AS the King and Queen of the Roads were crowned at Ballincurrig on Sunday, the action lived up to its billing.

Fans were treated to two classic finals.

The King final was contested by Arthur McDonagh and Colm Rafferty, who both stood at one title each, Rafferty winning in 2024 while McDonagh was the reigning champion looking to defend his crown. The stake at issue was €600 a-side.

Rafferty held the advantage as we reached the business end, and when McDonagh’s 13th effort fell left, Rafferty could have finished the score, but his bowl went left. McDonagh went well around the last bend. Rafferty missed this. His last bowl was always going left and got caught in the bend past the finish line. McDonagh had no bother in beating this to take his second crown.

***

The Queen final was something special, as Anke Klopper from Germany and Hannah Sexton from Timoleague put on a show. They played for a stake of €3,500 a-side, with Sexton taking the favourite’s tag.

Sexton went well down sight in her first shot and Klopper got caught left, Klopper’s second shot was tight left but she got an incredible bowl that Sexton beat by 25 metres. Klopper’s third was another huge bowl to Din Tough’s, but Sexton was equally as good and made the muddy gap.

Another phenomenal shot followed from Klopper in a quality contest that saw Sexton bring her A-game, too.

But as Sexton’s fifth went right and was caught slightly behind the big corner, Klopper’s fifth swung around the bend and moved her 40 metres in front. Sexton made Leahy’s Wall in two more, keeping the gap under the bowl of odds.

Sexton followed huge bowls down the long straight to O’Riordan’s, still keeping it under the bowl of odds. After two more big bowls from Klopper past the no-play line, Sexton had it well under the bowl of odds as she made the Pony Gate.

Klopper’s 11th was off the charts – an astronomical shot all the way down to the green. A slip from Sexton, when she was too tight left and got caught, saw her fall a huge bowl of odds down. Klopper made the Black Sign in two more, holding her bowl advantage.

The record of the road has been held by Silke Tulk for a few years – 14 shots to the middle of Moor’s avenue – and Klopper wanted to do better. And she did when she made the school sign to take her first title in 14 years of trying and set a new record for the road.

Arthur McDonagh in action in the King of the Roads final at Ballincurrig. (Photo: Gretta Cormican)

***

What a day for the underdog Saturday was. Kelly Mallon and Silke Tulk have dominated the Queen finals for the past 19 years with Carmel Ryan breaking the chain in 2013. But both were beaten in their respective semi-finals.

Anke Klopper, who went on to take the title, got the better of reigning Queen Kelly Mallon and Queen qualifier Hannah Cronin in her semi-final, playing for a three-way stake of €600 a-side.

The second semi-final was between Silke Tulk from The Netherlands, All-Ireland champion Dervla Toal-Mallon and All-Ireland runner-up Hannah Sexton, playing for a stake of €1,500 between Sexton and Mallon.

Sexton caused an upset with her superb performance, and the pendulum swung in her favour when both Tulk and Mallon had poor tenth shots to Heaphy’s Wall while Sexton made Hegarty’s.

Straightening the road for her next shot, Mallon got caught to fall a bowl down. Tulk was back in the score with a big bowl past Hegarty’s, but Sexton lined another big one to the Pony Gate to have a lead of 90 metres on Tulk and a bowl and big odds on Mallon.

Tulk’s 12th fell right and Sexton got another massive drive to Bobs. Mallon made the start of the green with her 14th, Sexton covered all the green to the big tree with her 13th and Tulk beat this by 25 metres, keeping it under the bowl of odds. Mallon got a good next, Sexton made the Black sign and Tulk missed the finish line. It left Sexton with nothing to beat and she played her bowl well to book her first Queen final appearance along with Anke Klopper.

Liam O'Driscoll presents the Jim O'Driscoll Cup to Tim Young. (Photo: Gretta Cormican)

***

Saturday was also King of the Roads semi-final day. Up first we had Aidan Murphy playing Colm Rafferty, Armagh, and Olivier Scholten from The Netherlands, playing for a three-way stake of €350 a-side and €1,000 between Murphy and Rafferty. It went down to the last bend. With Scholten a bowl down, it was going to the wire with Rafferty and Murphy. Rafferty got a big last shot well into the green. Murphy brought his too far and it went right into the green, but with no speed to beat Rafferty’s tip.

In the second semi-final Arthur McDonagh beat Thomas Mackle and Fabien Schiffman from Germany with a stake of €6,500 between McDonagh and Mackle. McDonagh can only be described as awesome in this semi-final. Mackle didn’t do a whole lot wrong but just could not keep up the pace of McDonagh, and he went over every sop with accuracy and speed.

***

In the Brian Woods Invitational score between Ger Connolly, Ruaidhri O’Reilly and Luca Brunetti from Italy, honours went to Connolly who enjoyed a great battle with Brunetti. O’Reilly, when he was almost three bowls down, fell out.

Tim Young booked his place in the Jim O’Driscoll Cup final on Sunday when he beat Timmy McDonagh and Paddy Stokes in the Jim O’Driscoll Munster final, playing for a three-way stake of €1,550 a-side.

Young followed up on Sunday when he led from trap-to-line over Pete Carr (Ulster) in the Jim O’Driscoll Cup final, playing for a stake of €4,600 a-side. Young’s performance was equal to the bowling to the King final later in the day, over the line in fifteen shots.

***

The Dairypower Trophy score was between All-Ireland intermediate winner Ailbhie O’Shea, Lily O’Rourke and Silvia Branchini from Italy, with a stake of €4,000 between O’Rourke and O’Shea. Here, honours went to O’Rourke.

Diarmuid Grimley played Eoin Hurley in the Charlie McCarthy Cup, a repeat of the Novice-1 All-Ireland final played recently in Westport. Again, Hurley came out on top. He held a bowl and 30 metres with the line approaching, and played his last well and beat the tip easily.

In a mixed doubles score in the Jim Geary Youth Invitational, the All-Ireland pairing from Ulster Johnny Campbell and Connie Mallon had a very exciting and tough battle with Italy’s Simone Stefanini and Deborah Formica, but came out winners in the end by the last shot.

In the Proto Mark Technologies Youth International Crown, Meabh Cuinnea and Gerald McDonagh beat Lotte Telgenhof Oude Keohorst and Mike Scholten (The Netherlands) by the last shot and Wenke Abken and Joost Kleemann from Germany by one bowl in a very exciting contest.

Seamus Ó Tuama, Secretary of the Ballincurrig Bowling Club, thanked all his committee members who put in a huge effort for the weekend. He thanked Christy Santry who has been his wingman since day one back in 1985, and also thanked all the players and supporters who travelled from Holland, Germany, Italy, Armagh and Cork in huge numbers. He thanked his daughter Eláir who put a massive amount of work into the programme and especially thanked all of the supporters who make this weekend a massive success year in, year out.