that bordered on a bowl of odds. Sexton dug in and a beauty towards ‘Buttimer’s pillars’ ensured they went level to ‘Desmond’s cross’. Buoyed by that response, the north Cork man fired two big ones at ‘Kingston’s’ to come in front, but it stayed close and only 30 metres separated them at the ‘palms’. Sexton extended his lead to the ‘novice line’ and emerged a bowl-of-odds winner. They played for a total of €7,200.

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On Saturday in an intermediate tournament semi-final Wayne Parkes defeated Donal O’Riordan by over a bowl for €2,120. It was an uphill battle for the Bantry man O’Riordan after his opening throw went awry. Parkes took the bowl lead to ‘Desmond’s cross’ and held it comfortably to the end. In a quarter-final round score in the same tournament on Sunday, Tim Young scored a merited win over senior opposition when accounting for Brian Wilmot by a big fore bowl for a €4,100 total, to set = up for a tournament semi-final assignment with Paul Buckley.

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The women’s intermediate championship progressed with a Group A round-robin fixture at Ballyvourney on Saturday. Hannah Cronin, Togher Cross, and Juliette Murphy, Donoughmore, played out an exciting shot-for-shot duel that went to the final throw. Juliette had edged in front with four to go but her second last didn’t run, and Hannah took advantage to forge into a good lead for the final exchanges. Juliette’s big last shot nearly snatched it, but Hannah stayed strong and beat the mark by 15 metres. Both have further group stage scores against Lisa Hegarty and Ailbhe O’Shea.

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Emma Hurley is on the championship trail again. Following her supremely successful U16 All-Ireland winning campaign in 2023, the U18 category will, her football commitments allowing, be the focus this year. Emma edged a good battle with Eabha Kehilly to advance at Drimoleague mid-week.

The first of the week evening scores held plenty of interest in West Cork. At Ballinacarriga, in a second-round novice D clash, the age-gap was, to put it mildly, significant, when Fachtna Keane, Drimoleague, and Cian Young, Bantry met. Young had impressed in an opening round win over Donal McCarthy at The Clubhouse but did not bring that good form to his latest engagement. The peerless Fachtna, defying the years with aplomb, raced to a bowl lead and was close to doubling his margin before the end. They played for a total of €600.

Also, at Ballinacarriga in U14, Conor Hourihane won from Jack McCarthy in the last shot and in U18 here, Eoin Hurley (Kilronan) advanced another round with victory over 2022 county U14 winner Daniel O’Sullivan.