Rising road bowling star Emma crowned All-Ireland champion

THOMAS Mackle retained his senior crown after an injured David Murphy was forced to concede after just four shots.

Their much-vaunted showdown ended in anticlimactic fashion at a packed Ballincurrig on Sunday afternoon last and, while there was palpable disappointment among the huge crowd who came in anticipation, there was also an acceptance that such are the vagaries of sport and sympathy too for the Munster champion whose challenge was derailed in such unforeseen circumstances.

There was consensus too that on the evidence of those few early exchanges to the ‘green’ at ‘Geary’s’ that Mackle was going to be very hard to beat. There was a ferocity in his bowling as he speedily beat a big opening shot that Murphy managed to deliver despite his limitations.

Although clearly showing the effects of the calf injury incurred while training on Saturday, the Brinny man got reasonable purchase on his next two attempts, but Mackle simply blitzed his way to the ‘green’ and looked sure to take big odds to the ‘no-play lines’. The premature ending came then, and Mackle’s third senior title significantly swung the balance in Ulster’s favour as their champions took four of the seven national titles played over the weekend.

The Ulster camp got their tails up in the shape of a youthful junior B exponent in Jake Cullen. The 2023 junior B championship has produced a spate of top-class scores with many of the thrills and spills coming from Cork’s superb champion, Noel O’Regan. He contributed mightily too to an enthralling All-Ireland decider only to be denied by an opponent who refused to yield to his latest comeback charge.

Matching a stake of €3,300 indicated confidence in the Ulster camp and it was not misplaced as their man raced to a lead of almost bowl of odds with three great bowls to the ‘green’. Togher Cross campaigner O’Regan was back within 30 metres with good play through the lines but got derailed again when his tenth on the long straight again swung left too soon. A bowl of odds separated them in 12 and 13 to the ‘big turn’ but the best from both was yet to come. O’Regan lined a brilliant effort up the ‘short straight’ only for Cullen to follow in like fashion. The Cork champion came again with a tremendous 15th to the ‘sycamores’, but Cullen wasn’t fazed and came within metres of a huge tip. With excitement at fever pitch, the Ulster champion fired a ferocious 15th of his own to regain his bowl lead and with that final statement he was crowned All-Ireland junior B champion for 2023.

All-Ireland U16 champion Emma Hurley, with the Monsignor Raymond Murray Cup, celebrates with supporters after her tremendous final win.

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Bonfires blazed in Drinagh on Saturday evening as the village welcomed home their young starlet who claimed All-Ireland U16 glory and the Monsignor Raymond Murray Cup on her first appearance at the finals.

Emma Hurley was the star attraction after a hugely impressive performance gave her a three-bowl victory over Ulster champion Megan O’Reilly.

A good start was crucial, and Emma was composed and strong when rising a bowl of odds lead with five big opening shots on the inward route. Megan stemmed the tide with a fine throw to ‘Leahy’s’ but Emma was in focused mode and a huge ninth down the left track doubled her lead.

Megan did not give up the ghost and a wonderful effort by the ‘creamery line’ was one of her best of the day. Emma’s response was to line an equally fine cast that brought her on to the green with an unassailable advantage and after that the celebrations could begin.

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When Phillip O’Donovan eased to the All-Ireland veteran’s championship in the following score, Cork were in the van to the tune of a three-one lead in the head-to-heads to that point. O’Donovan was the Cork banker given his storming performances on his county run and duly delivered but Johnny Kelly proved himself a worthy Ulster champion and kept it competitive almost to the end.

It would be as good as it got for Cork’s champions as, in a result that constituted quite a shock, Aoife Trainor blazed a trail to defeat Ciara Buckley and claim the women’s intermediate crown. Ciara’s majestic performance at Whitechurch on the previous Saturday entitled her to favouritism but this was a day when not a lot went right for her.

Trainor started well but did not build on that bright opening when missing sight with her fifth and handing Ciara the ascendancy for the first time. There was a determination about the Ulster champion and, when she lined a brilliant seventh shot down past ‘Leahy’s’ and onto the ‘long straight’, it was the start of a score-winning sequence. She followed with three more of the highest order and reached the inward ‘no-play’ lines a bowl and 50 metres up. Ciara fought it hard and produced some of her best bowling in the last third. Aoife, in her third final appearance, would not be denied on this occasion and matched Ciara’s best in those closing stages. It was a victory that thrilled her big Tullysaran following that travelled south in support.

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Armagh got off to a winning start as their polished U12 champion Jack O’Reilly took the laurels from Cork’s Eoghan Hickey. A tendency to leave a few to the right cost the Durrus boy leeway in the shots down from the ‘big turn’. O’Reilly was consistent hitting greens with regularity and rose a bowl of odds with a splendid ninth from ‘Heaphy’s gate’. The defining exchange came when Hickey lined a brilliant 11th down to the ’pony gate’. There was an expectation that it would close the gap significantly but that did not materialise as O’Reilly answered superbly with a response that beat a massive tip. Jack was error free in the closing shots and assured in bringing yet another All-Ireland back to the famed Madden club.

Also, John O’Donoghue from Mitchelstown got Cork on the winner’s podium with a powerful display in winning U16 from a determined Oisin Gribben in the weeknd's second final.