BANDON’S Denis Wilmot and Noel O’Regan, Togher Cross, engaged in a second-round junior tournament clash at Ballygurteen on Saturday and produced a good contest, the outcome of which was, unfortunately for the county junior B champion O’Regan, majorly influenced by an accidental slip-up of his when throwing his eleventh on the straight.
A level score then was turned very much in Wilmot’s favour but not in the way he would have wanted after O’Regan’s unintentional release of the bowl resulted in an extremely short mark down.
That said, Wilmot’s overall showing was one of his best in a while with a closing surge that saw him out at ‘O’Donovan’s bend’ in 13, followed by an excellent brace up to and past ‘Burke’s’ giving him a deserved bowl of odds win. O’Regan played his part too when after having fallen seventy metres down to Wilmot’s trio past the ‘women’s lane’, he regained ground with a couple of piledrivers of his own to ‘Oakmount avenue’. Although trying to the end his challenge was an uphill one after the fateful eleventh. They played for a total of €4,800.
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It was tournament final day at Beal na Morrive on Saturday, when Coachford men, Simon O’Connell and Eamonn Murphy engaged in a tremendous battle for the Tigh O’Laoire Cup. For a €900 total, Murphy had early leeway, but his margin was slim as they traded it shot for shot to the ‘railings’. The nip and tuck continued to the end of the straight by which point O’Connell had come in front by less than a metre. Five metres separated them for the last shots, O’Connell still ahead before the pair produced a fitting finale to a great score. Murphy lined a big one that looked to give him victory, but O’Connell stayed steady and beat a formidable mark by less than a metre.
Back the road there was a good tussle too between Kevin Manning and Darren Kelly. Ballinagree man, Manning took the spoils here by a bowl of odds for a €1,600 total. At Ballinacurra, Upton, on Saturday, Macroom’s Eoin O’Riordan defeated North Cork’s Mark Burke for €2,800 and there was a Gaeltacht double here when Damien Burns defeated Finbarr Coomey (Jun), last shot, for €1,600.
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A four-score programme at Newcestown on Saturday included plenty of exciting fare. In the first of these, local, Donnacha O’Driscoll edged out Bandon’s Paul Twomey, last shot, for €1,000 and this was followed by another Newcestown victory when Tim Allen defeated Paud Keohane for €600. The afternoon scores saw Shane Desmond win from Ronan Hoey for €800 and Bernard O’Callaghan take the spoils from Thomas Maloney for €1,000. At new road, Ballyhooley, Timmie Murphy defeated Andrew O’Leary, one bowl, for €1,400 and back here, Tom Allen won from Pat Bowles, one bowl, for €600. Also, in the North East, at Carrignavar, Jeremy Downey defeated Birol Kat, one bowl, for €1,200; Michael Morley defeated Alan O’Donovan, one bowl, for €1,460; Jeremy Downey defeated Johnny Byrnes, one bowl, for €1,800.
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Gaeltacht’s novice E competition continues to provide plenty of end of season action. At Clondrohid on Saturday, Eanna Dineen and Ronan O’Callaghan battled it out for a €1,200 total. Dineen made a storming start and led by a bowl at the ‘black house’. KIlmichael’s O’Callaghan held it to that in good bowling to the ‘Bell Inn’ but could not make inroads on Dineen’s lead. The Kilnamartyra man won by the bowl. Back here, Finbarr Buckley defeated Ron Lynch for €740. At Terelton on Sunday, Kevin Healy won from Timothy Scannell. In North Cork on Sunday, in novice E, Kieran Buckley defeated David Harrington, last shot, for €1,000.
