O’Mahony sees off O’Driscoll to reach Mid Cork semi-finals

DAVID O’Mahony has qualified for the Mid Cork junior A championship semi-finals after beating Ger O’Driscoll at Ballinacurra, Upton last Sunday.

There are six in this championship, with last year’s junior B winner O’Driscoll a newcomer, but his Five Mile Bridge opponent had too much for him. For a €1,700 total, it was competitive from the off. Little separated them approaching the last quarter after O’Driscoll rallied to make inroads on O’Mahony’s good lead earned with a massive seventh past Perrott’s. O’Mahony’s strong finish was decisive with a powerful third-last restoring a commanding lead.

O’Mahony will play Kieran Murphy in the semi-final. On the other side of the draw, Aidan Desmond will play Sean Murphy with the winner meeting Denis Wilmot in the last four.

The women’s intermediate championship had its first score at Derrinasafa and the group C all-Dunmanway clash of Louise Collins and Rachel Kingston was a hard-fought duel.

A winner of the championship back in 2004, Louise had experience on her side and it counted in a narrow win over the reigning All-Ireland and European U18 champion. Rachel’s next engagement is against the redoubtable Gretta Cormican, with much hinging on their Bauravilla set-to.

Shannonvale is the venue for the round-robin scores in the south-west junior B, Johnny O’Driscoll having set an early marker in his win over Ger Connolly a few weeks ago. David Hegarty joins him at the head of the group after his victory over Séamus O’Sullivan on Sunday.

In South-West novice B in Grange, former Carbery man Enda Conneally defeated Darren Harrington. A significant result in East Cork saw former senior All-Ireland winner Phillip O’Donovan make a winning return after an extended lay-off, beating Michael O’Leary in junior veteran.

He will have more hurdles to cross in this championship as Mick Hurley is also in the mix after an impressive win at Clashmore over last year’s champion, Paul O’Brien. Also in East Cork, in novice veteran Aidan Sexton defeated Donie O’Sullivan at Clashmore.

West Cork’s championships continue apace. At Durrus in novice C, Brendan Burke defeated Stephen O’Farrell in the last shot and in D, Daniel Hayes, Kilronan, defeated Jan Tessyman by two for €600. At Ardcahan in novice C, Keith Sheehan won from Darragh Kehilly. Two big hitters in novice C had victories at Derrinasafa. Brian Horgan defeated Jason Daly and Mark Deane defeated Stephen Daly. At Ballinacarriga, in D, Johnny Hurley defeated Sean Calnan and in C Kevin O’Sullivan defeated Timmy Roberts. In D at Bantry, Peter Hickey defeated Kieran Collins.

Scores in Gaeltacht’s U18 championships went ahead at Baile Bhúirne. Jack Lynch won from Odhran O’Leary; Kayla Healy won from Abby Lynch and Liam Twomey won from Jack O’Donoghue. In Gaeltacht championship action at Terelton, novice C, Evan Kelleher won from Aaron Murphy and in novice A round-robin two seasoned campaigners clashed. Noel Murphy won a tough battle with veteran’s champion, Tim Kelleher.

North Cork’s championships also progressed. At Ballinagree in novice D, Jack Oldham defeated Michael Casey, last shot, for €1,760 and, in the same grade, Bill Casey defeated T J Willis for €800. In novice C at Bealnamorrive on Sunday, Martin Kelleher won from Clifford O’Flynn and Tony Hickey won from Daniel O’Sullivan. At Curraheen in the City junior B championship there were big wins for Aidan Bowen and James O’Sullivan. Bowen accounted for John O’Reilly on Saturday by a three-bowl margin and former under-age star, O’Sullivan defeated an off-from Declan Murphy by two on Sunday. In junior veteran, Noel Gould received a walk-over from Pat Butler. At Paddoes in the novice D championship, Pascal Bowen defeated Feidhlim O’Neill and Jamie Bowen defeated Mike Murphy. In North-East novice D at Corrin, Michael Kelleher defeated Barry Coughlan by three bowls for €200 and Eugene Hanley defeated Tom Allen by a bowl for €200.