BOWLING ROUND-UP: Shorten wins Mid Cork junior veteran final

JOHN Shorten won the Mid Cork junior veteran final on Sunday evening, beating Jerry Murphy.
The clash at Ballinacurra, Upton had a €1,400 stake and Shorten was in cracking form. Having blazed through the main road in three, a huge fourth to the waterworks rose a big bowl of odds. He doubled his lead shortly afterwards and will contest the county rounds against North Cork champion Mark Burke at Inchigeelagh.
Rhys Murphy from Belgooly is Mid Cork’s U16 champion, edging out Daniel Wilmot in a cracking decider at Ballinacurra, Upton, on Wednesday. He meets the East Cork winner at Whitechurch in the county. In the novice D grade at Castletownkenneigh, John Madden defeated Adrian Wilmot, last shot and at Ballinacurra also in D, Ger O’Leary won from Derrick Murphy.
A bulletin from Jerome Casey reports an evenly matched struggle for London junior A representation in the county junior A championship. Patrick O’Driscoll, formerly of The Glen, Cork, won the opening best-of-three with Dunmanway native Colin O’Donovan by two bowls for a £1,000 total stake.
O’Donovan then produced a stunning performance in the second set-to at Launders Lane, defeating O’Driscoll by three bowls to level the series. The pair go head-to-head in the decider shortly, with the winner travelling to Grenagh on June 11th to play the East Cork regional champion in a county preliminary round score. Patrick O’Driscoll Jnr is the London U16 champion and will also contest the Cork county championships.

In the City division, Noel Gould is on a roll. He captured his second divisional title when taking the junior veteran crown defeating Maurice Connolly at the Bog Road in the last shot of a thrilling score that carried a €1,320 total stake. Already contesting in junior B, Gould will face Jim Coffey (Gaeltacht) in the junior veteran county rounds.
There was a big novice A clash at Curraheen as Kieran Corrigan defeated Pat O’Donovan in the last shot for €1,400. Also at Curraheen, Ryan Buckley defeated John Donnellan by two bowls for €640 but was on the receiving end when going down to Denis Connolly, last shot, for €200. Here too, Keith Kidney defeated Ronan Redmund, one bowl, for €1,100.
At Whitechurch in novice A, Denis Connolly defeated Thomas O’Donovan by a bowl for €1,300. In novice veteran at Paddoes, Bernard O’Donovan defeated Michael Twohig. In a big stake score back the road after the junior veteran final, Evan Buckley defeated Sean O’Leary, Fermoy, last shot, for €5,800. In a doubles contest at The Bog Road, Declan O’Leary and Bernard O’Donovan combined to defeat Paul Butler and Pat Gould for a €1,000 total.
In a big junior A tournament clash at Lyre on Sunday, Carbery’s Darragh Dempsey halted Gavin Twohig’s winning run with a one bowl win over the Rossmore man. For an €11,100, Dempsey rose his winning odds with a big fourteenth up from the rosebed by McCarthy’s wall.
Back the road, two of bowling’s great warriors went head-to-head. Pat Joe Connolly and Ger O’Leary battled out a shot-for-shot score that Connolly won in the final exchange. They played for a €900 total.
In tournament action at The Pike, the Fearghal Beamish cup progressed with a contest involving Brendan O’Neill and Ger O’Driscoll. For a €3,100 stake, O’Neill went a bowl clear by White’s cross and withstood a rally by O’Driscoll at the three-quarter stage in forging the win. At Grange on Saturday, Paul Buckley and Tim Young engaged for a €2,900 total. Buckley rose a bowl of odds in eight and nine to the school cross and held on for victory.
At Ballinacurra, Upton, also on Saturday, Tim McDonagh defeated Denis Wilmot by a bowl, for €4,800 and back here, Declan O’Donovan defeated Sean Paul McDonagh, last shot, for €3,800. At Kilcorney, Edmund Sexton kept a winning run going with a win from Michael Murphy, last shot, for €2,600.